Celebration June 2010

Here is a pic of the Great Smoky Mountains from the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Quite spectacular and they just seem to go on and on and on. This was taken yesterday on my birthday. Last year my friend Maya took me to the coast and I said I wanted to live there. This year she kidnapped me to the mountains. I want a place there too.

I did manage to celebrate my birthday for a week this year just like last. Yesterday was day five and we started off a little after eight on the AM. She didn't tell me where we were going. We drove through Blowing Rock, NC which is a picturesque and quaint little town. Gorgeous! It is a tourist town and has people all year round, especially in the winter for skiing. The little shops were wonderful as well as the older homes.

We then headed to Boone, NC which is home to Appalachian State, a college town. But to wake up in the morning and see mountains covered in green in the summer, reds and golds in the fall, and white in the winter would be awesome. We had lunch there and dessert was from a bakery that uses all organic ingredients. I had a cranberry, coconut, chocolate chip cookie that was chewy on the inside and crispy around the edges. Yum! You could taste the love in that cookie. Also got a piece of triple chocolate cake with cream cheese in the center and in the frosting. Wow!

Then we headed to the parkway, passing an area that had a huge landslide. The two-lane highway had been cut off. Further along we went part way under a huge boulder. As big as one of those mini buses. The road did some serious curving and Maya is such an excellent driver. I wasn't really worried, but some of those turns were treacherous and didn't want to end up in her lap. We got to the viaduct (I wish I was able to get a picture of it) but it was part of the road that swung out and away from the side of the mountain. Amazing. We came around a bend and there was this expanse of mountains on top of mountains. I just about cried it was so beautiful. It looked right out of a magazine.

We continued on and stopped at several historic sites. Here is a painter at the Moses Cohn House. Inside is a shop for arts and crafts from members of the Southern Highlands Guild. We stopped at several other shops too.

Moses Cohn House backyard.

The front of the house. A very big house. The Moses Cohn Hospital is in Greensboro, NC.

Along the parkway we came across Negro Mountain which was renamed Jackson Mountain. The first name because many slaves traveled it to freedom. I guess someone didn't like the name Negro so it was changed. I guess it didn't matter that it was a part of our collective history.

I also stood where Daniel Boone tread. I use to watch Fess Parker in the TV series(I think that was filmed in CA but the real guy was in NC). I can also say I've stood where Queen Elizabeth I was in a ruined castle. That's another story.

We stopped at this very old cemetery with dates going back to the early 1800s. I don't know what kind of flowers these are but they were pretty and smelled very nice.

Some of the markers were just stones.

A close up of the pretty flowers.

It was an all day trip and I was in awe of the mountains. I still want a coastal home but I want a mountain retreat too. It was a great day with a great friend. I felt very special and really realized there's so much more of this world I want to see. Two years in a row of a good birthday day. I wonder what's going to top this in 2011?