North Carolina, the beginning of a beautiful journey...

The last time Jack and I spent any time in Pennsylvania, we took a drive along Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Mountains. It was beautiful, but at that time of the year, many places were closed, and we vowed that we would some day come back and do the "whole thing", drive the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way. Now, a decade later, we are following up on that dream! This time, however, we would travel south to north. For us, it would begin in Ashville North Carolina.

Ashville had more things to "see & do" than we had time or desire. The "big draw" there, is the Biltmore Estate. At $64 pp to tour the estate, we passed. Instead, we spent our time venturing around downtown. We ended up in their River Arts District, located in turn-of-the-century buildings. Both of us love "local art", especially when we can meet the artist, as we did with Jonas Gerard. I fell in love with his vibrant use of color, so couldn't resist a small landscape on ceramic tile. We saw such fun & unique works done by these various artist, it made it a wonderful way to spend the day.

A quick visit to the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area (visitor's center) to find out what special areas we should look for, towns to stop in, etc. We learned about the music of the Ridge, called The Crooked Road. We decided we would do our best to stop at as many "locations" that held music jams, concerts & performances as we could.

Maps, booklets and brochures in hand, we were ready to journey through this lush green forest and blue mountains of the Blue Ridge Parkway!












































































If you wish to view the rest of the photos from this trip, you can at my Flickr account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74905158@N04/

...on the road in North Carolina, Marie