Cataloochee Valley {Mountain Trip Day Five}

On the final day of my trip across four Southern states, we woke up in Maggie Valley, North Carolina to rain. Not exactly the ideal weather when you're on a photography trip, but we made the best of it.

We packed up early and headed to Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The roads to Cataloochee are gravel and very, very, very curvy and narrow. The view at the top was worth all the tense driving though. Completely worth it.

The rain had done us a favor and left behind some beautiful fog. A photographers dream!

I felt like we were on top of the world - literally!

As we drove down into the valley, we spotted our first field of elk. I thought this cow nursing her calf was a sweet moment!

Here's the big man on campus. He was in charge of this herd and made sure he kept a close eye on all of his ladies.

He was also in charge of chasing off any other smaller bulls.

This is one of several houses in the valley.

I would love to wake up every day to this beautiful view of the valley.

The house was built so well, after all these years it felt as solid as a rock. I fell in love with all the wood walls inside. If only they could talk...

It continued to rain throughout the entire day and even most of the way to Alabama.

I got a few more pictures I just couldn't resist, like this gorgeous creek running through the valley.

And with the slight addiction I have to photographing roads, I surely couldn't pass this one up!

It didn't take a very long time in the rain for us to all feel like drowned rats, so we left for home a little earlier than we might have minus the rain. We stopped for lunch and again at this cute rest area in Tennessee and then we were Alabama bound!

It was the longest time Andy and I had been away from each other in five years, so I sure was happy to see him when I made it home late that Friday night. I am so lucky and thankful for a loving husband who supports me in everything I want to do! I also have to give a big shout out to my wonderful parents for letting me skip work for a week to follow my dreams. Thank you ALL so much for letting this happen!!

I love y'all! =)

Blue Ridge Parkway {Mountain Trip Day Four}

Back in October, I traveled through the Appalachian Mountains with three other sweet ladies on a photography adventure. On our fourth day of the trip, we left Christiansburg, Virginia and journeyed south on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

{To read about the first three days of this trip click here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3}

It was chilly and the wind was wild at the overlooks along the parkway.

Those are not birds scattered across the top of this pictures, they're leaves. I told you the wind was wild!

I have a lot of pictures of roads from this day. I wonder if they make medication for that problem.

I love all the tiny little cabins along the parkway too. I think it would be so neat to live way back when, before laptops and cell phones. Then again... maybe not. :)

More roads. See? I warned you - it's a problem.

I have a thing for fancy country churches too.

We drove across the Linn Cove Viaduct but I wasn't able to get any good pictures of it. I snapped this picture on my cell phone inside the visitor center.

When we arrived in Maggie Valley, NC we ate supper at a cool restaurant called J. Arthurs.

The place was all decked out with fall decor and I thought this maple Christmas tree was so cute and clever!

I had a hamburger and baked potato and it was soo delicious!

My room for the night in Maggie Valley.

I hope you will come back tomorrow to read all about the last day of my five day trip. We visited Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and I think it was my favorite day of the trip despite the rain!

Have a great day!!

Glade Creek Grist Mill & New River Gorge Bridge {Mountain Trip Day Three}

On the third day of my week long trip, three other ladies and I visited Babcock State Park in West Virginia.

As we traveled along the narrow winding roads, we all were hopeful that the trees would be full of color.

Turns out, time wasn't on our side and most of the trees were bare, but the creek and mill were still beautiful.

{Me at Glade Creek Grist Mill - thanks Judy for the picture!}

I took lots and lots of pictures at this park, but this is one of my favorites.

 

From the time we left Alabama, we were all keeping an eye out for a colorful tree on a hill for Shannon. We found an abundance of trees on hills, but none of them were "the one". Shannon's a lady who knows what she wants! Well we ended up taking a slight *accidental* detour on the way to our next stop and wouldn't you know we found Shannon's tree! I think we all agreed it was worth the wait. :)

We drove across the 3,030 feet long New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, West Virginia. Just shortly after we arrived at the visitor center, we got our cameras ready to hike to the bottom of the bridge and it started to rain. Boo hoo! I would have loved to see first hand how enormous this bridge is from the river view but I was in no mood to hike in the rain. And it was a loooonng way down.

So we had to settle for a few shots from the overlook. The 18 wheelers look like tiny Hotwheels!

Since the rain was trying to put a damper on our day, we decided to break for lunch at Hawk's Nest State Park. The trees had lots of color left there. This is the only picture I got at Hawk's Nest other than the few I took with my cell phone inside the restaurant.

This was my view of the New River from our table.

 There were deer grazing on the hill below our window. Cool!!

The rest of our day was spent driving through misty rain. We stopped at Herns Mill Bridge near Lewisburg, West Virginia.

On a side note, Lewisburg, West Virginia was voted America's Coolest Small Town in 2010. 

We drove down many, many curvy roads. See below:

And we did a "drive by shoot" of this beautiful old barn. It looks like those cows have a happy home here!

We were on the road late that night and I did all the night driving during the trip. We rode through two long tunnels and I impressed myself with my driving skills on I77 and I81. My daddy is so proud!! :) I'm so thankful we didn't hit a deer! It seems like they were dozens per mile laying on the sides of the interstates.

{One of the cool tunnels I drove through. Please forgive the poor quality, it was taken with my cell phone and it's pretty crappy.}

And here's a few more cell phone pics of our hotel lobby and hallway. Almost everything was green!

Tomorrow I'll share pictures from our drive south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

Mabry Mill, Virginia {Mountain Trip Day Two}

On day two of my trip to the mountains, we traveled through Galax, Fancy Gap, and Meadows of Dan VA and along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We stopped at a few cabins on the scenic drive.

The Blue Ridge Parkway takes my breath away. Just look at the rolling mountains full of colorful leaves! ENCHANTING!!

One of my favorites stops of the entire five day trip was at Mabry Mill.

It was my first time to see it in "real life" and I could not stop snapping my camera. It is a very beautiful place, I definitely recommend you to see it if you ever get the chance.

After our stop at Mabry Mill, we had lunch at Tuggles Gap. It was a quiet country place and they had lots of beautiful artwork on the walls.

We took a back road to find this shot.

Another shot from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You can read about my first day on this trip here. Come back tomorrow and I'll share pictures from Glade Creek Mill and other cool places we visited on day three of my trip to the mountains!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!