Hi, you guys! I’m back from the States, back in Sweden, back to blogging, and about to be back to work. So, I thought I’d jump right in with a little travel round-up post. It’s actually gonna be a series of three posts. And here comes the first! It’s all about waterfalls, fog, and mountains – shocking, right. I mean, it’s right in the title. Anyway, here we goooooo
You know, one of the things that I love most about North Carolina are the beautiful mountains in the western part of the state. These mountains are ancient, historical, and filled with the mystery of nature.
From my parents’ place, my mountain hometown, it only takes about 15 minutes + you’ll find yourself up in these mountains. To be honest, I don’t make it up there to wander around as much as I would like when I visit, but when I do, it never fails to amaze + inspire.
My little ole hippie soul couldn’t wait anymore, so one day I grabbed my parents + Lina, jumped in the jeep, and headed on up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, via Highway 215 from little towns of Canton/Bethel, at the base of Cold Mountain. Yep. The same Cold Mountain that the movie is about.
Highway 215 winds + curves around lakes and mountain coves as it rises higher + higher up in the mountains. Just before you get to the highest point on the highway, you pass Sunburst Falls… a gorgeous waterfall that rushes down from the right side of the two lane road, under the road, and out the left side, headed back down the mountain from where you came.
Of course, we had to stop. I had to get out. I had to take photos + climb down off the road onto the rocks. This is one of my most favorite easy spots to get to where I can enjoy being in the middle of the wild.
We finally decided to get on our way + make it to the top of the mountain and on to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
However, the absolute second we turned onto the mile high road, we were engulfed in fog. All I wanted was to see those amazing mountain views and we couldn’t see anything at all. It’s also a bit sketchy to drive on a little two lane road so high up with super high drop offs when it’s foggy, so we just sat there for a bit, watching the clouds roll past us. It was actually quite beautiful.
Tired of waiting, we decided we were up for adventure, so we started driving again. And pretty soon…
The clouds dissipated + the views were spectacular! We stopped immediately, got out, and wandered around, just soaking it all in. It was absolutely perfect. Like, perfect, you guys. Just check it out:
Clearly I was blissed out. And it turned out to be a fabulous, spontaneous afternoon with the fam. We ended the day with a cookout/BBQ at my parents’ place. So, that pretty much made for a perfect ending.
Gaaaaah. How I love these magical mountains.
xoxo. liz.
What beautiful memories.