Day 1 Blue Ridge Parkway

June 19 Leaving from Wanda's parents house on Lake Norman

We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Blowing Rock south to Asheville,

stopping at the visitors centers, collecting NPS Passport stamps & Wanda wants to have postcards from everywhere we stop. The Moses Cone house had been built by a textile factory owner and is now a visitor center selling some high end crafts- pottery, jewelry, textiles, etc.

The famous Linn Cove Viaduct, unfortunately I couldn't stop on the road for a better picture.

The visitor center explained how it was built with new technology - pre-stressed concrete sections.

We stopped at a few of the overlooks on the way. We had a nice chat with Ranger Elizabeth Faison at the NC Minerals Museum who told us about the NPS Jr. ranger program, which we'll also check out at the other Nat.Parks.

Mt. Mitchell is the highest Point east of the Miss. River and a prelude for our getting used to higher elevations.

The sun seemed alot more intense at that altitude & you can feel a difference in oxygen.

We went thru 7 tunnels on the BRP , one in downtown Asheville & another on I-40 . We spent about an hour or so walking around downtown Asheville. It's a funky downtown, sidewalk cafes & shops & lots of ex/ wanna be hippies. On the way to TN , we sat in traffic on I-40 for 2 hours to go 15 miles. I-40 is single lane- still rebuilding after rockslides closed it back in the winter.