A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That . .: Blue Ridge Parkway Trip

Monday, May 14, 2012

Blue Ridge Parkway Trip - Day 9

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Traveled from milepost 431.4 to the end at milepost 469.1

We wanted to leave fairly early since Mark, Jeff and I had a long drive ahead of us today. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel and headed out to yesterday's ending point at the Richland Balsam Overlook. Yesterday was nice and sunny, today it was overcast and cloudy, but at least it didn't rain. The overlook was in the clouds and most of the ride was too.

Sunrise at the Mount Pisgah Inn

Cherry Cove Overlook

Richland Balsam Overlook, in the clouds

Jeff ready for the last day on the parkway

Joe, Jeff and Mark ready to go again

Karen and I stopped at Waterrock Knob where on a clear day you can see the Great Smokey Mountains and 4 states. Today we could barely see our hands in-front of us, which made it an interesting drive, and even more interesting bike trip.

View of the 4 different states ;)

Driving in the clouds, well I was stopped to take this pic

We didn't want to stay in the higher elevations too long because it was cold and we also didn't want to be behind the guys while they were zooming down the hills. They said that there were several cars that could not get by them because they were going faster than what the cars were able to. Once we got lower down and were able to see something, we did stop at couple places but wanted to get to the end point before them. We found a Visitor's Center with restrooms in Cherokee N.C. where they could change and clean up a little bit before heading home.

Ballhoot Scar Overlook

Blue Ridge Parkway at the Ballhoot Scar Overlook

At the Cherokee N.C. Visitor Center

Cherokee N.C.

We then headed back to the end point and didn't have to wait too long before they arrived. After the required picture taking we loaded the cars and headed to the Visitor Center. We said goodby to Joe and Karen who went home to Georgia. Jeff and I drove with Mark 10 hours to his home in Braddock Heights in Maryland. We stayed overnight at his home.