Driving and hiking

We decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway to Tate's home today which meant a normally 4 1/2 hour drive became about 9 hours.  But we did stop to hike 2 miles road trip to the top of Craggy Gardens which is one of the highest peaks along the parkway.    The main photo is the trail where we saw this fabulous tree.  The trail was mostly flat rock steps uphill with very little actual dirt trail.    The man made it up and down but took some ibruprofen when we got back to the car just in case his knee started to act up.   

The leaf color was not at peak but we did see some great areas.   I put two photos in the extras...one of the view from the top of Craggy Peak and one of the view from the Parkway looking at the southside of Grandfather Mountain.    Hoping to get a profile photo of Grandfather while we are up here.   

Thanks so very much for all the congrats on my 7 year blip yesterday.  Blippers are the best!