Review: Blue Ridge Parkway

We took our car for a hike this past Sunday. For the past few years I have been wanting to get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and see what the fuss was all about but we have never made it. This is one of the best times to go because of the amazing color show the mountains are displaying RIGHT NOW.

We loaded up the car full of kids happy to spend another Sunday on the road. Oh! They were so happy. I decided to bribe them with the Nintendo DS, it was the easiest way to lure them in.

We headed up the road to Rosman, NC and from there found another curvy road to the Parkway. Everyone in the car except me was pretty well car sick at this point. Shortly after getting onto the Blue Ridge, there was an overlook. We stopped there and ate some of our snacks. We also took the opportunity to get out and stretch for a while. I was trying to prevent anyone from vomiting in my car and this stop worked wonders.

After that stop, we drove through a tunnel

and found another area to pull over. As it would turn out, there is an overlook or a marker within every five minutes of driving.

The views are amazing. I don't care what time of year you go, it is amazing. The road twists and turns as it follows the the mountain tops. As you look out you can see an endless ocean of nature. Trees, now spotted with fall color, follow the contour of the mountain sides.

We came to a place called Graveyard Fields. There was a huge fire in the valley and the burnt logs and stumps started to look like a grave field at one time. That was a long time ago. Then another fire came and ripped through the valley, destroying the remaining logs. There is a lot of hiking trails in this area as well as two waterfalls.

This is when the kids got really excited. I turned around to face them in the backseat. "Get your shoes on, we're going for a hike!" Maybe it was the long car ride they had already endured, but I did not receive the resistance I had expected. We went for a short hike to find one of the waterfalls.

I took a few photos that were filled with people climbing on the rocks and then I went back to the observation deck where Cari was taking shots of the kids.

After we left Graveyard Fields, we stopped at a few more overlook spots. You would think that after you have seen one, you have seen them all. When you think that, you are wrong. Every stop seemed to offer a different view or a different angle, each one equally dramatic and beautiful.

By mid afternoon we reached the exit to hwy 276. We had only travelled half the distance I thought we would. My original plan was to get off the Pkwy at Asheville, but we were just North of Brevard. We took the exit and headed home so we could get some dinner. Taking our time and enjoying the Blue Ridge Parkway was incredible. The kids were good in the car all day, the views were one of a kind, and the weather was perfect for a day out with the family.