Mountain Getaway ~ Rural Thursday

I was desperate. This past weekend marked 4 weeks since my firstborn and oldest daughter, Amy, passed away and I honestly felt like I was going to burst if I didn't get away. My husband agreed to head out, so off we packed our boys to their other sister's home, and up into the mountains we went! 

 Clear skies, cool breeze...and freedom. 

My heart was soaring as I gazed out on God's beauty, and I praised Him for His glorious work of creation!

Our first stop along the parkway was Brown Mountain.

beautiful

majestic

They say there are mysterious lights out there at night.
We're going to take our boys there soon in hopes of seeing them!
(the lights, not the boys...hehe)

Then we took ourselves to Linville Falls.
We hadn't been in years and really couldn't remember what they looked like.

The trail to the falls was really something. So quiet and peaceful.
Tranquility that was desperately needed!

The boulders and roots are fascinating to study. Pictures just don't so them justice. 

At least mine don't ;)

Narrow passageway to get down there...

And this is Linville Falls...uh...not what we expected but lovely all the same!

I loved hearing the water roar around the rocks! 

It really was moving fast!

Sadly, something is killing a certain species of pine tree :(

I just love this!

What is that?!

A tree growing right out of a rock!

Cool, huh?

I want to climb to the top!

We also visited Linville Caverns  and Little Switzerland. 

Not too many photos came out very well in the caverns,

but we had a restful day and that's all that matters! 

I'll post more photos later. My camera ran out of memory so we had to use cell phones. 

I don't have those downloaded yet.

Thanks for visiting!

Images are mine. Please don't take them without asking. Not that anyone would want them. I'm just sayin'. 

I'm linked with Rural Thursday.