LIFE'S BETTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Monday, October 4, 2010

Batteries Not Included

Every year the Cradle of Forestry (here) holds a Forest Festival Day in which various North Carolina colleges of forestry celebrate forest heritage in a competition.  The competition includes log rolls, speed chopping, axe throws, pole climbs, and other activities related to forestry.  We were able to go to the festival on Saturday and truly enjoyed watching the young forestry students compete in these age-old activities.  It was a beautiful day, sunny and brisk.  The skill of the young students was amazing.  Other exhibits demonstrated wood carving, soap making, and other activities.  It was a lovely day.

I suppose you think I am going to show you some photographs of the various events.  That was indeed my plan.  But you see?  I had put the camera batteries on the charger the previous evening.  Enough said?  The camera went with me all right, but the batteries stayed at home.  Of course my dear husband thought that was hilarious and asked the obvious, "Didn't you think the camera seemed a little light?"

So instead of the pictures of the festival, I will show you what our area looks like with autumn just beginning.  We had some much needed rain and a drop in temperature.  When the rains stopped, the mountains were clear and beautiful.

The edge of the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment lies a short drive from our house, across the SC line.  There are dramatic views from the escarpment where the mountains meet the piedmont of South Carolina.  On a clear day you can see for miles and miles.



These photographs were taken last week by my husband at Caesar's Head State Park, SC.




Table Rock looms above everything else.  The lake below it is the reservoir that provides water to the city of Greenville, SC.  Needless to say it is a popular hiking spot.




Looking in the other direction you can see the hills and valleys below the escarpment.  There isn't much color at those elevations yet.





Atop the mountain however the leaves are just beginning to turn.






In another week the color will take your breath away.
We'll make another trip to the area in about 10 days so that you can see how rich the autumn colors are in this area.

And next year...when I go to the Forest Festival Day I will take the batteries along with the camera.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

The views there are pretty spectacular. I'm looking forward to seeing the fall colors there.

I'm always afraid that I'll forget to put the batteries back in the camera, so I leave the little battery door open as a reminder.

Karin said...

Lovely post and what absolutely gorgeous scenery! Thanks for sharing!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh My..... Husbands can be so BAD.... Asking you that question is so typical.... duh!!!!! ha ha.... We've all done that at one time or another... Sorry you missed the pictures of the forestry students...

BUT--I loved seeing the photos of your gorgeous mountains... We are headed with some friends to Maggie Valley area on the 19th---so I hope the colors will still be pretty then...

Hugs,
Betsy

The Bug said...

We took a day trip last spring with the express purpose of taking pictures - & we'd left the memory chip in the computer at home. So we went to Kmart & bought a new one LOL - which actually was good because we filled the old one up.

GORGEOUS pics of the mountains. Makes me homesick!

Toni aka irishlas said...

Lovely photos. Can't wait to see the all the beautiful leaf colors!

Busy Bee Suz said...

I am willing to forgive you for the lack of festival photos, if you continue to show us the gorgeous views of Autumn!
Lovely and bright!

Donna said...

What a view! Absolutely beautiful.

Ha! Sounds like something I'd do...or I'd just forget the camera altogether!

Vicki Lane said...

I've done that forgetting the batteries trick. Arrgh!

But the pictures from Caesar's Head are beautiful!

George said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has done something like that. I invested in an extra battery so that one is always in the camera even if the other is being charged.
These are wonderful pictures of the mountains. I hope you get lots of great color this year.

Jayne said...

Oh, so beautiful! I remember my sissy and I going on an outing once to find the birds and when we got there, my camera batteries were fully DEAD. I called hubby, got him to load up the AA caddy that came with the camera and meet me halfway! I learned my lesson that day.

SouthernSass said...

I have done that before and was so mad at myself. The photos that you posted are great - I cannot wait to see the colors. Hopefully we will be heading in that direction in a few weeks!

Tipper said...

Sorry about the camera-that is so like something I would do : )

My father-n-law's one claim to fame-way back in the day he was in a movie the Cradle of Forestry made.

I love the photos-the views make the mountains look like a cozy quilt covering the land.

troutbirder said...

Been there. Done that. :)

D.K. Wall said...

Laughing - I took the camera with us to Charleston and forgot to have fresh batteries. Oh well.

Cicero Sings said...

I've done that before too! But the good out of it ... we got to see those lovely scenic shots.