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Monday, June 28, 2010--Yes, we made it to Linville Falls! We started out from Blowing Rock on NC 221...our first miscalculation. We thought it would be a wider, straighter road than the Blue Ridge Parkway. NOT! It took almost an hour to go 25 miles at a maximum speed of 35 mph, even less on the 90-degree turns around the base of Grandfather Mountain. But we did arrive at the Visitor's Center (which is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, after all) about straight up noon. It was a little warm...unseasonable, the ranger said.
This mile marker was close to the end of our journey to the upper falls overlook. We had hoped to climb on to the next overlook so we could see the famous view of the entire falls coming out of the gorge...but heat, lack of water and recent medication wore us down. We did head down hill to the overlook that was a mere 500 feet away--the whole walk was one mile round trip.
But to start at the beginning. From the visitor's center, a bridge takes you across the Linville River, which is fairly wide at this point.
It is also very muddy here. Norm said he was expecting a sparkling mountain stream, but high meadows must produce muddy runoff during those afternoon showers!
A little farther along, some rapids appear and the forest crowds right to the edge of the water. It is so impene- trable, we wondered how the early explorers, hunters, and trappers (like the William Linville who was killed near here by Indians in 1766 according to legend) ever made it through the brush.
We were thankful for a cool and mostly shaded trail through the woods. It went up hill and then down...we saw lots of rhododendron and mountain laurel along the way, some still in bloom. I'll include those in a separate post about the flowers we have seen in North Carolina. There was poison ivy here, too, but mostly it was trimmed back.
I have gotten a little out of order, but here we are, sitting on a wall above the rapids as the river enters the gorge to head for the lower falls (the ones in most of the postcard pictures.)
This abyss is what was behind us in the picture. The gray granite is worn in amazing patterns here and the water, once wide, is now constricted in this narrow gorge, where it flows with very rapid force.
This photo should have come along a little earlier...it is the path leading to the overlook. It is right beside the signposts that I posted near the top. It was full of roots and small boulders... we told ourselves to be careful because the ace bandage I had in my bag probably wasn't enough to treat a sprained ankle and neither of us could have been easily carried out! Amazingly, we met a lot of people with dogs on leash during this hike. Some had as many as three. The dogs seemed to be enjoying it.
On our return trip I realized this view from the trail was toward the overlook. If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see tiny people in the distance. So this is what the "back side" of the upper falls (the first photo at the top of this post) looks like. We rested, got water, and then drove back toward Blowing Rock on the Parkway, stopping at almost every overlook to take more photos of the Blue Ridge mountains. I'll put those up next time.
Well, the Quad- rennial, which I haven't yet blogged about, ended today and Norm and I set out on the next leg of our vacation. As we drove west on Highway 421, a very pleasant parkway, we came to a brand new visitor's center with this sign.
Some of the ground were planted in native wildflowers. I think this is a type of bergamont...saw something like it at Indian Creek Camp Park in St. Charles last year. The wildflower plot is just getting established as the center has been open less than a year.
These look like a relative of black-eyed susans but I didn't bring my flower book with me (trying to keep from lugging so much weight through the airport) so I can't be sure. Maybe the picture will help with identification when we are home.
After about 2 hours out of Greensboro we arrived at the famous Blue Ridge Parkway. It's a national park in itself, and it's 75 years old this year. Several overlooks give drivers a chance to stop and admire the scenery. If I'm not mistaken, this elevation is about the same as the elevation in Colby, where we were a week ago.
This was the view toward the east from the above over look. All the vegetation was very green and the distant hills were, well, blue. The forest comes right up to the road, and there are signs of a pretty bad ice storm in recent years...lots of broken branches and downed trees all along it.
This overlook faced west, not east, so the smoky effect is even stronger. I guess there is a reason they call this the Blue Ridge. We enjoyed lots of views like this, including high meadows with baled hay. Private property comes right up to the road right of way so there are lots of farms and other buildings, and sometimes a state highway runs parallel to the parkway for a while.
