Blue Ridge Parkway – Gfpacificbee’s Insights & photography

2025 OWS: 9 March — Haze

Hazy Skies

Over the

Blue Ridge Mountains

Debbie’s One Word Challenge theme this week is Haze. My entries this week are from a trip with my eldest son in 2017. He had a birthday wish to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We drove to the Parkway beginning our trip in Lancaster, South Carolina driving through Chester to the US-321N. This direction led us through Blowing Rock before traversing over onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. We (He) drove the Parkway from this southern point all the way to the North Carolina/Viginia Border. We did not drive the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We stopped at various milestones along the parkway for breaks, hiking, and to check out the scenery. At a few stops we incurred a bit of Haze which impaired the views somewhat.

We stopped more on the way back southbound than we did going northbound. Our northern most stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway was at Stone Mountain Overlook at Milepost 232.5. We stopped here shortly before proceeding to Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap, North Carolina where we hiked the Stone Mountain Loop Trail. We had great views of Stone Mountain, saw the Middle and Lower Waterfalls, and visited the Hutchinson Homestead. The Hutchinson Homestead is a mid-19th century farm with well maintained old buildings, a large meadow with terrific views of Stone Mountain State.

Our next stops were at Devils Garden Overlook at Milepost 235.7; Doughton Park at Milepost 241.1; Bluff Mountain at Milepost 243.4; Raven Rocks Overlook at Milepost 289.5; Moses H. Cone Memorial Park (not pictured) at Milepost 294.1; Craggy Gardens (not pictured) at Milepost 364.6; and Mount Pisgah at Milepost 408.6.

It was a long enjoyable drive and valuable experience full of memories spent with my eldest son. As you can see from the images some of our views were obscured and opaque due to the hazy atmosphere.

Debbie’s One Word Sunday-Haze

Throwback Thursday

Camera: Apple iPhone 7 Plus

Location: Blue Ridge Parkway; North Carolina, USA

God Bless. Have you had any hazy days lately? Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

2024 The Numbers Game #42” — #163

To play along, go to your photos file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos you find under that number and include a link to your blog in my Numbers Game blog of the day. If instead of numbers, you have changed the identifiers of all your photos into words, pick a word or words to use instead, and show us a variety of photos that contain that word in the title.

This week’s number is 163. My 163 photos happen to come from a few trips I have taken and a few lakes I’ve visited over the years.

From our trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Blue Ridge Mountains:

From my trip to Cozumel, Mexico:

From New Braunfels, Texas:

*The New Braunfels Railroad Museum*
*New Braunfels, Texas*

From Lakes we enjoy visiting:

Judy’s Numbers Game 42 – 163

Jez’s Water Water Everywhere

Cee’s Flower of the Day

God Bless. Have a fabulous rest of your week. Thank you for visiting and sharing your time and thoughts with us. I appreciate y’all very much.

Flashback Seven Years to 2017 —- A Fun Drive

Destination Fun

Blue Ridge Parkway

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway from South Carolina to the Virginia Border and back down to Pisgah National Forest and then on into South Carolina once again was a trip I’ll always remember.

It has been seven years since I made that trip with my eldest son. We took the drive on his birthday weekend in October 2017. We stopped at various milestones along the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the beautiful views and tour a few different places along the route. We stopped at Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap, North Carolina and hiked the Stone Mountain Loop Trail beginning at the Upper Trailhead. We continued driving the Blue Ridge Parkway once we left Stone Mountain State Park; we drove to Wilson, North Carolina (Wilson was my married name & the surname of my children.)

On the adventure South on the Parkway, we took a detour to my Cousin Jim’s Produce Market for some fresh produce & a break to stretch our legs. Before we arrived at Jim’s Produce, we stopped for a photo by the Doc and Merle Watson Highway sign ( Doc & Merle Watson are my fourth cousin & fourth cousin once removed respectively).

Venturing further south, we stopped at several more milestones to enjoy the beautiful scenery and views overlooking the valley. We stopped for supper at The Pisgah Inn’s restaurant. The food was delicious and the views were spectacular. The Pisgah Inn is located in the Pisgah National Forest amongst the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway (Blue Ridge Pkwy Milepost 408.6, Waynesville, NC).

It was a lovely and enjoyable trip, not just for the scenery, but always for the quality time spent with my son. Click on each photo for enhanced viewing. Have a wonderful day!

Lens-Artists Challenge #316 – Destination: Fun

Becky’s Squares

Debbie’s One Word Sunday-Memories

Throwback Thursday

Camera: Apple iPhone 7 Plus

Location: Various locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway; North Carolina

God Bless. Thank you for visiting and sharing in our adventure memories. If you have the opportunity I’d recommend driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. You’ll enjoy the scenery as much as we did. I appreciate y’all very much.

Slow Streaming Over Stones

Upper Waterfalls

Stone Mountain State Park

Leanne’s hosting Monochrome Madness with the theme of Waterfalls this week. To join the challenge just post photos of waterfalls on your blog and tag Monochrome Madness or leave a pingback to Leanne’s Monochrome Madness post.

My eldest son and I took a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway back in the Fall of 2017 as a way to celebrate his birthday. During our drive we stopped at several overlooks prior to stopping at Stone Mountain State Park in North Carolina. At Stone Mountain State Park there is the Upper and Lower Waterfalls you may hike towards.

We hiked along Stone Mountain Loop Trail to view the Upper Waterfalls. I took several photos along the route as we watched the Waterfall cascading down over Stone Mountain.

Enjoy the view, however, I would prefer you not to YAWN during the viewing. I would hope it would not bore you but rather enable you to dawn a smile instead.

Can you just visualize the water streaming down over the stones?

The Waterfall slowly increases its strength and speed as it continuously cascades down the Mountain.

Monochrome Madness-Waterfalls moving

RDP Wednesday-YAWN

Jez’s Water water Everywhere #224

Camera: iPhone 7 Plus

Location: Stone Mountain State Park; Roaring Gap, North Carolina, USA

God Bless. Thank you for viewing the Waterfalls at Stone Mountain State Park with us. Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts with me. I appreciate y’all very much.

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