The Blue Ridge

The first time I saw the Blue Ridge Parkway was in the middle of February a few years ago and it was terrifying. Super beautiful and majestic and all that jazz, but the leaves were long gone and with them, the illusion that you weren't driving on a cliff. See that picture above? In the spring, those trees and growth are full, so even though you totally are driving on a cliff, you feel like there's something stopping you from going over the edge. Not the case in February and not the case now. I drove up a few days ago. It was very pretty, but I think I went a week or two too late. There were still orange leaves, but most had fallen already, so it wasn't as colorful as it might have been and I was very aware of the fact that I was driving on a cliff. You take your eyes off the road for just a moment and bad things can happen. I just kept repeating to myself, "don't look at the view, don't look at the view, WHY DID YOU JUST LOOK AT THE VIEW, YOU'RE GONNA DIE, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD."

Good times.

I drove up through Pisgah forest which, luckily, was still very colorful. I suppose the trees on the tops of the mountains lose their leaves faster. I decided I would take pictures of Pisgah on the way down instead of on the way up... mostly because I was starving and I bought a cup of "melon medley" and it was calling my name and I'd be able to eat it at the first overlook on the parkway. I put on some Blake Shelton and made my way up, and didn't even cry once over how pretty the forest was. I finally got to the overlook, took some pictures, and took a few bites of melon before I saw some guy looking at me funny and decided I'd go eat my melon medley at a different overlook, thank you very much.

zoomed in to the top corner of previous pic 

Pisgah has a ton of little pull-offs that are just big enough for one or two cars. On the way up to the parkway I tried to make a mental list of which spots seemed prettiest so that I'd be prepared to stop on the way down. This was going just swimmingly until I took another bite of my melon medley at one of these stops and started choking on it, no one in sight to ask for help. I recovered, but still... reminiscent of my days living alone in the city, when I used to occasionally worry about choking and dying alone. 

I watch too much Sex and the City.

It's a legitimate fear though. 

But yes! I persevered. These pictures of Pisgah are my favorite. I enjoyed exploring the forest more than I enjoyed the Blue Ridge. The colors were so perfect and the road twists a lot, so the sunlight played some cool tricks. I could live in this forest if I wasn't terrified of bears. 

Moral of the story: I need to spend more time outdoors.
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Charlotte