Somewhere up the road from Cherokee, NC is the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 476 mile road that meanders through the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains. Somewhere up a different road from Cherokee, NC are these beautiful falls. I had got lost looking for the beginning of the parkway and found this instead. A happy accident to start the trip!

Click through for much more.
Lucy had left a week before, flying first to Detroit and then driving to Rhode Island with a layover in Pennsylvania. My plan was simple. Get to the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway and then enjoy a leisurely drive to the other end, almost 600 miles away.

Early on, I came across a group of nice old farts driving very nice old British sports cars. We took turns passing each other at rest stops for a good part of the day.

This is what we're driving through. The Blue Ridge Mountains, showing their stuff.

And this is what I'm driving. My 18 years old, 150,000+ mile Acura NSX. There was never a better car made for this trip.

And this is the road, meandering through the forest and around the mountains for hundreds of miles.

The Parkway is dotted with various roadside attractions, including this old mill, still in operation.

They grind corn into grits and sell directly to visitors.

These mountains form the spine of the eastern United States.

In the higher elevations, the weather is beautiful. In the lower elevations, it's hot. I kept the roof off as long as possible each day.

Towards the end of the second day, the rains came so I found a motel and stopped a bit short of my goal.

But the next morning dawned dry and I finished the last 105 miles of the Skyway Drive.

As the road works its way north and east into Virginia, the valleys widen.



Dirty girl...

All those pics and many more:
http://techquarium.com/gallery2z/v/2013roadtrip/
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