Oh What A Beautiful Day! (Pisgah Forest, NC)

Sunday we worked.  After getting up this morning, we puttered around a bit and then decided to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to Waynesville, NC. It's about 35 miles away.  As we were preparing to depart, there was a knock at the door.  Bo barked ferociously, that's his duty, and then I opened the door.  There stood our fashionable grandmother type, Sue.  Now Sue is always a welcomed sight, but today she out did herself.  Today she's standing there with a plate full of MASSIVE brownies.  These brownies are literally "to die for."  They're a couple inches thick covered with some sort of frosting, PEANUT BUTTER (Lord, I do still LOVE peanut butter), Rice Krispies and melted chocolate!!!!!

A Happy Duane!

I'm certain that when I do chow down on them I'll break into a sweat.  But first I must finish my blogging.  Now back to our destination.  Waynesville is a delightfully quaint, historic and picturesque town.  We've been there several times over the years and have always considered it a strong possibility for retirement.  It's still in the running for one day.  We're hiking tomorrow with Dave and Ardi so we wanted to have an easy day today.  But, the current weather is mid 70's, like no humidity and clear skies!  So we certainly wanted to be out in this great weather.  We didn't leave the camper until about 1:00pm.  Our first stop was the Pisgah Inn for lunch.  It's 4 miles up the mountain and 4 miles down the BRP.  The location is supreme.  It sits on a bluff overlooking a gorgeous view of mountains and valleys.  We stayed there years ago and had to make reservations 2 years in advance for a mid October room to be there for the Fall colors.  Today we only had lunch, but we were seated at a window seat with a spectacular view!  Lunch was good, our waitress quite nice and the company the best!!!!  In the gift shop there I saw a great hiking shirt.  It read, "Take a compass, eating your friend is so awkward."  Nice! Then we headed for Waynesville.  We stopped at most every scenic spot knowing we wouldn't get to Waynesville until after the stores were closed.  But we didn't care because the trip was all about the journey.  The drive was more beautiful than we expected.  I won't attempt to describe the scenery, I'll just let  Debbie's pictures "speak a thousand words."

We did finish off the event with a trip to the new Waynesville Walmart.  We needed a few provisions and other necessities of life.  We drove home highway 276, a winding, mountainous thriller. Tomorrow we hike.

Goodnight!

Duane