My Valentines Day Present

Valentines Day: An Excursion...
I had the good fortune to choose ( my dear sweet husband gave me a series of all good choices- here...) a car trip as my 'gift'
in and around the Blue Ridge Parkway
(a long road on the top of the mountains
of the Appalachian trail) during (another) mild
all-day-long snow storm and lunch out
at a cafe in a near-by small town
(that we had never eaten at)
with my daughter and husband.
(And I had a darn good bowl of
clam chowder. :))Hooray for me (us!) :)

We celebrated with an outing
a day early as the weather has been so
unpredictable here and at times, after
a certain amount of snow and icy build-up
the three levels of road up to our home
becomes unsafe and sometimes impassible
(especially at night before the PLOW comes;
a device the sight and the sound of which
I have truly come to appreciate.) :)

The parkway was closed as they do not plow
this road on the very tops of the mountains,
so we went on another mountain top smallish
road. Oftentimes we just drive not really
knowing fully where we are (or where we will
end up~ sometimes it's in nearby Tennessee!)
But the truly wondrous thing about living
here (well, one of them) is that around
every curve and each new bend in the road...
lies another looming mountain peak
[or very often several; some off in the clouds
disappearing and overlapping; then in
the background often lies the monster of a peak
dwarfing those in the forefront...leaving one to
wonder-can this (long view)-here; be real??
Is it real??] My amazement at the
landscape here is never-ending~ I believe
that I am as surely as I know it, in love.
Yes, I am in love with the Appalachian trail.
I am smitten.

There are also valleys and ravines and gorges
and rivers where you least expect them,
all surrounded by the majestic, thrusting
Appalachian mountains. Each mountain
(and probably each gorge or each valley)
has a name; and we are learning them slowly(!!)
Names like Beech mountain, Brown Mountain, Grandfather Mountain,
Sugar Mountain, Banner Elk and even- yes...
Seven Devils. Each one has its particular
elevation; some thrust higher than others
and boast of being the highest county
seat east of the Mississippi
(I believe -here- that this is indeed, the
town of Boone.)
Bottom photo: A group of adults and children
sledding near the Blue Ridge. It was a balmy
21 degrees but with full sun!! The children
(little tots too) were such fun to watch, flopping
over and sledding backwards!
Top Photo: This is an interesting shot
because of the subject matter. We have not
seen hide nor hair (ha!) of any deer in about
almost 3 weeks. The weather (we even had a
blizzard with winds of 60 mph) has been
pretty rough; and we have about , well...
25(?) inches of snow. So, where have the
deer gone...and are they hungry??? We were
driving on a curvy single lane highway
in the mountains and spotted a big
(7-9 or 10) pack (??) of deer and a
rather large group of huge turkeys
all together gobbling UP a patch of
grass or some kind of food w-a-y back
off the road by a beautiful, massive
old farm home. They were ravenous and
would barely look up. The turkey and
the deer were all together.
Dear Readers(!): Help me if you would...
Just what is a group of deer called?
I have apparently forgotten or
(perhaps) I have just plum never known!
Top of the mornin' to YOU today friend!
It's sunny and 21 here.