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On our visit to Biltmore last month, Betsy and I roamed the grounds of the estate as we went from the Italian Garden to the Walled Garden. It was a beautiful day, and during a rest stop on our walk I snapped this picture of the house.
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For several years Betsy and I would visit Ocean Isle Beach in May as well as after Thanksgiving. One year, on a cloudy, rainy day during our vacation, Betsy and I headed toward Wilmington to see what we could see. One of the places we visited was Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson Historic Site.
Brunswick was a major pre-Revolutionary War port on North Carolina’s Cape Fear River. It was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. Colonial foundations can still be seen on the site of the village, as well as the ruins of St. Phillip’s church and its graveyard.
During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the Confederacy. Remains of the earthworks of Fort Anderson can still be seen. Some of the huts built as winter quarters for the Confederate troops are on the site as well.
Some of the batteries of Fort Anderson could still be seen, although the artillery that would have been in them was not there.
All-in-all it was a nice way to spend a rainy day.
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Looking Glass Rock is a prominent landmark in the Pisgah Forest of North Carolina. The rock — really a mountain — rises to an elevation of nearly 4,000 feet above the valley. The granite surfaces of the mountain reflect the sunlight, which gave the mountain its name.
I got this picture of Looking Glass Rock from an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
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When Betsy and I visit Pisgah Inn, the early mornings are often foggy or very cloudy. But this year we had a morning on which the sky was mostly clear at dawn. I was able to get some pictures of the color in the sky, even though there was some for in the valleys below. O, What a Beautiful Mornin’! June 24, 2024.
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For the past several years Betsy and I have been celebrating our wedding anniversary at the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, North Carolina. The inn has a wonderful restaurant, and the views from the rooms are absolutely beautiful. And it helps that we’re high enough in the mountains that air conditioning is not needed. I imagine we’ll keep going back for more years to come.
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While visiting my son in Florida this past March, we were sitting in his back yard enjoying the setting sun. After the sun disappeared, I captured this photo of the sky through the trees in the yard.
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It’s been several years since Betsy and I visited Petrified Forest National Park, but I have been recently going through some of the pictures I took during that visit. The petrified wood in the Jasper Forest section of the park was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t get over the detail of the wood that was captured in the stone. It was beautiful, especially when the afternoon sun hit the landscape at a perfect angle.
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Betsy and I made our first trip out west in 2011. Among the national parks we visited was Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We found the badlands in the Blue Mesa portion of the park to be both forbidding and beautiful.
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My Beautiful Bride and I have been going to Mt. Nebo State Park in Arkansas for almost 20 years. We’ve missed going a time or two, but we try to get there in February so that we can enjoy the sunsets from ‘our’ cabin on top of the mountain. This picture was taken in 2016, but it does a good job of showing why we keep going back. It’s our little piece of heaven on earth.
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Betsy and I took our first trip out west in 2011. It was a new experience for both of us, and the landscape was completely different from the forested mountains we enjoy here in Tennessee.
We visited several national parks on that trip, including Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park in Arizona. The colors in the rock formations were almost incredible, especially in the Teepees area of the park. There layers of blue, purples and grays were created by iron, carbon, manganese and other minerals in the rock formations.
When viewed under a clear blue sky, the scene was one of incredible beauty.
Senior Moments 