Greenbriar in the Smokies

When I surprised George with his birthday trip to the Serenity Falls Cabin in Cosby, TN in March, we spent part of a day at one of our favorite places in the Smokies, the Greenbriar area. We drive on a gravel road way back into the mountains ---following beside the Little Pigeon River.

After alot of rain, this river can be a 'wild and raging river'... There aren't any waterfalls per say ---but there are some beautiful cascades all along our way. Today, I will share some of our pictures in the Greenbriar area, using our new cameras!! Above is one of the beautiful cascades. Below are more!

Seems like we took a million pictures of EACH and EVERY cascade along our way!!!!! ha ha

Here is a picture of the Greenbriar area. I'm glad that they have pull-off areas along the way for people like us to get some pictures. In Summer, the locals use this area for swimming and kayaking. There is a picnic area not far from here also.

Here's another picture of the powerful water flowing over the rocks. Aren't the colors gorgeous?

George is standing on the bridge which leads to the Ramsey Cascades Hiking Trail (which is an 8 mile round-trip hike). Several creeks join up with the Little Pigeon River along our way. This is such a gorgeous area.

Finally, here is one more picture of the Little Pigeon River as it rushes over all of the rocks. I hope you have enjoyed these pictures---and IF you ever get to the Smokies, be sure and visit the Greenbriar area.

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We have some more color in our yard FINALLY this Spring. If you remember from last year, I talked about our favorite ground cover --which we have in several places throughout our yard. That ground cover is PERIWINKLE, and we love it. The tiny blue/purple flowers are beginning to bloom now and are just so pretty.

Have a great Wednesday.

Hugs,

Arkansas Birds

When we were on our trip in February to Arkansas, we stopped at the Visitor Center at Mt. Magazine. They have a birding area behind their facility ---and we stood inside looking out of the window and taking pictures. Here are some of them for you to enjoy today. The picture above is the very familiar female Cardinal. Below are more.

I love seeing the Juncos. We have so few of them in our area of Tennessee. (Or at least, there have never been many of them in my yard.)

See that bird above the Goldfinch????? That is a Purple Finch (the FIRST one I have ever seen and photographed)... I got so excited seeing this finch! We have House Finches (not too many) and lots of Goldfinches at home---but I've never seen a Purple Finch. They are gorgeous!

I love this photograph. Here's two Goldfinches and two Purple Finches. I love the Goldfinch in flight --since I seldom get a photo of them in flight. That is the female Purple Finch on the bottom right. It was fun watching the male above her, giving her some seed----flirting I'm sure!!!!!

The Purple Finches (like our Cardinals here) cannot hide in winter!!!!!

Here's a picture of two male Purple Finches and a male Goldfinch. Wouldn't it be neat to see this picture in spring --when the Goldfinch was a bright yellow???? Wow!

Here is another good picture of the Purple Finch and a White-breasted Nuthatch. There was a huge feeding station in the back of the visitor center--and inside, they had books of all kinds telling about all of the birds. There were lots of windows and even binoculars for people to use. This was a 'Bird Learning Center'!

I love this photo of the male Purple Finch. I can certainly see a huge difference in him from one of our male House Finches.

Hope you enjoyed my pictures of the Birds in Arkansas.

Hugs,