More July 2007 Vacation We started off this morning in search of the elusive Mingus Mill waterfall. We rode to Cherokee via the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at the Plott Balsams overlook because the clouds hanging in the mountains looked so beautiful!
Thought you'd like to know our current elevation. :)
We stopped at the Oconoluftee Visitors Center and found rhododendron still in bloom. This gives you an idea of how cool and wet it is here! Still springlike - or more fall-like, I think! We have been having trouble finding sunshine - we found some today, but the closer we got to Maggie Valley, the more threatening it got and it has done nothing but rain since we returned. Oh well. Still beautiful and peaceful!

We never did find Mingus Mill - it is on the map, but nowhere to be found. So, we took Hwy. 19 to Bryson, NC, and from there to Fontana Lake - just to look around. After that, we took 23/74 (the Smoky Mountain Expressway) to Waynesville. We actually saw the sunshine at the Balsam Visitors Center - then got back in the truck and rode into the rain.

When we got back to Maggie Valley, we stopped for a late lunch/early supper at Butts on the Creek. We ate on a screened-in porch with a view of the stream - very nice and you can't beat North Carolina barbecue. Haven't tasted that since we ate at Smithfields on our trip to Topsail two years ago. Mmmmmm!
Between rain showers, I got a picture of Gary in front of our motel. Our room is the second from the right on the top floor (the famous John Deere room). We took some time to read (or compute, in my case) before we headed out again. More later . . . .