Craggy Gardens

One day we took a drive up to the Craggy Gardens. Craggy Gardens is located along the Parkway and up until recently the Parkway was closed just south of the Gardens due to a landslide so we haven't been able to get there. It took a year and a half to repair it. Craggy Gardens is part of the Craggy Mountain range and has been a popular spot to visit since the 1800s. It is a heath bald, which means the plant material is all in the heath family (rhododendron, azaleas, leucothoe, blueberries, etc.) and there are no big trees which make it look bald from a distance compared to other mountains. The time to visit the Gardens is in mid-June when the rhododendron are blooming. There are a few trails so we decided to hike the Pinnacle Trail which is at just under 6,000 feet at the summit.

The first part of the trail is a rhododendron tunnel. Then through a forest full of wildflowers and interesting trees. A lot of the larger trees have been blown over from the high winds and have grown sideways.

The Craggys are home to some rare native plants that only grow at that elevation and at that location.

Even though the rhododendron we not yet at their peak it was still a beautiful hike. Once we reached the summit there were 360 degree views.

We barely made it home before a huge thunderstorm hit. Hail was coming down like ice cubes. Robert had gone over to another part of the development and the road was covered with ice like it was winter. This is some of the hail about an hour after the storm ended.

She's Baaaaack!

While we were gone a miracle occured. PeeWee came home! She already took over Robert's chair. Oh, and Erin moved down here, too. She is living with Amy & Cheri in a house Amy just bought in Hendersonville, about 45 minutes away. It's so good to have both my girls back!

Stimmels

Back up to the cabin and Jan & Stimmel came up for the weekend. You can tell by our WINTER COATS that it was COLD. It wasn't really boating weather but we managed to get one ride in. We spent most of the time hiding out in the cabin with the heat on. After they left on Monday morning we packed up and headed back down south.

Jan was impressed by our matching jackets.

Moreheads

We had to make a trip down to Birmingham to pick up my new glasses and spent the night out at Carol & Al's cottage on Mandon Lake. We went for a booze cruise on the pontoon.

Cap'n Al.

They surprised us with a visit from Jim & Monica. I think Robert & Jim were bored with each other.

The Cabin

It was good to have the cabin opened up for the season.

Harvey playing with his favorite toy.

Waiting for supper.

Memorial

Our reason for going up to Michigan in May was to attend the memorial/burial of my Uncle Jim who died at the end of December. We went to Traverse City where we went to the burial then to a delicious luncheon at the VFW Hall then on to Memorial Gardens to see the plaque in his honor for serving in WWII. It was nice to see our cousins from Colorado who we hadn't seen in a while.

Meet Your Friends at the Speedway

Last month we drove up to Michigan. When we were in southern Kentucky there was a huge accident in the southbound lanes of I-75. The expressway was closed for miles and traffic was backed up to get off. I remembered Sue & Roger were driving down to Florida that day so we called to let them know about the accident. They were still in Detroit so weren't caught up in it. We talked to Roger a few more times along the road then realized we were going to pass by each other so got off at the same exit in Ohio and met up for a few minutes.

We spent the night at our favorite LaQuinta Inn in Perrysberg, Ohio. Harvey was trying to make himself disappear.

Some beautiful scenery driving into Detroit. We made our usual stop at Evie's for tamales.

We drove past the old train depot and what was left of Tiger Stadium.