She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

Driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway certainly gives new meaning to the folk song about "comin round the mountain". The twists and turns are enough to give motion sickness to the hardest sailor. Springtime in the Blue Ridge is beautiful with the wildflowers and trees in bloom. The dogwoods are just now blooming and the fields are loaded with yellow, pink and purple asters, mustard, azaleas and huge rhododendrons. We have seen hillsides of trilliums - usually you only see one or two plants. On the south side of the hills on the parkway, we have seen hundreds. Before we hit the parkway we were in Virginia Beach for the Challenger Baseball tournament. We visited Norfolk Botanical Gardens where the rose garden was in full bloom. Luckily the Clays were visiting with us and Carmen had brought her camera - so i may be able to post photos later. We, of course, forgot our camera and our binoculars. On Mother's Day was toured Monticello and were once again amazed by all the interests of Thomas Jefferson. Driving through the Blue Ridge is like being in a foreign country. Once we hit Peaks of Otter, we entered a whole new world. The windy roads rival those in Italy around Lake Como and when the local people talk, it is like listening to a foreign language. We have to really concentrate and listen carefully to make out what they are saying. And the local people do love to talk. They so friendly. For example, we left at 5 a.m. for a typical travel day and we were too early for most places to be open. So we stopped at Meadows of Dan at Becky's Fried Pie Restaurant. Becky was very friendly and told us all about her family and husband of 29 years who had died of a massive heart attack. It turns out Becky's Fried Pies are big circles of biscuit dough that she fills with eggs and bacon, folds in half and then fries to a golden brown. They are delicious but too many of those would definitely induce a heart attack. We also stopped at some little mining place to sort through rocks with a strainer and try to find gemstones. We found some amythist and citrine and tourmaline, and adventurine, but the most interesting thing was meeting the owner of the store whose family had been featured in a National Geographic article 50 years ago. It was about how the mountain people are hanging onto their traditions. He had the article and even showed us the huge topaz and jeweler's loop that was pictured in the article. He told us his whole family history. Bob remarked later that these people don't realize that we are from the city and don't want to talk to anyone! Anyway, the people have been wonderful and we have seen many, many wild turkeys, deer and even a mother bear and 2 cubs. With rain due for the next few days, we have decided to skip Tennessee and head home tomorrow.