The mountains put on a scene that was amazing today. This was our best and last day in the mountains. The autumn/fall colors really came in, these are a couple of trees surrounding our cabin.

We spent the morning in Boone, strolling down the main street enjoying the park benches and the flower gardens along the pavement (footpath).

Next stop, was lunch in Blowing Rock. We tried Bistro Roca, while the food landed up tasting good, it was a little disappointing. Our lunches of Salmon with fries and a Veggie Burger, were cold the first time out. The second round the food was great; the veggie burger was Eggplant and Quinoa with tzatziki, and would recommend giving it a try.

For the trip along the way, we grabbed a coffee at the acclaimed “Bald Guy Brew of Blowing Rock”. They made the best Latte I have ever tasted….I will be stopping by there again tomorrow – one for the road, so to speak.

The afternoon of sight seeing started with the overlook at Linn Cove. It was totally worth the stop.

We got back in the car to spend the afternoon at Linville Falls region, a little further south on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We had decide to go to the Linville Cavern and do the Linville Falls walk. I would definitely recommend both – Sean’s favorite is the cave. Some facts we learnt about the cavern:

• There were fresh water trout that go blind in the dark after approx. two years of living in the spring cavern creek.
• The stalagmites grow up (grow with all their might), stalactites grow down (they hold on tight). They are made mostly of Calcium Carbonate, Iron oxide give them a rust color. Algae (green) grow over the growths.
• The bats return to the cave in winter when it is cold enough for them to hibernate.

We throughly enjoyed the 0.8 mile walk (each way) to the Linville Falls. Sean went a little crazy and pretty much ran there and back, jumping off every rock, tree stump or step he could find – exhausting just to watch let alone keep up 🙂 (I am getting old).

We started the walk around 5 pm, and got great sun-light in the late afternoon.

As sun was setting as we made our way home, stopping quickly to catch the sunset at the Grandfather mountain overlook.

It is always a little daunting at night on a windy road….I kept myself entertained by experimental with some night shots :-). The last of our photo tour.

Well, I hope everyone enjoyed our vacation photographs. We had a successful vacation and, yes it was relatively STRESS FREE=RELAXING!!!!  Goal achieved.

Day 1 Photos

Day 2 Photos

Sean’s Photographs (age 5)