Blue Ridge Parkway, Mount Mitchell and Waterfalls

One of the coolest things we saw was this Viaduct....a road built right out over the side of the Mountain.

We were also amazed at the amount of foliage "down south".

Driving over the Viaduct

Off into space??

I saw these signs and really loved them.  There was one painted on a wooden board in one of the gift shops, but it was way too expensive.  (or I'm way too cheap)   So I took a picture of it myself and I'm having it put onto canvas to hang in our living room.

We hiked into an area to see this beautiful waterfall set-up.  Wish I could remember the name of it.

And we made it all the way to the top of Mount Mitchell...the highest peak east of the Mississippi!   Yes, we hiked to the top!!

 All right....we drove almost all the way to the top and hiked the last 1/2 mile.

View from the top

There were lots of these.  Imagine as we went through the tunnel we were underneath the mountain!

Artsy Fartsy shot

We enjoyed our trip down Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway which brought us through Great Smoky Mountain National Park

And then.........the most astonishing thing I ever saw....we went from the beauty of the natural world to the bright lights and big city of Gatlinburg in the blink of an eye.   No signs saying "end of the parkway" or "welcome to Gatlinburg"........just a straight drive into Honky Tonk.

Next:  Gatlinburg