Smoky Mountain National Park

     Now, live on Channel 13, Rick Nesbitt from Minnesota comments on the colorful trees along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

     We took our sporty little Honda and drove another portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway into Smoky Mountain National Park.  The day was nearly perfect - clear blue skies, 75 degrees, and a riot of color in the hills.  The drive up to the parkway was a steep climb - the higher parts of the Parkway are near Asheville.  The views out over the mountains were spectacular - lots of bright yellows and oranges.  Not as many maples in this high area so  the reds are not so dominant.  All along the roadside there are bunches of purple asters adding some contrast color to the golden hues.  As we drove higher there are more pines, but the beetles and the air pollution have been hard on them and have killed off a large portion of the spruce.
    We got to a very high point with a great lookout and the Waterrock Knob Visitor Center and pulled off to take a bunch of pictures.  I noticed a camera crew doing some filming and then we saw that they were focusing on our Minnesota license plate.  They interviewed Rick asking him about the leaf colors.  He was very loyal to Minnesota and commented that there are beautiful changing leaves in Minnesota too, but no mountains such as these in North Carolina.  When we got back from our rambles today we turned on Channel 13 and there we both were, taking pictures and enjoying the leaves on local TV.
    After 30 miles on the Parkway we descended into Smoky Mountain National Park and the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. There were a lot of other folks who decided that today was a perfect day for driving through the park to see the leaves.  We had a picnic lunch on the deck of the Visitor Center as we looked out onto the Smoky Mountains - a beautiful view.  After lunch we walked around the Mountain Farm Museum which is a collection of historic log buildings gathered from throughout the Smoky Mountains and preserved on the Visitor Center site. The buildings include a house, barn, applehouse, springhouse, and smokehouse and give us an idea of the way the original settlers to the area lived.  They grew corn for corn meal and feed for the chickens and hogs.  They had apple orchards to make cider and canned applesauce for winter baking. They had big kitchen gardens to raise vegetables to can for food in the winter and a barn for their livestock.  I looked into the small log cabin that was the main house and noticed that the quilt rack could be raised up to the rafters during the day to get it out of the way and then lowered in the evening so that the women in the family could work on making more warm covers for the family.  Such a simple and yet convenient way to manage a frame that can easily be 4' x 8'.
     There is no admission to the park as a U.S Highway runs through the middle of it.  We drove in about 25 miles and then up to the highest part of the park - Klingman's Dome - which is a rocky knob on top of one of the mountains.  We could remember doing the same drive about 10 years ago in our rented camper, but it was a breeze driving the little car today.  By the time we got to the top the afternoon haze was thick and our view was not as clear as it had been earlier.  The pollution gets to be pretty thick and ruins some of the view.
    We drove back through what amounts to Asheville's rush hour - only slightly busier than midday.  Rick checked hopefully with the campground office to see if our part had arrived from Winnebago, but no such luck.  UPS comes at 10 am, FedEx later in the day.  We are hoping for the 10 am delivery, installation at the truck repair shop and back in business by noon, but we will see.  For the moment, we are watching the water flow in the Swannanoa River and the sun set behind the hills.  I always forget that in the mountains it goes from sunset to dark in such a short time.  No dusk.