Road Trip USA: day sixteen (start)
also known as the morning of the mushrooms. and turkeys. lots of both.
day sixteen was quite an eventful one, not only because it was the second-to-last day of our cross-country road trip, but also because so much happened. we hit the road as early as possible that morning because although the Blue Ridge Parkway covers a great deal of distance through the mountains from North Carolina north through Virginia, the nature of the picturesque, winding road doesn't allow for interstate-speed driving. we expected to stop at scenic lookouts, picnic somewhere and detour around certain closed sections. basically, we wanted to take it at a relaxed pace, but still arrive at our goal of Charlottesville, VA, that night.
departing from Asheville, NC, we took the back way out of town that connected directly to the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the early morning light filtering through the trees. we also encountered more than a few early morning wild turkeys wandering the sides of the road. at some point we also ended up at a closed portion of the parkway, essentially a dead end. luckily there was a parkway maintenance truck parked around there with a guy who pointed us in the right direction to make a quick detour. it did involve some miles of backtracking, however.
it wasn't long after we had returned to the proper course that we spotted some truly enormous mushrooms sprouting alongside the road. directly thereafter was a parking area and overlook, so we pulled over and jumped out to take a look, only to discover that we had stumbled upon a veritable kingdom of mushrooms. along a single stretch of grassy embankment between the pavement and the woods no longer than 100 meters we found an impossible variety of fungal types, sizes, shapes and colors. Nicolette happily frolicked through the grass, taking pictures of every strange growth she chanced upon. this is the result. we'll cover the part about badgers and snakes later...
just kidding, turkeys first.
we spotted this solitary gobbler soon after starting our drive.
later we came upon this group of a dozen or so, some of which decided to hide in the underbrush for the photo.
look at the size of this monster in comparison to my sunglasses...
this one had a small, fuzzy friend.
the coolest pod.
day sixteen was quite an eventful one, not only because it was the second-to-last day of our cross-country road trip, but also because so much happened. we hit the road as early as possible that morning because although the Blue Ridge Parkway covers a great deal of distance through the mountains from North Carolina north through Virginia, the nature of the picturesque, winding road doesn't allow for interstate-speed driving. we expected to stop at scenic lookouts, picnic somewhere and detour around certain closed sections. basically, we wanted to take it at a relaxed pace, but still arrive at our goal of Charlottesville, VA, that night.
departing from Asheville, NC, we took the back way out of town that connected directly to the Blue Ridge Parkway and enjoyed the early morning light filtering through the trees. we also encountered more than a few early morning wild turkeys wandering the sides of the road. at some point we also ended up at a closed portion of the parkway, essentially a dead end. luckily there was a parkway maintenance truck parked around there with a guy who pointed us in the right direction to make a quick detour. it did involve some miles of backtracking, however.
it wasn't long after we had returned to the proper course that we spotted some truly enormous mushrooms sprouting alongside the road. directly thereafter was a parking area and overlook, so we pulled over and jumped out to take a look, only to discover that we had stumbled upon a veritable kingdom of mushrooms. along a single stretch of grassy embankment between the pavement and the woods no longer than 100 meters we found an impossible variety of fungal types, sizes, shapes and colors. Nicolette happily frolicked through the grass, taking pictures of every strange growth she chanced upon. this is the result. we'll cover the part about badgers and snakes later...
just kidding, turkeys first.
we spotted this solitary gobbler soon after starting our drive.
later we came upon this group of a dozen or so, some of which decided to hide in the underbrush for the photo.
look at the size of this monster in comparison to my sunglasses...
this one had a small, fuzzy friend.
the coolest pod.