Duffy decided it was likely because locals used this as a backroad or shortcut, while us tourists took our sweet time. Whenever we saw a look out we'd pull over, get out, and enjoy the view. There really is nothing like the mountains. Even though driving through them makes my ears pop, I still enjoy the journey. I love the size of the mountains, the way the trees grow green and tall. I like to imagine all the wildlife that lives within these areas, and to wonder what it would look like had someone decided to not put highways and tunnels through them. At the look out I no longer looked up from the roads, I looked down to them, and across the valleys to other mountains, spotting houses and farms. I recall us stopping at one and Duffy pointing to the top of the mountain, and noted the speed of a cloud moving over it.
It got colder as we climbed the winding roads of Blue Ridge. The wind got stronger, and it seemed that our proximity to the clouds made the world a little darker. After some driving we began spotting signs for "Craggy Gardens." I hoped it was a spot with some fine landscaping, lots of flowers to bring color to the gray day. We decided we'd stop to look at it.
There was no garden as I'd imagined, but there was a visitors center to stop at. As we approached the visitors center the fog grew thicker, and thicker. I pulled out my phone and took a video of the fog. Unfortunately, it looks like posting the video to the blog won't be very good quality, so here is a screenshot from the video.
I was a little nervous about the fog because it made driving conditions worse. Of course Duffy didn't worry. We parked and looked out towards the mountains. We had already seen gorgeous layout after gorgeous layout. We saw vast valleys, massive mountains, and endless sky. But now we were in a cloud. It was thick and deep. As you can see, we couldn't see too far ahead of us.
I wrapped my travel blanket around my shoulders to keep me warm since I was still in a dress from breakfast. Everyone else we saw wore pants and vests, clearly outdoorsy folks on a journey. I walked up to the edge of the parking lot and stared out into nothing.
I smiled, my heart happy to be looking into the great beyond, finding nothing but white and wind. It was just a wall of fog, hiding the beauty of the mountains. I could see the tree tops that were reaching up towards the parking lot, trying to take over the concrete placed there. They blue wildly in the wind, the leaves flipping over, the branches bending so hard it was surprising they didn't snap. They did there dance, as if to impress me since the true sights of Craggy Gardens was being concealed.
Duffy went to the bathroom, but I stayed at the outlook, studying the fog as it was about to reveal something. I loved it because I just kept thinking about how I was staring into nothing. Looking into a blank slate, a blank page, a blank canvas. I couldn't see a damn mountain or valley, only the fog. I just stood there, trusting that there was something great beyond the fog. I smiled thinking that if the fog cleared there was a chance a large mountain would protrude from the fog, maybe just a few hundred feet away from me. I had no idea, but I hoped there was a magnificent mountain that close, I wouldn't' even mind if ti was blocking the real view of Craggy Gardens.
When Duffy returned he took a video of me looking out into the fog. Again, it won't be good quality as a video, so here is a screenshot to show you the beautiful nothing I was staring at.
I couldn't look away. But it was also very cold and windy. We went into the visitors center and looked at the knick knacks and t-shirts, admiring the way the entire shop smelled exactly like a Christmas tree. The back wall was all windows and showed a great view of the fog. The wind howled against the windows, pressed against the wooden walls, but inside the air was calm and still. Duffy picked out a small pillow full of balsam fir tree and a bag of peanut m&ms for the road. It was in this shop that I noticed a wall decoration for sale. It was a map of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which stretched 469 miles and went through two states. It wasn't a loop or scenic route as we had thought.
This fact explained the people driving the speed limit or faster through the roads. And the cars we saw parked at the look outs that clearly had people sleeping in them. It made so much more sense. We couldn't drive the entire thing in a day, though after we checked out and said goodbye to the fog, we decided we would one day drive the entirety of the parkway. We want to see it in the fall, when the leaves are changing into reds and oranges, as well as in the spring when the leaves grow back, fresher and greener than ever.
I will definitely tell you about that experience when it happens.
For now, I will leave you with one final picture. It was taken the following day when Duffy and I decided to drive the mere twenty miles of the parkway that we had explored once again. It was a clear day, and much warmer. When we got up to Craggy there were a lot more people than there had been the day before. With the sun shining bright we looked out, and saw the mountains and the valley and the body of water that existed at the bottom.
We saw this:
Wide open space, green tree tops, and that beautiful sky with the perfect clouds. We went into the visitors center again to get another little pillow for me and the best peanut m&ms in the entire world.
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