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.
All pictures from Winter Lights at NC Arboretum outside Asheville, NC
Looking forward to visiting again this week!
A welcoming gnome
This tree changes into such wonderful colors
The main tree that changes with the music
Welcome to Winter Lights
The tree colors were so atmospheric
Baud
That is a nice looking gnome.
eclare
The real trees with the lights are so pretty.
Raven
We’re in Asheville now. We’re going out for coffee and to look at the arts district or what is left of it. Artie is terrified of the floors where we are staying, poor little girl.
J.
Very pretty!
Raven
Well, it’s really bad in the Arts District.
eclare
@Raven:
The pictures on tv were awful. I wonder how Biltmore is doing, it used to go all out for Christmas.
wenchacha
Uncle Wiggily!
Geminid
The North Carolina Arboretum is a nice place to visit. I think I saw most of it in 3 hours the time I was there. The Arboretum is right off the Blue Ridge Parkway on the western edge of town.
The Parkway continues west from Asheville for sbout 60 miles and ends at the Eastern Cherokee Reservation, near the eastern entrance to Great Smokies National Park.. That stretch is the highest on the Parkway. At one point crossing the Balsam Mountains it hits 6.000 feet in altitude.
Thats some twisty driving with plenty of curves and steep grades. By contrast, the stretch from Roanoke, Virginia southwest into North Carolina is very easy and pleasing to drive. The best way for me to get from Central Virginia to Blowing Rock is to take I-81 to Roanoke and then the Parkway to Blowing Rock, which is right off of the Parkway.
Both Blowing Rock and Asheville are in the Southern Appalachian Highlands. The climate there fosters large stands of rhododendron and other mountain trees and plants. Blowing Rock is an old mountain resort town and well worth a visit; a lot easier to get to than Asheville which is very far west.
There are some nice campgrounds along the Parkway. Mount Pisgah Campground, about 25 miles west of Asheville, is one of my favorite camping places anywhere.
Raven
@eclare: We drove over there too. The Estate is on high ground but Biltmore Village got hammered. A friend asked us to take pictures but it felt ghoulish so I took this of a Milagro on the river.
https://flic.kr/p/2qBWKk4
HinTN
@Geminid: I have cousins who live in Blowing Rock. It’s a lovely place. We were up there one year and I was jonesing to see Turk’s Cap Lily. The last morning I went out for coffee and took a detour on the Parkway. There they were!
trollhattan
We went through Reynolda Gardens (yup, those Reynolds) in Winston-Salem last month and it’s a very nice spot, in all. The greenhouses are packed with orchids and the like, many of which I’d never seen anywhere else (not that I’m an expert). Rose fans should consider a spring visit, there are hundreds.