Weekly Wrap Up - Exploring Nature

Last week I said I wouldn't be doing a weekly post, and yet, here I am.  At least this week I have cool photos to share!  My brother and sister-in-law flew in from Texas over this past weekend, and we took them on some sightseeing excursions.

Our first day we went out chasing waterfalls.  I found one small water fall that I never knew existed just outside of our town, and so that was our first stop.

We traveled further south in our journey and visited Crabtree Falls, then drove north along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  If you endeavor to go to Crabtree Falls, take a barf bag for the ride, depending on the route you take.  If at all possible, take the Parkway to Route 56.  Lindsey was not a happy camper, but thankfully she was able to hold it together (or at least choke it back).

In the first waterfall photo above, if you follow the line of "white" up to the top of the photo, that is all water coming from the top.  There's a 2.5 mile trail that you can hike up the side of the mountain to get to the top, we chose to enjoy the beauty from the bottom.   Interestingly enough, as you walk up the trail toward the platform we stood on, there was a sign that said 23 people have died on these rocks, so please stay on the trail and pay attention.

Back in the car, and up to the Parkway we go.  It's still colder in the mountains and trees are still bare, but the views are always gorgeous.

As you can see, Lindsey is the more advernturous, and Olivia is NOT a fan of heights.  I did this great photo op of Liz, as if she was falling (she's actually standing on a hug boulder below the one I'm on).  But it still has that  "help me brother" vibe from Lion King.

Day two of our adventures, we headed in totally different direction and ended up at Natural Chimneys.  The park was "technically" still closed for the season, but the gate was open, so we took that as a "Hey, ya'll come on in here."  Ahem.

We found caves to explore, and a tiny little bat habitat.  In the next to last photo, if you look closely you'll see the family on the observation deck at the top of the formation.  In the last photo, I'm the little blue dot by the fence line.

We also went to a little park in a local town and crossed their swinging foot bridge (I forgot to take photos), walked their nature trails and checked out their man made waterfall.  

The weather was perfect.  It was a great couple of days of exploring.