Blue Ridge Parkway, Day 2

Sunday, August 25 - Another great day on the BRP.  Weather was perfect, and the views were once again fantastic.  Because the speed limit on the parkway is 45mph, things tend to move a little bit slower than on your typical road.  So, it was a little noteworthy when we had a red sports car whiz past us at one point.  We laughed when we saw his vanity license plate:

N3V3RL8

He pretty much left us in the dust after passing us.  Then, a little further up the road we had pulled at what was actually a campground entrance. When we stopped to ask the ranger for directions, who was there?  Mr. N3V3RL8!  At a

campground??  His girlfriend was leaning against the car having a cigarette while he talked to the ranger.  Interesting, because they didn't look like the camping type.  Anyway, we moved on.  Then, a little while later, who pulls up behind us again?  N3V3RL8.  We did this back-and-forth passing thing about 3 times, due to various stops at scenic overlooks.  At one point Sandy said, "Well, that's the last time we'll see N3V3RL8.

As we were getting close to the North Carolina border, we wanted to squeeze one last stop in at the Blue Ridge Music Center before they closed at 5pm.   It was 4:53pm when we pulled up.  We stopped in the information center just to see if there was anything interesting to learn.  They were very friendly, but were very interested in having us head out, because they lock the gate at 5pm sharp.  We did learn that a part of the BRP is closed north of Asheville, so that was very valuable information for tomorrow's planning.  So, we thanked them for their help, and headed out.  The driveway into the Music Center is probably a half mile long, and as we were just about back to the main road, who pulls into the Music Center...?  You guessed it -- N3V3RL8!  And the irony...  HE'S LATE!  Music Center closed.  Hilarious.

One of the most-visited places on the BRP is Mabry Mill.  In addition to the namesake mill which is supposed to be the most photographed place in the park, they also have daily music for fun and flatfooting!  We fortunately got to see a little of that flatfooting.  And we also found out that today is the birthday of the National Park Service -- Happy 97th!






And finally, I think this may be my favorite picture of a vista as seen from the parkway: