Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflowers/Shrubs and Ferns

Dear Blog Friends/Family,  As most of you know,  from June 16-18,  2020,  George and I took a little trip to the Pisgah Inn,  on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville,  North Carolina.   This past week,  I went through all of my pictures from that trip,  and picked out pictures of some of the beauty all around us that week to share with you... 

Hope you enjoy this set of pictures.  I have them divided into 4 groups or 3 pictures each:  Mountain Laurel,  Ferns and Greenery,  Rhododendrons,  and Flame Azaleas.  

I cannot seem to find a way to put a 'caption' with my pictures with this new Blogger program,  so the caption (if I could write one) would tell you that the picture above is a beautiful MOUNTAIN LAUREL.  Does anyone know how to put in captions with your pictures?

Here's another picture of the Mountain Laurel.. Can you count how many blooms are on that bush????  Me neither!!!! ha ha

Here's a close-up of one of the tiny Mountain Laurel blooms.  Mountain Laurel starts out a medium pink color,  and as it opens,  it turns more whitish with pink... They are so beautiful!

Wouldn't you like to be here and take this wonderful hike with us?  As I walked this path,  I felt like I was in Heaven on Earth.. The ferns (AND the smell,  AND all of the greens around us) were awesome!!!!

Have you ever taken time to check out ferns up close and personal?  So intricate and amazing!!!!

When taking time --as we hike-- to look at the interesting beauty all around me,  I found this little patch of some kind of tiny little ground-cover around the mossy area..  Does anyone know what this is????  It was so beautiful!

As we headed further up the mountain,  we encountered these gorgeous Rhododendron blooming at the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is truly amazing to see all of the different wildflowers in bloom at different elevations and at different times of the year.  

We have Rhododendrons blooming in our yard in May ---but never this many blooms!!!!  So gorgeous!

I got closer to these Rhododendron blooms for a better picture.   When the sun is shining,  the colors of the Rhododendron blooms seem more pink and less lilac/purple (as in the two pictures above)...We didn't see a lot of sunshine when we were there this year --but the flowers were still gorgeous.

One of my all-time favorite Wild Flowers is a FLAME AZALEA....The orange color is so perfect to blend in with the green around it...

Here are the Flame Azaleas a little closer!!!  Aren't they just awesome?

 Here's one more picture of the vivid colors in the Flame Azaleas.  

I hope you enjoyed all of the gorgeous blooms from the Blue Ridge Parkway in June of 2020.

Have an awesome week!!!!!

Hugs,

Betsy💝💛💚💕

Highlights of a Fantastic Birthday Trip

Dear Friends,   George took me on a fantastic trip this past week to celebrate my 78th birthday.   We spent two days  (August 2 and 3)  at the Peaks of Otter on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Buchanan,  Virginia.  Then we drove to the Skyland Resort on Skyline Drive near Luray, VA,  and spent 3 days there.  What an awesome trip--and one of the best birthdays I've had! I haven't had much time to shuffle through all of the gazillion photos and videos --but did pick out a few to show you today.  Hope you enjoy just a tiny little preview!!!!The picture above was taken on my birthday (August 5, 2020) and was definitely the top highlight of the week.  We visited the LURAY CAVERNS in Luray, VA.   WOW--we had no idea that it would be THIS gorgeous inside there.   We both absolutely loved it...My parents had brought me to these caverns when I was young (probably at least 70 years ago) --but I didn't remember much from that trip.   I have visited caverns off and on throughout my life --but this one was the BEST one of all...  If you ever get a chance,  visit these amazing caverns.  The pictures just don't do them justice!!!! You need to see them in person!

This was the view from our room at the Peaks of Otter (August 2, 2020)... This is ABBOTT LAKE.  One of our favorite things to do at the 'Peaks'  is to take a walk around the lake (only one mile).   We managed to take that walk a couple of times each day... It is such a gorgeous place --and SO relaxing.

My Sweetheart (who makes my life so fulfilling and rich) is the most amazing man I have ever known.  God has blessed me so much with George in my life.  We were walking around the beautiful grounds at the Peaks of Otter when I snapped this picture of my Cutie Pie (August 2, 2020).   

I took this picture of the Peaks of Otter Lodge (August 2, 2020) --when we were walking on the other side of the lake.  Isn't this a beautiful place?   I absolutely love visiting there.. Look at those reflections!!! 

After leaving the Peaks of Otter,   we drove on the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY for awhile (which I love).  We stopped here at the OTTER CREEK DAM to get a few pictures (August 4, 2020).

This year,  we got a different room (Laurel 114) at Skyland Resort ---and had the most awesome view of the SUNSET.   I took this picture on August 4, 2020--from our balcony.  WOW!!!

On my BIRTHDAY,  August 5,  George took this picture of me inside the cave at the LURAY CAVERNS....  I was SO excited and happy!

On August 6, 2020--- we drove around in the GORGEOUS SHENANDOAH VALLEY.  We found a place to park and actually walked around awhile...  I feel like I'm in heaven when I'm in the Shenandoahs!!!!

Also on August 6th,  we visited the SHENANDOAH RIVER STATE PARK.  There are seven bends of this amazing river --so at this overlook,  we could see one of the bends.  It made me want to SING,  "O Shenandoah"....   I'll bet you are singing that song right now!!!!!

 Have you EVER seen THIS on your Birthday?????   WELL---thanks to George,  we got up early on August 5th ---and drove to a nearby overlook off of Skyline Drive just to see this.....Talk about amazing!!!!!!   The sun came up on that morning,  and I felt as if it was telling me 'Happy Birthday'!!!!

I think I will stop here with this post,  but just had to give you a short preview of what we did this past week....  Thanks to many of you (on Facebook especially) who followed me all week during that trip and who wished me a Happy Birthday...  That meant so much to me!!!

Hugs,

Betsy💕💜💚