Different Shades of Wonderful: Juneteenth

(This wasn't really a celebration associated with the meaning of Juneteenth, it was just that June 15 was the day of these travels.) I set out with the intention of enjoying a lively day at the Lavender Festival near Burnsville, NC, a good 1.5 hour drive from Black Mountain. It turned out to be quite a mountainous drive in every sense of the word, including gravel switchback type roads near the destination. And the festival itself turned out to be not very festive or well attended, but did offer some pleasant smells and photo ops. So since I had driven so far and only spent about two hours slowly smelling lavender, I reprogrammed the day to include Mt. Mitchell and Craggy Gardens - sort of in the general direction of where I had traveled. And I ended up very happy with how I spent the day!

View from the lavender maze with the Black Mountains in the background. I did learn that there are several different types and colors of lavender, and that people put it in some strange things, like cheese and ice cream. There were some lavender flavored things for sale, and I might have tried the ice cream, but they had run out by noon.

There truly was not much to do besides walk around, smell the lavender, buy things in the gift shop, buy limited lunch items at the barn, buy things from a very few vendors/artisans, and take pictures. Some of the things listed on the schedule of events didn't seem to be happening, or at least not happening on time. But lovely to "peace out" with the smells and scenery!

Next stop of the day - Mount Mitchell. Beautiful, exceptional views from the top and lots of great trail-climbing to get there. It seemed to be a very popular tourist stop on a beautiful Saturday, and one of the staffers said we had lucked out to get a day with clear views. Apparently it is often foggy or cloudy up top.

Slightly different view from the top - mountains as far as you could see.

I decided to take a chance and eat at the park restaurant which is slightly lower than the highest elevation and has incredible views if you get a window seat. The food was decent and fairly priced- veggie plate option worked for me. After my early supper, I found that there was a porch out back of the restaurant with rocking chairs and a spectacular view. For a while it was just me and the birds out there, but a few friendly folks joined me later.

Cedar Waxwing having his dinner; it's one of my favorite birds. There was a man that sat in a rocker to my left who had a very impressive looking camera, but apparently no experience bird watching. So he was snapping photos of birds and then asking me to identify them for him. That was kind of fun, but I wanted to ask what he took photos of with that big lens if not wildlife. :-)

Indigo Bunting - I don't think I had seen one before coming to NC and it is one of the bluest blues I've ever seen. This popular perch was a dead tree some distance from the porch, but few of the birds sat still long enough for great photos.

Next stop - Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've visited this trail several times trying to catch the rhododendrons in blue as they arch over the trail. No luck yet, but it is a beautiful trail in any season. It was pretty slick and muddy on this visit, since the area is already 16 inches ahead of average annual rainfall at this point in the year.

There were some rhodos blooming in areas that got full sun.

This is the tunnel between Craggy Gardens and Craggy Bald - the hill that is in view beyond the tunnel. Folks hike up to the top of the bald, but I haven't done that yet. Looks like the view would be awesome.