Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 29, 2017 Lynchburg, VA

We made a detour into Lynchburg to visit a relative, and had a good breakfast at Market at Main Restaurant downtown.  The weather was rainy and gray in the morning and late in the day, as we headed to Big Meadows Lodge in Shenandoah National Park.

Sweet Potato Waffles for breakfast, a new treat.

 Just sweet!

A piano on the streets of Lynchburg in the art district that invited visitors to have their own outdoor concert.

It looks like a school bus, but it is art!

 A wall mural nearby.

A fountain on the edge of town.

" Country roads, take me home..."

The James River Bridge.  It was quite windy up there.

And you guessed it, the James River

A lock demo on the other side of the river.

The return walk across the bridge

 A cutie pie we met in the James River visitor center parking lot.

Aren't they cute?

Sarita

Otter creek falls

 Otter creek

Lovely day, not.

Blue Ridge Parkway October 28, 2017 Past Mabry Mill to Peaks of Otter

We continued on our way along the Blue Ridge Parkway from Mabry Mill after stopping for a meal in Meadows of Dan, VA.

Rock Castle Gorge

 Rakes Mill Pond Falls

Rake's Mill Pond

Lost Mountain

 We arrived at Sharp Top and Abbey Lake near dusk on our way to Lynchburg, VA.

Peaks of Otter Lodge

Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 28, 2017 Mabry Mill

We woke up early at our Depot room at the Caboose Motel to a lovely sunrise.  We headed toward Mabry Mill, a popular grist mill along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is so lovely with the pond in front, that photographs of it often become a cliche.  Even with careful planning, we had a gray day and the leaves were far from peak colors.

Caboose Motel Sunrise

We stayed in the Depot, since the room was slightly bigger.

 We briefly stopped at a cabin.  Puckett Cabin was owned by Orelena Hawks Puckett, known for her excellent midwifery in her later years.

You will notice that I cropped out the sky in most of my photos of Mabry Mill, since it was dull gray.  I liked the reflection here.

The ducks made a nice leading line toward the mill.

These branches created a nice frame for the Mill, creating a lovely image.  If you search for Mabry Mill images, you will find a large quantity of them, so I tried to make some slightly more unique images.

We enjoyed watching the pair of ducks, even though most of my photos included a faceless duck underwater.

Mabry Mill Backside

Cogs

Many people like to pose from the mill window.

Mill Stones

Blacksmith, Stan, demonstrated his art.

Basket Maker, Christopher, enjoyed his work.

A whiskey still used to make corn liquor and moonshine wasn't picturesque but it was part of the story of mountain life.

Caning a chair

 Sarita was caning too, well, maybe not really.

The Appalachian Cabin held some common items from frontier life.