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!!Happiest Mother’s Day...Mom’s are most special…!! THE Smokey’s, THE Blue Ridge, & Yogaville…
Asheville, North Carolina
"Each year thousands of backpackers
Climb the Great Smoky Mountains…
Nature's Peace flows into them
As Sunshine flows into Trees;
The Winds blow their freshness into them…
and their Cares drop off like Autumn Leaves"
Adapted from John Muir
(For us, Laura and myself, this perfectly describes the way we feel whenever we are hiking in the mountains)
Moonshine Creek Campground, wasour home for a week. It's a quiet, secluded, tree-filled backcountry campground in a most beautiful setting in the Smoky's and right alongside a rushing stream. October is the busiest season around these parts as all the "leaf peepers" come visit to see the Fall Colors.
The GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK; This Park straddles the states of Tennessee and North Carolina - it's hard to believe but it's the MOST visited Nat'l Park (more than Yellowstone 'n Yosemite combined!!). It's designated an 'International Biosphere Reserve' and a 'UNESCO World Heritage Site' due to it's biodiversity. It is home to the greatest diversity of plant, animal, and insect life in a temperate climate zone- - all thanks to over 85" of annual rain fall and elevations from 876' feet to 6643' at Clingman's Dome. Driving up to this dome, just last week, the temperature abruptly dropped to 37 degrees and we found ourselves in the middle of a hailstorm. At about the same time, but in the lower elevations, say 2000,' the temperature was almost 30 degrees warmer. The Cherokees were the ancestral Indians of the area. The vistas are spectacular; all the mountains are covered with deciduous and evergreen trees. Trails are designed to "conform to the landscape, not conquer it." Needless to say, the hiking was wonderful. Unlike California, there's NO water shortage!!
The BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY, a National Scenic Parkway and "America's Favorite Drive," runs for 469 miles through the Blue Ridge chain of the Appalachian Mtns. of North Carolina and Virginia. Building this parkway started during the FDR years and during WWII the Civilian Conservation Corps crews were replaced by conscientious objectors > so everyone was really busy during the war years! An amazing 26 tunnels, 168 bridges, and over 200 overlooks! We only drove segments of the parkway, maximum speed limit of 45 mph, endless curves, and it was absolutely spectacular. We'll return another day to drive the entire route! Don't miss it! "Blue" because from a distance this ancient mountain range, at least in May, looks pale blue. These mountains are OLDER than the Alps and the Himalayas!! Believe it…
Yogaville, oh I mean ASHEVILLE, NC. A big town in the mountains with the most eclectic and vibrant mix of San Francisco Haight Asbury of the 60's types, college students, outdoor enthusiasts, retirees and just plain 'regular folks,' we've ever seen! Asheville is home to: a very robust 'River Arts District', fantastic Central Downtown District with all small unique stores/restaurants in old buildings; the Wal Marts, Targets, Home Depots etc. are also around but all on the perimeter or outskirts of town, great restaurants along with several very tasty vegetarian eateries (i.e., "PLANT;" organic, all vegan cuisine, even biodynamic wines > fantastic, really!!), Biltmore Estate (Cornelius Vanderbilt, the largest home in US), plethora of yoga studios, rivers, trails and waterfalls seemingly everywhere!
For Laura and I, besides running or biking along the French Broad River, we are also attending Yoga classes. The classes are very varied and the instructors are wonderful and highly experienced. To great enthusiasm, Laura has been invited to play her Crystal/Sound Healing Bowls in many of the classes during Savasana (resting period at end of each class).
Amy, Laura's friend since middle school days, and her husband Mark have been wonderful hosts while we have been in Asheville! Amy, also from Baltimore, now resides in Asheville. She is Laura's first friend who started with her way back on their Yoga path .
We'll be in Asheville another two weeks, but for the first time since beginning our 'road adventure,' each of us are going our separate ways for about a week. Laura is heading back to Mississippi to see her friend Lily and attend her daughter's wedding. Along the way she's also visiting a couple "old" high school friends, Colleen and Barbara in Atlanta and her new friend Mary Ellen in Birmingham.
The "Boyz" from San Diego, Wayne Zucker, Bernie Feldman, Steve Hoke and Stu Yasgoor are meeting Gary in Raleigh, NC, and then will be shuttled to the South Outer Banks for a 6-day coastal bike ride. Z, Bernal and Hoker have been good friends since we were all 7 years of age. Yaz, the newbie of the group, only since we were 18 years old! Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT ever ask these guys any "trade secrets" of our youth!
Next Blog unveiling > sometime in early June
LAST, FAST & LOOSE:
Asheville storefront: "The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between"
Mozart
Dobra Tea Room, Ashville: "One drinks Tea to forget the noise of the World" Okakura Kakuzo; this is certainly true for Laura & I, coffee anyone??
The finest and most classic Tea Room/Shop we've ever seen!!
Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway offers an eclectic assortment of very beautiful handmade mountain gifts, a museum, and even a large assortment of folk art classes
Grove Park Inn, Asheville: National Register of Historic Places, 4-diamond resort on the western-facing slope of Sunset Mtn. with spectacular Blue Ridge Mtn. vistas. Gotta go there for drinks/dinner and views. Doesn't get better than this! Opened in 1913, "Arts and Crafts" style architecture built with rough large granite boulders and tudor-style red roof > spectacular.
North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville: 434 acres, arboretum and botanical gardens located within Bent Creek Experimental Forest. Bonsai collection is really impressive. We did some really nice hiking and bike riding in their "back country"
Ashville Motor Speedway: From 1960 -1999 "The River" in Carrier Park, as it was known was a legendary one-third mile oval fully-banked Southern Stock Car Race Track. When these guys were driving "neuticles to the wall," if you know what I mean, it must have been a demolition derby back in the day. (FYI: these are polypropylene implants for dogs and cats). The track has now been recycled into a velodrome (arena for track cycling). As I was riding around the track doing my victory laps, it was as if I could hear the raucous crowd screaming for me… As it turned out, it was the young speed demons, screaming, "hey 'old fella' move over or get out of here"…just joking!
Green Green, Everywhere. This area averages about 3" of precipitation every month NO water shortage and no irrigation needed. The only thing needed is a PIPELINE to California to refill the Water Coffers!
Namaste,
(Sanskrit: a customary greeting meaning the divine in me honors the divine in you)
Gary & Laura
- comments
Steven Dias What a blast! I'm so happy you both are enjoying your time! Happy Mother's Day to Laura!
Pattie What a beautiful time of year it must be in the mountains. Sounds so peaceful! Enjoy, and happy Mother's Day, Laura.
Diana Acton WOW!!!! Sounds FANTASTIC!!! Glad you are having such a variety of fun!! LUV U & Miss U!! ;-D
Mary Ellen Capps Loved seeing you today Laura.....can't wait till next time. Thank you for the goodies, the flowers grace my office.