Autumn on Heintooga Round Bottom Road, Blue Ridge Parkway.

I took a break from school work,
My Sweet Husband and I headed up to the mountains,
It is nearly a four hour drive,
but I think you will agree it was worth it.

Maggie Valley really gets into the spirit of Harvest Festival and Halloween,

there are elaborate roadside displays set up in front of many businesses.

 This place has pumpkin fudge!

Look at the size of those Pumpkins!

I am thinking, PIE!

Pumpkin pie is my all time favorite dessert,

even better than chocolate (yes, I know, that is almost sacrilege, but it is true).

 I love Jello brand instant pumpkin pudding when I can find it
and lately I have a thing for Pumpkin Ale.

 We found a lovely picnic spot out behind the store with the great display.

 Here is another view of the river, it sounded so peaceful.
I took these pictures about a week ago and the temperatures were in the high 60's to low 70's (15 to 21 degrees Celsius). It felt great. It is always a little cooler in the mountains.
The leaves change earlier up there too.

 After our picnic, we headed up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
One of our favorite trails is Heintooga Round Bottom Road (I love to say that).
It is a one way, winding, unpaved road.
It goes through some beautiful territory.
We like to park and walk along it.

 Are you starting to see why we like it so much?
The scenery is quite different up there.
Most of our trees are taking there time, we have very little fall color
here at Kat's corner. As I said in the last post, the pictures of our old barn with
all that autumn color are from a previous autumn, before we had the roof replaced.

 I will of course post pictures of our lovely old house with autumn around it,
as soon as our trees will cooperate.
In the mean time, Heintooga Round Bottom Road sure soothed my hunger for autumn.

 This is one of my favorites.
You can see off in the distance, why they are called the blue ridge mountains.
How can you not love a place that looks like this!

I am so happy it is fall!
I love to be cozy and cooler temperatures mean;
fires in the fireplace,
my long fuzzy road,
Warm red fuzzy slippers,
and a fat lazy cat that likes to snuggle on my lap once again.

Spontaneous the lap cat,

now what could be more cozy than that?

Hope you are all warm and cozy too,

Kat

Heintooga Round Bottom Road

The Dogwood as of November 3. I am amazed at how long the display is lasting.

Now, I want you to click on the video below (make sure your sound is on), then close your eyes and just listen. I know, that is an odd request, it lasts less than 20 seconds, go on, give it a try.
I love the sound it makes when you walk through autumn leaves. It is a most satisfying crunch. I made the video just to record it. It reminds me of being a kid and playing in piles of leaves, of walking to school with my big sister Paula and the Dipolma kids (Tammy and Terry were our best friends when we were small). The leaves smell so good too but I haven't figured out how to share that part yet. We went to Maggie Valley in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago. The road side stands are full of lovely things. These pumpkins for instance. This time of year is all about the harvest and being thankful for it. I see beauty everywhere I look.

My Sweet Hubby posed with these for me to show how big they really are. They were part of a fun display that evidently won some prizes. The display included a tribute to the old moonshiners and an outhouse. Cute, but the pumpkins were impressive. I wonder if these big guys would make good pie (Pumpkin Pie is my favorite desert, even over chocolate, gasp, I know, you never would have guessed)?
I know, this is just corny (pretty though, isn't it)? If we were in Britain there would be at least one "Corn Dolly" in this display. They are usually not doll shaped and are usually made from wheat. I have one that we brought back. All cereal grains used to be called corn. The American version was not introduced until Queen Elizabeth I's reign. An interesting note, the stacks the grain or hay was placed in were called Riggs, thus my maiden name is an occupational name for a grain farmer. So like Smith or Taylor, I am not related to everyone with that same last name.
One of our favorite places to hike is Heintooga Round Bottom Road. This time we drove down the road, past our old turn around point, parked the car and hiked from there to find new territory. As with everywhere in the Blue Ridge, this area is beautiful. There are not as many of the sweeping views on this road, too many trees in the way, but the details are worth it. These photos are from a few weeks ago so I am sure the autumn display is more advanced.

What is this, is it, yes, snow. There isn't much of it left, but there is enough to touch. (Yes, I would recommend taking a jacket and some gloves) I do have some great memories of playing in the snow, that does not mean I need any more of it than this to make my winter complete.
SNOW!

These are some of the details I told you about. The lighting was playing games, nature showing off her finest just for my camera.

This tree leans out over the path, doesn't it look like something the from a fantasy movie. I half expected it to speak to us as we pass. Note how the trees behind it are straight up and down.

The sun shines through the leaves. I wonder if this is where they got the idea for stained glass. The woods are a temple on days like this one.

Have you had a chance to take a walk in the woods lately?

Enjoy,

Kat