Our Blue Ridge Parkway Adventure - Part One

We started out on Tuesday and made it to our first overnight - Mt Pisgah campground by around 5:45 PM.  True to the Ogles tradition, it was noon before we could get away from home.  It was a good drive but driving through the mountains on a two-lane road can have it's challenges.

"Alice" and "Harvey" just before our departure.

Our campsite for the first two nights on the road.  For $16 a night it's a bargain!  Just the quiet and the cool breezes are worth more than that! At 4980 feet, Mt Pisgah is the highest elevation of the nine campgrounds that the Park Service operates on the BRP.  It was great except for our little hitchhiker who decided to stow away in a compartment and get into some of the cabinets.  More on him later.

Our day trip wanderings took us to some of the many overlooks and by many MANY blooming Mountain Laurels, Rhododendrons, and native (or flame) azaleas.

There were a few tunnels.  There are 25 tunnels on the BRP in North Carolina, and we went through 19 of them. Yeah I know, the windshield is pretty dirty.  But Donna wouldn't hold her head out the window to take the picture.  

We also spent some time at the Blue Ridge Parkway Center in Asheville.

This bush was growing in the parking area at the center.  It's about 12 feet high and those look like blueberries, but I don't think they get that big.  Anyone know what it is?

On Thursday, we broke camp and headed north again.  This time we made it all the way to Boone, NC, where we spent two nights.  This stream was right behind our campsite.

 We spent a couple of hours on Friday at Samaritan's Purse seeing their operation (especially Operation Christmas Child) and heard many great stories of how the Lord is using them to help many people around the world and spread the gospel.  To learn more, just click on their name above.

Then we spent some time as tourists, taking in the Mast General Store in downtown Boone, where you can find a little of everything.

So, I spent about 3 hours sealing up any possible entry points for stowaways.  It was enough work to make me not feel bad about what happened to the intruder.

Oh yeah, this is what happens to stowaways. Papa -1  field mouse - 0.