| LINN
COVE VIADUCT |
Blue Ridge Parkway
- Pg. 5
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July
1, 2007
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One of the scenes I kept seeing when I was planning my Parkway tour was the picture below. I had seen pictures others had taken through bushes of rhododendron in the spring and surrounded by brilliant leaves in the fall and wanted to see it for myself. |
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What's a viaduct anyway? Here's the official info from the visitor's center:
So the bridge was engineered to wrap around the mountain instead of cutting into it to have the least impact on the fragile environment here. Very cool... |
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When
I stopped at the Linn Cove visitor's center I asked the ranger exactly
where I could get that shot and she said it wasn't easy to locate,
but gave me directions to find it.
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You have
to drive across the viaduct and stop at the Yonahlossee Overlook
pulloff. Then you walk back down this little path that's about 1/2
mile long. After crossing the road, there's a barely noticeable
tiny rocky path that's a pretty good climb up onto some boulders
that overlook the scene. My mom is too afraid of heights to get
on the path, but she walked a ways along the guard rail for the
sake of the views.
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Here's
an example of what she was looking at. The views of the road awaiting
are pretty incredible, too, especially framed by the beautiful flowers.
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Doesn't
my mom look so happy to be here among the Mountain Laurel? She's
about the only other person I know to love flowers and trees as
much as I do. She taught me to be a tree hugger and the sight of
these kind of flowery bushes can bring us both to tears of joy.
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Back to
getting to the Viaduct view - when I first got to the end and crossed
the road, I took the wrong path that led underneath the Viaduct.
Interesting, but not what I was looking for. I heard some people
above and asked them how they got up there. They were nice enough
to come down to road level to help me up to the boulder across from
this one that had the view I wanted. Here they are laughing at me
when I said getting up there was one thing but I was now too scared
to get down. They were so sweet - the daughter came and held my
camera and stuff while the father helped me off the boulder and
back down the path. Just more examples of angels I've met along
my journey...
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When I
got back to the pulloff, mom told me about her own brush with angels.
Whenever there were things I wanted to do that she couldn't manage,
she was happy to stay in the RV and read or sit outside enjoying
the views. But when she wanted to get something out of the car,
she used the key to unlock it instead of the remote which is the
way I lock it. This makes the car think someone is trying to break
in, so it starts sounding the horn alarm. She didn't know how to
stop it and when a couple pulled over, she explained the dilemma.
He asked if I had taken the remote and at first she didn't even
know what he was talking about, but when she showed him what she
had, he took the remote and pressed the button to stop the horn.
She told him "I feel like a perfect idiot - I don't know what
I would have done if I would have had to listen to that noise until
she came back!" She profusely thanked him while he reached
in his pocket and handed her a dime. He replied, "It's our
pleasure - I want to give you this for letting us help you."
My mom was flabbergasted and said "Why are you paying me for
your helping me???" He replied, "It's just a little thing
to help you remember to pass it along." I think this just blew
her mind, but when they later returned from their walk, she thanked
him again and laughingly said, "I've never heard of anyone
doing what you did, but you're not getting your dime back - I'm
going to keep it to remember your kindness." He laughed and
said that was OK and that he wouldn't have taken it back anyway,
but he did hope she would pass along the kindness. She was so excited
when she told me this story and she made sure she kept that dime
separate so she'd never forget. Isn't that just great?
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| Copyright 2001-2007 by Malia
Lane
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