Should your summer travel plans take you along the western ridge of the North Carolina and Virginia borders - be sure to add a drive along the 469 miles of the Blue Ridge

John Muir, co-founder of the Sierra Club, once suggested to an editor, "Let us do something to make the mountains glad."

Whether traversing the entire parkway, or just a portion, consider the uplift in your attitude just a byproduct of the higher altitudes. In reverse of Mr. Muir’s century’s old statement – here the mountains will make you glad!

Stretching for 469 miles, from the Shenandoah National Forest, outside Roanoke, Virginia, to the Great Smoky Mountains near North Carolina’s town of Cherokee, the parkway is the reminiscent of a bygone era of driving - slow speeds (45 mph in most places), stunning vistas and no need to keep checking the time.

You will arrive at your destination when…you arrive at your destination. Accept that fact, and the journey is sheer enchantment.

Begun as a Depression era work project, the Parkway has been called “America’s Favorite Drive” for over 70 years. Granted, sharing the narrow twisting road with cars, Rv’ers, motorcylists and hard core bicyclists does require some patience. Replace rage inducing impatience with a sense of wonder from the majesty of the scenery. Every few miles a place to appreciate it can be found.

Stop!

Look!

Enjoy!

From near the highest point in the Appalachians, Mount Mitchell, hawks ride the thermals high over conifer laden forests.

Springtime brings a carpet of flame azaleas, mountain laurels and Catawba rhododendron from the low lying meadows up towards the sky. Autumn colors explode at varying times beginning in September and carrying through until late October.

Allow the inspiration of nature to capture your soul.

A wild turkey, unable to fly, scurries across the road from one thicketed cover to another. Chipmunks skitter along pinecone-laden trails while white tailed deer and the famed black bear can often be viewed either at dawn or dusk.

Approaching the Parkway the road goes either north or south, and offer the visitors options for relishing an impromptu hike along a mountain trail or across the James River, buying some quality items at the Folk Art Center, between milepost 380 and 390, becoming a mineral master at the Museum of North Carolina Minerals (just south of milepost 330) or reveling in the best of mountain music with a summertime concert at the Blue Ridge Music Center (south of milepost 210).

Like colorful names? Places like Devil’s Courthouse Glassmine Falls, off Blackstop Knob Mountain and Yankee Horse Ridge are just a few to be found along the Parkway.

Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway is casual cruising through a natural and historical wonderland.

Plan to enjoy it soon.

For more information see: www.blueridgeparkway.org/

Blue Ridge Music Center:www.blueridgemusiccenter.org/

The Crooked Trail Musical Heritage Trail:virginia-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_crooked_road