Fall in the Smokies --2011

This past Friday,  George and I went to the Smokies to check out the Fall colors there.... WOW---is what we found!!!!!!  We left home VERY early ---to see some good sky/sun/fog pictures in addition to the gorgeous Fall colors... AND--we weren't disappointed AT ALL.

The day before had brought rain to our area... But --this day was supposed to clear up and be a gorgeous, clear day.   As you'll be able to see from the photos,  the day started out cloudy--but it didn't take that sun very long to pop through!!!!

Here are just a few of the photos we took on that beautiful day in the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.   Above was a great picture I captured along the bypass around Gatlinburg.   I think God was smiling down on us ---and that sun was saying "Good Morning, World!"    (That is fog glistening below the rays.)  Click on pictures to enlarge!

We stopped at an overlook as we headed up the mountain on Highway 441 (between Gatlinburg and Cherokee) and captured this photo of the fog below us in the shadows.

About halfway up the mountain (north of the Chimneys hiking area),  the colors got more and more vivid... Here is an example of some of the beauty we saw along the road on that ride up the mountain.

And since George and I love waterfalls/cascades/creeks,  we stopped along the way to check out this great Smoky Mountain creek.

When we got further up the mountain (on either side of Newfound Gap),   the colors just got more and more beautiful... I'm going to show you ONLY three of the many photos I took... Fall is always pretty---but this particular Fall day just seemed to be extra special!!!  I think we got there at the EXACT right time...

Oh the gorgeous Smoky Mountains!!!  We are so lucky to live close enough to enjoy them---all times of year, but especially in Autumn!

Finally,  here is one more for you today..   We are so blessed to live in such a magnificent world that God created for us...  I hope we all learn to take better care of it!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of our photos from the Smokies.  I'll share more at another time because we managed to take a big bunch!!!! ha

Hugs,
Betsy

The Arches in Utah

During our three week trip out west in June,   our last stop in Utah (as we headed to the Rocky Mountains) was the ARCHES National Park.  We left home on June 10---and when we got to the Arches,  it was June 23... We were both tired and VERY hot by then...  SO--because of this,  our experience at the Arches was not as good as most other places we visited on this trip. I guess that is why I've waited so long to pull out this set of photos... BUT-- now that I'm looking at the photos,  I really know how pretty it was there...

SO--my advice:  unless you don't mind the 107 degree heat,  don't go there in Summer..  Also--I despise crowds --and there are always tons and tons of people there in the Summer... We will go back ---but not in Summer...

I do have some wonderful photos to show you from the Arches ---so today will be just one group of them... Hope you enjoy them!!!!!  The above picture shows one of the many crazy rocks --just sitting up there...  I still don't think I'd want to stand under that thing though... ha  (Be sure to enlarge photos for bigger shots.)

I loved the shape of this tall one---standing there just like a watch tower,  checking out everything!!!!   Water and ice,  extreme temperatures and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of the Arches National Park.  It's hard to imagine how the 100 million years of erosion or such violent forces that created this land caused one of the world's greatest densities of natural arches...

The American Indians used this area for thousands of years.  The Archaic peoples, and later ancestral Puebloan,  Fremont, and Ute peoples, searched the arid desert for food animals,  wild plant foods,  and stone for tools and weapons.

This photo looks like the Titanic to me!!!!!  What say you????

They named this one "The Three Gossips".....  Can you hear them chattering???? ha ha

Here is another interesting rock formation...  What does it look like to you?  I can almost see some praying hands!!!!

This is appropriately called  "Sheep Rock"... See the sheep on top?????

Here is what they call the Tower of Babel (on left) and the Organ (on the right).  I took this one at the La Sal Mountain Viewpoint---but was more interested in the rock formations than I was in the mountains in the distance.

Can you believe that I've shown you 7 pictures at the ARCHES, and I still haven't shown you an 'arch'?????   That will be coming up in a future post....

On another note,  have you noticed what Blogger has done for all of us--which is GOOD???  If you click on my first photo,  you'll get all of the photos in a slide show... Neat, huh?????

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  We're headed to the Smokies today to see what kind of Fall color is there...  I will see you Monday!
Hugs,
Betsy