Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

No one could have predicted…

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

In my day, never was longer.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road – Jerry – Blue Ridge Mountains

On The Road – Jerry – Blue Ridge Mountains

by | 11 Comments

This post is in: ,

On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

What a lovely area, and I love these stormy pictures!  That donkey captured my heart – I am totally smitten – so much personality and a sparkle in his eyes.  ~WaterGirl

Jerry

The family unit and I went up to the Boone/Banner Elk, NC area for a quick four day vacation to beat the heat and humidity of the Raleigh area. Our trip featured quick visits to Grandfather Mountain, Apple Hill Farm, and some horseback riding. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the vast majority of folks were wearing masks, even when in crowded outdoor area. Watauga and Avery Counties have very low Covid-19 cases, but it was nice to see that we were all doing our parts to keep those infection rates low.

On The Road - Jerry - Blue Ridge Mountains 4
Banner Elk, NC

There is Grandfather Mountain in the distance from the horse farm in the mountains above Banner Elk.

On The Road - Jerry - Blue Ridge Mountains 3
Grandfather Mountain

A view of Grandmother Mountain from Grandfather Mountain.

On The Road - Jerry - Blue Ridge Mountains 2
Grandfather Mountain

The bridge you see there in the short distance is named the Mile High Swinging Bridge. They have added stabilizers and shock absorbers to the bridge so it doesn’t swing ‘n sway the way it used to, but it’s still an adventure to walk across the dang thing. It’s totally worth it, though as the view from the rocks above it are breathtaking.

On the way back across that bridge, we saw a tremendous bolt of lightning hit in what would be the Banner Elk area and sure enough, it did. It struck a big tree next to the parking lot of an alpine rollercoaster and it injured six people. Yikes!

On The Road - Jerry - Blue Ridge Mountains 1
Blue Ridge Parkway

I love this shot of a storm moving across the mountains. You can see a window of sorts that allows you to see the vast expanse of mountains.

On The Road - Jerry - Blue Ridge Mountains
Apple Hill Farm

Apple Hill Farm is an alpaca farm that also has goats, a few miniature brhaman cows, guard dogs, guard llamas, and this guard donkey. My daughter took this amazing photo of one of the guard donkeys.

Reader Interactions

11Comments

  4. 4.

    Geminid

    Thank-you for the beautiful pictures. All the Appalacians are special in their own way, but I really love the Southern Highlands for the rhododendron rainforest aspect. Mt. Pisgah Campground, ~30 miles west of Asheville on the Parkway, is a wonderful place to camp. And Blowing Rock, in the area featured in these photos, ties into a lot really nice hiking trails, although none are flat and some are steep. I had planned a summer trip to that area, but it got scratched, and I really appreciate the reminders of how beautiful it is.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    It’s a beautiful area, and thank you for sharing your pics.    What exactly does a guard donkey guard?   hmm

  8. 8.

    Jerry

    Whoo-hoo! Thanks for posting these, WaterGirl! This is my second go-round with the On the Road feature. My first was a few years ago with photos from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

    JPL asks:

    It’s a beautiful area, and thank you for sharing your pics.    What exactly does a guard donkey guard?   hmm

    In this particular case, the donkey is guarding the alpacas. Apple Hill Farm had a severe mountain lion attack a few years ago so they bought some donkeys and llamas for protection.

    I wish there was a State Fair this year so my kid could submit her awesome donkey photo for the photo competition.

  9. 9.

    Jerry

    @Geminid:

    Thank-you for the beautiful pictures. All the Appalacians are special in their own way, but I really love the Southern Highlands for the rhododendron rainforest aspect. Mt. Pisgah Campground, ~30 miles west of Asheville on the Parkway, is a wonderful place to camp. And Blowing Rock, in the area featured in these photos, ties into a lot really nice hiking trails, although none are flat and some are steep. I had planned a summer trip to that area, but it got scratched, and I really appreciate the reminders of how beautiful it is.

    Back before we had a kid, we would beat the heat and humidity of the piedmont by camping in the high elevation state campgrounds along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mt Pisgah and Julian Bond up by Blowing Rock were our campgrounds of choice. Never got into the 80s during the day and would go down into the 50s at night. It was so wonderful. One year, we hit Julian Bond campground for the last weekend of it being open and we got hit with a big snow storm. It was wonderful!

  10. 10.

    susanna

    You brought lovely, enticing pictures of vast greenness which I hope to see for myself someday.

    Love the donkey pic and suggest she submit it somewhere else or offer to place it in bookshop window?   Like being Dems symbol of sorts, donkeys are needed for protection of what we don’t want harmed nor abused nor lost.

Comments are closed.