Oh my gracious, I can't begin to describe the incredible views that I saw in the mountains this weekend. Words can't accurately portray the amaziness that was before me, over and over and over.
From our balcony, the 180 degree view just didn't stop. From sunrises, sunsets, and storms, every view was just beyond belief. I couldn't believe that I could sit on the deck and see these mountains and clouds - and wildlife... wow, the wildlife! Birds, Squirrels, Flying Squirrels, Chipmunks and even a bear (thankfully we only saw "evidence" of the bear...)
Sunrise on the first morning. Heavy cloud cover kept the sunrise colors at bay, but the way the sun lit up the entire clouds like glowing cotton balls still thrilled me.
Sunset on the last day we were there. The sun actually set behind us, but thankfully the colors still bled over to the mountain from from the deck. Although you couldn't see well through the trees behind us, the lights of Franklin would light up the valley of the mountain at night.
Stormy weather on the last morning we were there. Ok, all admit the weather had me nervous. Especially when the experts were calling for non-stop rain and we had to make it back down a gravel road... a STEEP gravel road. But thankfully, we made it back down just fine!
This is what it looked like on a sunny, pretty day! Imagine waking up to this every morning. I just can't imagine how you could ever take it for granted. And there were NO man-made sounds... just crickets and birds. The breeze was so cool and the leaves would rustle... *sigh* Just wonderful.
The mailboxes at the bottom of the mountain for all the homes up the mountain. You can't even see them all in this picture, it was quite a sight. Very entertaining, but let us easily identify where we needed to turn!
Follow the arrows to your cabin... Our arrows were the "Brown" arrows. The farther up the mountain you went, the fewer the arrows became as you passed the cabins. We were pretty much at the top, so we traveled up for quite some time.
The waterfalls we found driving to Highlands were just great. This one - Dry Falls - was right on the highway with an easy-access recreation site to park and walk out on an overlook for pictures. You could take a trail down the mountainside to walk behind the falls, where you wouldn't even get splashed (but I'm too lazy for that).
Bridal Veil Falls, where you could actually drive underneath it. I had to cross the road to see the top and the water just delicately splashed on some rocks below (you can't see in this picture) but it was very serene and peaceful. A different kind of waterfall from the wild Dry Falls.
Have you seen enough? I figure you have about now... so maybe I should just hush and let you go on about whatever you were doing before you stopped in here. I could go on and on, though, because it was truly that amazingly beautiful, but I won't. I'll save some of it to torture you with later. :)