We arrived at our inn in Blowing Rock and enjoyed a cheese and cracker snack in the breakfast room. Then we went to dinner at a nice restaurant just across the street. We started out dining on the patio, but after thunder and lightning got uncomfortably close, moved inside. Soon there was a shower...we walked back to the inn after the rain stopped and sat on the porch in rocking chairs..and this rainbow appeared. Good omen for our trip, we hope!
The Quadrennial has been wonderful; saw old friends and made some new acquaintances. Just happened to sit next to a woman at lunch from Ash Grove who knew one of my family members who had belonged to that church. The world just gets smaller. But there has not been time to just think and compose, or even upload pictures...and I'm really sleepy tonight. Tomorrow is the last session and then we are off in search of all things Linville in NC. With luck, I'll rest up and get some photos posted and also some updates. Whenever!
One thing about North Carolina roads...at least on U.S. Highways and Interstates, all the exchanges are planted with masses of day lilies in yellow, gold, orange and multiple mixtures. It is a spectacular sight that's hard to capture when one is keeping her eye on the road at 60 m.p.h. but if I get a chance, I'll try to get a shot of them.
Visitor #7500 this morning was sister-in-law Carol Ann in Texas, and she left a comment, as did sister-in-law Kay in Garden City (aka Hutchinson) who looked in at her usual early hour. Thanks for all of your support and encouragement! I have five wonderful sisters, thanks to Norm!
The latest from the Livesay family as two of them return to Haiti tomorrow.
on the fly
Well, here I am, blogging about the Colby High School Reunion and the Linville mini- reunion in backwards order. That is, I'm starting with the gathering at Larry's on Sunday. It was a surprise early 70th birthday party for him. Here are 5 of the 6 sibs. Harold was in the hospital with breathing problems on Sunday and Monday, but we are happy to report he is home as of today. Stay well, Harold! Standing are Don, Norm and Larry, with Walt and Maxine seated.
Every get- together brings out a different batch of cousins. The 2010 cousins/ grandkids picture rounded up these 6. Doug and Carla are seated; Paula, Debbie, Dina and Judy are standing. This is the first reunion Judy has been able to attend and we were thrilled to see her. I will have more photos of other family when I get around to posting again.
And then there is The Quilt. It was first unveiled at the picnic in the park on Saturday, but at Larry's I had enough tall people to hold it almost vertical for a better shot. This weekend I learned there are at least 12 more great-great-grandkids whom I will need to add to the borders, so I'm not quite done, but it will be ready when the Spanish Lake quilters are!
The Bentrotts have been silent for a while but yesterday Kim posted the good news on their blog: read it here: http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/06/adoption-day.html
For those in St. Louis who helped raise the funds for the first year of Patrick's mission in Haiti, Patrick will visit and give 4 or 5 presentations between June 24 and 30 about his work with CONASPEH and his and Kim's family situation now. For more information contact the Southeast Gateway Area Disciples Office at www.segadisciples.org
This new post from Kim Bentrott explains the limbo that many American parents who adopted Haitian children before the earthquake are in...they were able to leave Haiti under humanitarian parole in January, but now that their adoptions are final in the U.S., they still cannot become citizens because of a provision in the humanitarian parole legislation. Bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate to remedy this...a situation that is keeping the Bentrotts and other missionaries like the Livesays from returning to Haiti with their now legally adopted children and continuing their work. (Until the children are citizens, they cannot get visas, for one thing.) So, if you are interested (even mildly so), please visit this link below or click on the link to Adventures in Life on the right rail of this blog, and read how you might urge your own representative or senators to cosponsor this bill. Right now it has been in a committee for a month....
http://kimandpatrick.blogspot.com/2010/06/legislative-hope.html
This little guy was 7 years old on June 12! It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by since he was just a small handful of puppy learning to live 4 stories up in downtown St. Louis. Even though he now lives in Florida and we get to see him at most once or twice a year, he is always excited and eagerly greets us like his long lost best friends. Sam just makes you smile--he's a natural therapy dog...good mood therapy that is... Doug posted this photo on his FB page on Sunday and I just had to steal it. Miss you, little guy. Hope you got a special treat.
