winter

Winter Storm hits the NC Mountains

I had made plans a few weeks back to spend a few days in the Blowing Rock area in the hope that it might snow, and that I would capture some white, winter landscapes. Well, boy did it snow! In fact it snowed to the point where it caused significant chaos on the roads, and people were stranded all over the place. Some couldn’t travel home from ski resorts, and the roads and ditches were littered with cars planted firmly in the ice and snow. Not such a big deal up north, but certainly it certainly presented a challenge for the Watauga County public officials, stretching their resources to the limit. Fortunately for me, I was there for fun, and my Jeep Cherokee 4×4 certainly earned its stripes as it carefully transported me through a winter wonderland. One of my more thrilling and adventurous excursions!

Winter Evening in Downtown Charleston

Winter can look bleak sometimes. Not much color anywhere. Seems almost as though everything and everyone is resting, waiting for Spring. So it seemed on my walk around the historic downtown residential part of Charleston the other evening. My images definitely needed a little editing help, so I played a bit with software and came up with these whimsical renditions of classic Charleston cameos.

Wintery day in Bryson City, NC

We chose this week to spend some time in the Smoky Mountains, and so far we haven’t seen much of the mountains. I chose to explore the “Road to No-Where” (see sign in last image)! In the 30’s and 40’s Swain County gave up the majority of its private land to the US government for the creation of Fontana Lake and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hundreds of families were forced to leave those small mountain communities. Not only were their homes gone, but also the roads leading to those communities. The US government promised to create a new road. Lakeview Drive was to have stretched 30 miles along the north shore of Fontana Lake, from Bryson City to Fontana; providing access to the old family cemeteries. But Lakeview Drive fell victim to an environmental issue and construction was stopped at the tunnel about six miles into the Park. Swain County citizens gave the unfinished Lakeview Drive its popular, but unofficial name, “The Road to Nowhere”. Here are a couple of photos taken along the way.