Winter Nature Photo Op

Good morning,

A quick note before describing today's images:  Yesterday was My Honey and my wedding anniversary.  He was so sweet to post an image of us on his blog.  Check it out!   He is not only My Honey, he is the love of my life. 

While visiting Cherokee, North Carolina, we spent a morning out looking for the snow we were sure we would find here - until we got here!  We had been at sea for weeks watching the news and all of the snow covering so much of the country and talked of taking pictures of snow in the mountains on our drive home to Ohio.

We are retracing our steps on this outing to Mingus Mill where we had visited in November and captured some beautiful Fall images.

We pulled into the parking lot at Mingus Mill and there it was!  Snow!  OK, not what we expected, but we were quite happy that the weather was warm so we could drive where we wanted to drive.

As expected, Mingus Mill was closed, but it was fun to come back and take pictures here in the lot.  These are the same trees that we saw last Fall.

 The moss under the trees is such a lush green.  There are signs of little plants pushing through announcing Spring.  Yes!

 So, on down the road...

 ...we stopped again to enjoy the early morning sun shining through the trees.

 This rushing stream of clear, cool water of melting snow made beautiful music as it passed.

 Mother Nature provided this picture frame.

 Winter pictures can be just as beautiful as those taken at other times of the year...

 ...and it is easy to find parking spots and views without lots of other people in them.

 We parked at the side of this bridge and walked down to the water to get pictures.

My Honey and I wandered off in different directions with our cameras.  Just the feeling of being here was so peaceful.  The clear water rushing by was certainly an attraction to many animals.  I suggested to My Honey that we should watch out for critters looking for a drink and finding us.  I found many animal tracks near the water's edge.

 Look at all of the pet rocks!   Seriously, these would make beautiful stone art.  Part of the peace pipe artwork we bought at Bearmeat's Indian Den was made of carved stone similar to this.

 So peaceful.

Enjoy,
Lois

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 Hiking Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Regional Hiking Series)

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