Today we returned to what I consider the finest road in the U.S.A. for scenery – the Blue Ridge Parkway. On our way up the 25 miles to the Parkway, we passed over roads bounded by emerald green scenery. We also passed by some box turtles malingering near the road, maybe in an attempt to get out of the abundant rain saturating everything else for the last few days.
We were on the Parkway from near Laurel Springs, N.C., to just over the Virginia border but were treated to abundant wildlife, outstanding views of North Carolina and numerous roadside waterfalls. It is stunning country. From one overlook on the Parkway, we could look a couple thousand feet down to Stone Mountain SP where we are currently set up with our Barbarian Invader. Stone Mountain itself looks puny from the Blue Ridge.
We left the Parkway near Mount Airy, the town that allegedly is the model for Mount Pilot, the neighboring town to Mayberry in the old Andy Griffith Show. This was so long ago, Ron Howard, who played Opie, was a little kid with all his hair. There are many stunning residences in Mount Airy and it is also the place where Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins, settled in the 1800’s after a great circus career. The historical sign for them indicates they farmed near here although it does seem tough for conjoined twins to multi-task seeing as they had two heads but only one set of legs. They were also married to two unconjoined women. I bet their lovemaking must have been interesting in a perverse way.
Got some pix. Click the word “here” at the end of this line here