Sunny Flowers Indeed

In all of my life,  I have never seen THIS many Sunflowers in the same place...When George took me on my birthday trip on August 4-6,   one of the places we stopped was a favorite of ours,  the Biltmore House and Gardens...

When we were in the car,  getting ready to leave,  we spotted rows and rows and rows of beautiful Sunflowers in bloom.  Of course,  we had to stop and take some pictures.  I'll share them with you today --but it's hard to explain just how many we saw --since we couldn't get all of them into the same photo.  Some man standing there said that there must be thousands... I'm not sure,  but it felt like thousands to me... Today,  I'm sharing some of our gorgeous Sunflower pictures for you.  Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we did.

See the bees?

Here's a closer picture for you to see the bees enjoying lunch.

I love seeing the mountains in the distance.

Here you can see more flowers, plus the mountains.

Can you see how many???? Rows and Rows... It was awesome!

Here is a very happy girl---who absolutely loves Sunflowers--especially on her 69th birthday.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the Biltmore Sunflowers today.

Have a SUNNY day!!!

Hugs,
Betsy

Fog at Mt. Mitchell

"Take some pictures quickly--we are about to be fogged in!!!"

Another place George took me on this year's Birthday Trip was to Mt. Mitchell State Park,  off of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Burnsville, North Carolina.  There are a few places in the world that still stand apart from the ordinary.  Rising more than a mile high,  surrounded by the gentle mist of low-hanging clouds,  Mount Mitchell State Park is one of the extraordinary places.

In the crest of the timeworn Black Mountain lies the summit of Mt. Mitchell.  At an elevation of 6,684 feet, it is the highest point east of the Mississippi River.  For those who ascend this mighty peak,  what looms in the horizon is a feast for the eyes--breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge Mountains,  rolling ridges and fertile valleys.  Forrested and forever misty,  1,946-acre Mt. Mitchell State Park will provide you with some great moments--whether it is a clear day or (like when we were this time) a foggy/cloudy/misty day.

We again walked to the Summit (to the high platform almost in the sky).  On this day,  MY BIRTHDAY --August 5, 2011,  it was very foggy up there.  As my Daddy used to say,  it looked like "Pea Soup"... ha ha... Note the picture above.  You can see the fog /mist/clouds coming toward us!!!!!

"Hey George----Is that you up there?"

  "I cannot see much of anything.... I hope I don't run into someone."

"Hello.... It's my birthday...  Don't you think the sky would clear JUST for me today?"

"Look here...  Check back two pictures above from this same location...  It is TRYING to clear....."

 "WOW----I'm beginning to see some mountains out there.  See them?" 

"I can see the road down there now,  and even some blue sky.  That's just for ME on my birthday,  don't you think???? ha ha -------BUT---I did love seeing the clouds/fog/mist roll in and out and all around. That's a photographer's dream."

"Oh NO---it's coming this way... Guess we better head down the mountain, Honey!"

Wasn't this experience on Mt. Mitchell just awesome?  There truly is something special about 'Pea Soup' ----and we had a great day!!!!!

Hope you have a great day also!  Sorry that my blog didn't appear on the Reader or Dashboard yesterday.  I entered the wrong date (DUH) --so it published by accident on Sunday.  Instead of deleting it,  I just put it back in drafts and corrected it..   It published correctly today--but didn't show up on the Dashboard or Reader again...  Guess I should have deleted it --and started over (copying and pasting).   It was a good post,  so if you missed it,  click HERE. 
Hugs,
Betsy