Smoky Mountains Panorama

A panorama of the Smoky Mountains as seen from the Foothills Parkway in Tennessee. October 23, 2012.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

Last week Betsy and I drove along the Foothills Parkway, which is just west of the Smoky Mountains.  We were able to enjoy the autumn colors and beautiful views without getting caught in all the traffic of the Smoky Mountains National Park.

The views were spectacular, and I was inspired to try to get a panorama of the scene.  The picture above is my first effort, created by merging three photos in Photoshop.  I don’t think it looks too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Down Memory Lane: Cherohala Skyway (2009)

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

Betsy and I love driving through the mountains just about any time of the year, provided there are places where we can turn off and enjoy the view.  One of our favorite drives is the Cherohala Skyway between Robbinsville, North Carolina, and Tellico Plains, Tennessee.

We made this drive from east to west in October, 2009, when the autumn colors were very near their peak.  The collage above gives a sample of the beauty we enjoyed, but no photograph can capture the splendor of those mountains in their multi-colored glory.  If you get the opportunity to make this drive during autumn, I encourage you to do so.

To see larger versions of these pictures and others, click HERE.

Scenic Sunday: Autumn on the Skyway

Autumn color on the Cherohala Skyway between North Carolina and Tennessee. October 25, 2009.

(Note:  All pictures may be enlarged by clicking on them once or twice.)

This is my post for the Scenic Sunday meme, which shares beautiful scenes from around the world.  To see more Scenic Sunday posts, or to join and show your own pictures, click HERE.

Autumn in the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina can be absolutely beautiful.  This time of the year Betsy and I thoroughly enjoy driving the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Cherohala Skyway.  We don’t make great time on our drives because we stop at every opportunity to enjoy the color, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Red and gold leaves of autumn. October 25, 2009.

These pictures, taken from my archives, show what autumn looks like along the Cherohala Skyway.

Lake Glastowbury

Lake Glastowbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

Last Thursday Betsy and I drove to the Foothills Parkway on the edge of the Smokies looking for autumn color.  But we found some pretty autumn color even before leaving the Glade.

We decided to take the back way from home to avoid some of the traffic and crossed the dam forming Lake Glastowbury, which is about two miles from our house.

Lake Glastowbury is one of eleven man-made lakes in Fairfield Glade.  While Glastowbury is not the largest, it is a pretty lake.  Most of the homes along the lake are on wooded lots, so it’s easy to imagine being out in the country.

The view as we crossed the dam was so pretty that we took advantage of a pullout and stopped to get some pictures.

Autumn colors on Lake Glastowbury, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 14, 2010.

It’s really nice to have such wonderful autumn color in our ‘hometown’.

 

Memories of a Smokies Autumn

Betsy along Little River in the Smokies. October, 2002.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees around our house, so in many ways the pretty part of autumn is just about over for us.  But I’m not sure which season is going to follow — the temperatures were in the mid-70s Sunday.  That’s entirely too warm to be raking leaves!  Some of our blogger friends have been complaining about the temperatures in Florida.  I think they must have sent that warm weather our way.  I’m going to try to send it back!

Although most of our leaves are gone, we still have many memories of of beautiful autumn colors from years past.  In October of 2002 Betsy and I spent a long weekend in the Smokies.  Of course we checked out some waterfalls, but we also enjoyed some wonderful autumn colors.

In the picture above my favorite tree hugger is making a tree along Little River very happy.  To see more of autumn in the Smokies click HERE.

 

 

More Autumn Color

Autumn color in the Glade. October 29, 2009.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a busy day for us.  We made our weekly trip to town to do the grocery shopping and to help rescue the economy.  It was cloudy while we were in town.

On the way back home we noticed blue sky peeking between the clouds.  By afternoon, when I was out stacking wood, the sky was clear.  I noticed the sunlight on the trees behind our house and had to go get my camera.

At this rate it may take longer than planned to get that wood stacked!

Autumn Colors From Long Ago

Barren River State Park, Kentucky. October 7, 2001.

Actually it wasn’t all that long ago.

We had another  rainy day here on the Plateau, so I got to do more work on some of my older pictures.

Both Betsy and I moved to Tennessee in December, 2000.  Prior to that move I had lived in the Midwest and the Carolinas, while Betsy lived mostly in the South and Texas.  As a result, she didn’t get to enjoy the seasons nearly as much as I did.

The autumn of 2001 was the first chance Betsy had to enjoy autumn colors.  We heard about a nice hiking trail in Ashland, Tennessee, and went up there one Saturday to enjoy the colors.  Betsy had a thing about red leaves and she found several, which made the hike even more enjoyable.

One Sunday we took my parents up to Barren River State Park in Kentucky and also enjoyed the color up there.

The photos I found of these two expeditions aren’t great works of art, but I must admit that it was fun to go back and see what we looked like as newly weds.  If you would like to see more of our searches for autumn color click HERE.

The Easy Way to Pick Up Leaves

Picking up leaves on Druid Hills golf course. November 24, 2008.

Last week I mentioned a couple of times that Betsy and I were working hard to get the leaves out of our yard.  We really wanted to get the yard cleared before the weekend, but we didn’t quite make it.  We were, however, able to finish up Saturday and Sunday.

It turned out we got everything done in time.  It rained here in the Glade yesterday (Monday), but we were surprised to hear the noise of equipment getting louder and louder.  At first we thought it was something coming up the hill in front of the house, but when I looked the road was empty.  I then looked out back and saw the two tractors pictured above.

In spite of the rain the maintenance department was out picking up leaves from the golf course.  (I guess that made sense since there weren’t any golfers!)  And what we appreciated the most is that they picked up the leaves in the rough between our back yard and the fairway.  And since that is where we put many of the leaves from our yard, we were delighted.

I hasten to add that we aren’t being given special favors.  Having leaves we put in the rough picked up is a ‘perk’ of having a golf course home.  And we sure do appreciate that ‘perk’.  If only I could get them to come to the front of our house with their equipment!

They’re Still Beautiful

Love and Peace Rose, Fairfield Glade, October 19, 2008.

The temperature got down into the mid-thirties Sunday night here on the Plateau.  We had a frost watch here in Cumberland County, but as far as I can tell none of our plants got nipped.

But it definitely feels like autumn.  The days are cool and crisp and it feels good to be out working in the yard, even if we  are having to clean up a lot of leaves now.  Most of the leaves are brown — we still haven’t had a great deal of color around here.

One nice thing is that the roses are still blooming and looking very good.  We now have several in full bloom and more are in bud.  We plan on enjoying them for as long as we can.