Day 2: Linville Falls and Grandfather Mountain

The next day, we had some decent breakfast by the hot tub, watched the sun rise over the greenery in the backyard and let our dog loose...Our plan was to return back home, again taking the scenic route.
It was a beautiful day, perfect for taking photographs and letting the top down.

We started at around 10 am. An hr later, we reached the Linville Falls Visitor Center, located near Milepost 316. One of the most challenging hikes is the 12 mile long Linville Gorge, which offers beautiful views of the falls surrounded by the steep walls of the gorge. Our plan was to do a short 30 minute/way trek to the Falls, called Erwins View Trail. The route was beautiful, and Neo made a lot of canine and human friends.

We took a few shots by the falls, admiring the beauty and the colours, and started our drive back on the Parkway. We only wanted to take a birds-eye view of Grandfather mountain (look out for the mile posts), so we stopped  (I think) at Mile post 310. Here is the view that we got! Pretty, isn't it?

The drive back was mostly uneventful, but spectacular nevertheless. We had lunch by a beautiful lake (gobbled up all the leftovers from the night before) and relaxed for a bit. I highly recommend bringing your own food and having it by the nature-side. Its so simple, yet a most satisfying experience. I know now why so many poets and philosophers get inspired by nature...The Blue Ridge experience was so surreal that I think it might have converted Neo into a thinker! 

Ciao...until the next Fall!

Day 1: Blue Ridge Parkway

5 Adults, Baby and a Dog weekend out

Being of tropical origin, I did not understand the real concept of 'Fall'...well, that is until now. Fall in and around our house was simply breathtaking. I did not know there were so many shades of greens, yellows and oranges. The leaves were dancing in the cool breeze showing off their new changing colours (I refuse to spell it the American way) every single day. A friend suggested we visit Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469 mile National Parkway most well known for its scenic beauty during Fall. My very worthy husband quickly found a beautiful 4 bedroom wooded cabin in Burnsville...now all we had to do was find 4 people to share it with! Our friends, Sarup, Avani agreed to join us with their son Om and so did our very sportive friend, Preetha. The plan is mapped out here:

View Larger Map

We packed a lot of ready-to-eat food and drinks (as we usually do :) ), and some warm clothes, and set out first thing Saturday morning. Preetha joined Neo in the back seat and tell you what...he enjoyed her company so much that it made me a little jealous :(After about 4 hours of driving, we reached Blowing Rock, an unusual rock, jutting out from about 1500 sf above a gorge. It was windy and a little bit chilly, but offered superb views of the entire Mountain ranges. Omie and Neo bonded here, the beginning of the doggu-baby friendship!

By now most of us were starving, and after striking more than necessary poses with the Fall colours, we set out to our next destination...Bass Lake. On the way, we couldn't stop but stop at this lovely spot...it literally called out "Take a picture!" So we did! Rahul insisted on taking the top down on the Saab, so now we were not just cold, we were also freezing, as we climbed a bit higher. 

Few miles ahead was Bass Lake, where we had planned on the picnic. We set out the picnic mat, and relaxed beside the lake. Pot lucks are so much fun and full of surprises! Neo was tied up to the strongest tree we could find...although he is a dog, he has horse power! Luckily him pulling the tree down did not work, so he did try uprooting it by digging...Smart fella! Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, we headed out to our cabin. We wanted to reach there before dark, but somehow even with all technology (3 iphones and 1 GPS), we lost our way. Finally we got back on track, followed a spooky trail (it was a dirt road, that seemingly led to nowhere)...and lo and behold, there was our not-so-spooky cabin...at least from the outside!

I wish I had taken some photos inside the cabin, because the cabin 'decor' mainly consisted of creepy looking dolls that had an eye, an arm or some other body part missing. I distinctly remember that one of the dolls had had a surgery, so it had one blue and one red button for eyes...and I can swear that the buttons interchanged after few minutes!

So as you can tell, we had a great time spooking each other out. After playing some cards, we hit bed at about 1 am, reassured that our dog will protect us if any of these dolls decide to come to life...