Friends, Fall Colors and Fabulous ELK

George and I joined blog friend NEAL and his lovely wife, Patti, for several days together in the gorgeous mountains of North Carolina, at Maggie Valley. Neal and George/I have been friends for about 2 years --but we had never met until this past week... What a neat couple these two are... The four of us had a fabulous time together ---and found out that we have so much in common. It was such a great trip--and I'm sure we will plan more vacations together.

Neal is a big tease ---so of course, we spent much of the time laughing and joking with each other... George was thrilled because now there are two of them who can give me a hard time!!!!!! ha ha.... Patti (Neal's wife) doesn't blog --but I told her that she needs to start --so that I will have some HELP.... Patti is a tiny little gal --like my good friend, Judy, and is very personable... Like I said, we all had a great time together ---and it's as if we have been good friends for years.

Besides being with these wonderful friends, we all went to Maggie Valley for two reasons: to see the Fall colors, and to see the Elk in Cataloochee Valley. We accomplished BOTH. Today, I'll show you an outline of our week--but will divide them into categories for many more pictures in upcoming blog posts... I probably won't show you the entire group of 600 photos I took (George took 500) ha ha --but I'll show you the BEST ones I hope. Above is a picture of our special friends, Neal and Patti. Below are more.

We started out driving through the Smokies (between Gatlinburg and Cherokee). Even though there were TONS of people and traffic, once we got on 441 to go over the mountain, it wasn't too bad. Once we got to Cherokee, we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed toward the Balsam Mountain Road. The weather was perfect --and the colors were gorgeous... Above is one picture taken in the Smokies.

We stayed at the Abbey Inn in Maggie Valley. Thanks to blog friend DOROTHY for reommending the Abbey Inn. It was a wonderful, little motel. The view was terrific... The picture above shows the view from our front porch... Wow!!!!

The absolute highlight of the entire week was getting up early on Wednesday morning (in the drizzle and fog) and driving to Cataloochee Valley to see the ELK. Not only did we see about 20-30 of them that morning, we also heard them BUGLE.... How awesome is that!!!! I was so very very excited--as you can imagine!!! I will have many pictures to share --but above, here is one for you to enjoy. My pictures were taken from the road --using my 300mm lens.

After seeing the gorgeous elk and checking out the Cataloochee Valley (which is similar to Cades Cove), we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway from Maggie Valley to the Mt. Pisgah area. The drizzle and fog disappeared fairly quickly --and the sun came out --just for us of course... Above is one picture taken along the Blue Ridge Parkway that day.

On Thursday, we drove over the Cherohala Skyway (between Robbinsville, NC and Tellico, TN) checking out even more beautiful Autumn colors. They were fabulous there also--especially on the NC side.. Above is a picture taken along the Cherohala Skyway. As you can tell, this was our best day weatherwise --since there wasn't a cloud in the sky. AWESOME!!!!

Finally, George and I just HAD to show Neal and Patti one of our favorite waterfalls at Tellico, Bald River Falls. Above is a picture of the four of us on the bridge.... I promise you that Neal is NOT seven feet tall... He is standing on a step on the side of a bridge. That is my favorite picture of us!!!!

Hope you ALL had a great week like we did.... George also is posting pictures from our trip, so be sure to click HERE each day to check his blog.

Have a wonderful day.
Hugs,

Visit with Cousins at Fall Creek Falls

On Sunday,   George and I drove south of Crossville to one of our favorite places,   Fall Creek Falls State Park.  We met two of my cousins and their extended families for a delicious buffet at the park restaurant.  Besides eating,  we sat around and chatted for a couple of hours.  It was a great time.

Above is a picture of the nine of us...  Seated on the left is my cousin Carol --and John (hubby) behind her. They live in Michigan.  Seated on the right is Marvin and wife Carol behind him.  You know George and I in the middle with our 'matching' shirts... ha ha .....  Behind us is Dar and Wes.   Dar and Carol (the Carol on the right) are sisters of  my cousin Carol's husband John.   The two sisters and hubby's live in Sparta--which is southwest of Crossville.   And my cousin Bonnie (in the white blouse) lives in Florida with husband Dave (who was not with us since he is hang-gliding this week).   Below are more pictures...

Here are the 3 cousins:  Bonnie,  Betsy and Carol.   Bonnie and Carol are 1st cousins since their mothers were sisters.  I am a 2nd cousin since my mother was a sister of their grandmother.   Got all that????? ha ha .... These two gals are like my sisters --since I never had one!!!!!   Don't you love the SQUINTS???  We were looking STRAIGHT into the sun...

After dinner,  George and I just had to take time to drive around the park searching for Fall colors...  Even though it's been very dry here this year,  we did find lots of color to share with you.   The picture above was taken from inside the car---looking out of the front window... The roads all around the park were dotted with Fall colors --and just so pretty... It was a beautiful day to be there.

This is a picture taken near Cane Creek Waterfall --which was mostly dry... Can you see how dry the creek is in the picture above????  We have NEVER  EVER seen this small amount of water in this area---and you know that we have been to Fall Creek Falls a trillion  million times.  ha.... I keep talking about how dry we are this year in this area---but seeing no water at the Cascades or Cane Creek Waterfall just about blew my mind!!!!

There was a little water coming over Fall Creek Falls (not pictured)---but not nearly as much as we usually see.  However,  the Fall colors near the falls,  and on the nearby bluffs and gorge were really pretty.  Don't you agree?

This is always one of my favorite pictures of  the mountain ranges surrounding Fall Creek Falls State Park.  It was nice to be here on a beautiful Autumn day in Tennessee.

Finally,   a sweet lady took our picture together since George took theirs...  Hope you enjoyed experiencing Autumn in Tennessee. Even with the drought,  we truly enjoyed our day at the state park.

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I will be taking a blog break for the rest of the week.   I 'may' do a blog on Friday--but probably will wait until Monday.  I will catch up with your blog posts next week.  Hope all of you have a fabulous week.  Enjoy yourself and get out in nature---that's most important.

Hugs,