You can tell how behind I am in blogging because this photo of our cheerful pansies was taken on May 9. They are still blooming, but they have been replaced in this spot on the wall by a pot of purple petunias that I need to photograph. I am blaming this delay on Facebook and my genealogy addiction, plus preparations for some upcoming travels.
Saturday we spent 2 hours in the Special Collections room of the St. Louis County Public Library, looking for traces of bygone Linvilles and McElyeas and other family strains in far off North Carolina, where we will be visiting at the end of this month. Then we had a great lunch at Mi Ranchito with our friends the Dixons, whom we have been trying to get together with since before I posted the last blog! Then we went shopping for a shower gift and a massive thunderstorm moved in while we were in a nearby Target store. After we got home I wrapped the gift and did some paper work while Norm worked on de-linting the exhaust fan in the upstairs bathroom. It has a moisture sensor and it has not been shutting off as soon as it should. We decided all the lint was holding in the moisture...hope that works. More rain tonight. I critiqued a college paper for a church friend. We ate a fresh salad for supper, with baby lettuce from Thies Farm. Norm also picked our first raspberries--a handful--of the season on Friday. Sunday morning cereal with fresh berries. Can't wait, but I should go to bed first, I guess.
The title refers, of course, to when I hope to post a proper blog, not just this brief update. Meanwhile, I appreciate the faithful daily readers who still check in despite my virtual absence: Debi and or Mike; Maxine, Carol, Kay (did you know you had moved to Hutchinson?), Jan, Sandy, Doug, and a few mystery folks. Thank you all.
Monday, June 28, 2010--Yes, we made it to Linville Falls! We started out from Blowing Rock on NC 221...our first miscalculation. We thought it would be a wider, straighter road than the Blue Ridge Parkway. NOT! It took almost an hour to go 25 miles at a maximum speed of 35 mph, even less on the 90-degree turns around the base of Grandfather Mountain. But we did arrive at the Visitor's Center (which is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, after all) about straight up noon. It was a little warm...unseasonable, the ranger said.
This mile marker was close to the end of our journey to the upper falls overlook. We had hoped to climb on to the next overlook so we could see the famous view of the entire falls coming out of the gorge...but heat, lack of water and recent medication wore us down. We did head down hill to the overlook that was a mere 500 feet away--the whole walk was one mile round trip.
But to start at the beginning. From the visitor's center, a bridge takes you across the Linville River, which is fairly wide at this point.
It is also very muddy here. Norm said he was expecting a sparkling mountain stream, but high meadows must produce muddy runoff during those afternoon showers!
A little farther along, some rapids appear and the forest crowds right to the edge of the water. It is so impene- trable, we wondered how the early explorers, hunters, and trappers (like the William Linville who was killed near here by Indians in 1766 according to legend) ever made it through the brush.
We were thankful for a cool and mostly shaded trail through the woods. It went up hill and then down...we saw lots of rhododendron and mountain laurel along the way, some still in bloom. I'll include those in a separate post about the flowers we have seen in North Carolina. There was poison ivy here, too, but mostly it was trimmed back.
I have gotten a little out of order, but here we are, sitting on a wall above the rapids as the river enters the gorge to head for the lower falls (the ones in most of the postcard pictures.)
This abyss is what was behind us in the picture. The gray granite is worn in amazing patterns here and the water, once wide, is now constricted in this narrow gorge, where it flows with very rapid force.
This photo should have come along a little earlier...it is the path leading to the overlook. It is right beside the signposts that I posted near the top. It was full of roots and small boulders... we told ourselves to be careful because the ace bandage I had in my bag probably wasn't enough to treat a sprained ankle and neither of us could have been easily carried out! Amazingly, we met a lot of people with dogs on leash during this hike. Some had as many as three. The dogs seemed to be enjoying it.
On our return trip I realized this view from the trail was toward the overlook. If you click to enlarge the photo, you can see tiny people in the distance. So this is what the "back side" of the upper falls (the first photo at the top of this post) looks like. 
