I could go on about a few political topics argued today (and trust me, I will), but instead I thought I might share with you a few lovely sights I saw this week.
GF's birthday was this past week and she asked for but one present: to wake up on a mountain.
So off we went to Mount Mitchell, the top of the Black Mountains, just a hop, skip and jump up the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville, North Carolina. Come along.
After a quick stop in Atlanta for fine Mexican chow, we made it to Asheville just in time to check out the exhibitors at the Southern Energy and Environment Expo at the Western NC Agricultural Center in Fletcher. With over 50 alternative energy, native plant, wood crafter, green building, greywater recycling, natural material, etc. etc. etc. exhibitors, the SEEExpo is the place to see just how much can be done to turn your carbon footprint into a pinpoint.
Then it was up the Parkway to Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi and a welcome breather from our usual swamp existence. Plenty of mountain vistas
and native fauna, especially birds and bees. Not that kind. I'm talking about bumblebees
and native American bees, smaller than the imported European honeybee.
Plants are abundant, including seemingly limitless blackberry brambles (bears dig 'em). I don't know what this four-pointed flower is, but it, too, was everywhere.
Once covered in hardwoods, the Black Mountains were logged almost to death in the 1920s. The predominant tree now is everyone's favorite Christmas tree, the Fraser Fir, or Balsam Fir.
The firs are safe from logging, but are threatened by pollution and the balsam wooly adelgid, which is killing many trees standing just as the pine beetles in the West are decimating the Lodgepole Pine population.
The Mount Mitchell park, run by the state, boasts family and group camping, a lodge-style restaurant and, at the peak (6,684 feet), a weather station and observation deck where the views are to die for.
Being a hard core New Dealer, I was tickled to see this plaque at the summit, reminding folks just how all these amenities came to be in the first place.
Rather than recount the less lovely night we spent on Mitchell, with the temps dropping into the 40s and the rain falling all night, sounding just like the bears we were warned about scratching on the tent flaps, I'll leave you with this view of the sunset from just below the peak.
All in all, a quick but deeply welcome respite from August in New Orleans. Now it's back to the battle.
Hope your week was just as fine.