The Old Homestead

In the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains National Park, just outside of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, there is a place where time has stood still. The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is a 6 mile one way loop road that will take you on a journey through lush forest and flowing mountain streams. Along the way you will find 2 waterfalls, grist mills, log cabins, and other historic buildings. Your senses of sight and sound will become overloaded. Around every bend there is something to see and rushing water can always be heard. Nature is at peace here. Different types of wildflowers bloom throughout the seasons to add splashes of color here and there.

The subject of this photo is known as “Jim Bales Place.” This charming piece of property has been preserved for future generations to enjoy. It is just one of many stops to get out and stretch your legs and enjoy the surroundings.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and I encourage you to join the conversation by writing your thoughts below as I truly like to hear from all of my visitors! 🙂

 

Linden United Methodist Church

On my April 18th post I presented a picture of a nice country road I came across in my travels. This time I bring you the church I was headed to. With a peaceful country setting, this is the Linden United Methodist Church in Sumter County, Florida. This one has been on my subject list for awhile and I finally got around to shooting it. The lighting was pretty nice this day and the sky was providing me with lots of clouds. I really love the architectural styling of the older churches. I walked around for a few minutes looking at the different angles trying to decide how I wanted to shoot it. The trees with the flowing moss really seemed to set it off. The sunlight reflecting off of the clouds directly over the church just added to the scene.

I hope you enjoyed viewing today’s post. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have as I really like hearing from my visitors!

Please click on image to view a larger version!

 

Makes Me Wanna Take a Back Road

While out for a leisurely drive this past Sunday, I encountered this country dirt road. I was actually headed to a church I wanted to photograph just beyond this, but I found this very intriguing.  Draped over the road, the moss covered branches dancing in the wind caught my eye. There was an air of mystery about as to where the road might lead. The Rodney Atkins song “Take A Back Road” came to mind and seemed like a fitting title.

I hope you enjoyed viewing today’s post. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have as I really like hearing from my visitors!

The Falls Behind The Trees

Today’s post brings a different kind of view of a waterfall. Let me just say that I am a huge fan of waterfalls. I have seen a lot of them, some more than once. And while nothing beats seeing one up close, sometimes it’s interesting to get another perspective. With that said, I present to you Toccoa Falls.

This beautiful waterfall is somewhat hidden in this picture. If you look behind the trees on the left you will see a waterfall that has a vertical drop of 186 feet. This view in particular is from the parking area. The sound of the rushing water leads to the excitement of actually taking in the visual. A short walk up a beautiful pathway is all that is required to get to the base of the falls. The water flowing over the rocks grabbed my attention as I noticed the falls in the background.

Toccoa Falls is located on the campus of Toccoa Falls College in Toccoa, Georgia. For some history behind this scenic location you can view this article on wikipedia.

I hope you like color…

 

…because today’s post features a lot of it! 🙂 We find ourselves at the 2012 Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival where flowers abound. There are so many of them to take in that it’s hard to really see it all in one day and truly appreciate the effort behind it. Breathtaking aromas and eye-catching colors await your visit. The displays they setup are absolutely amazing. A lot of work goes into putting on this festival and it’s definitely something to see. Over 100 topiaries were created with more than 75 of them representing Disney characters. The festival runs a little over 2 months with May 20th being the last day. For more info about the festival you can go here – Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival.

Today’s images are just a small sample of what you will find there. My eyes are drawn to vibrant colors so these two scenes stopped me in my tracks! Up first we have an image I like to call “Roll out the Flower Carpet.” The orange and purple flowers leading to the doors welcome the viewer as if to say come on in.

Up next we find “Radio Flower” – a little red wagon with color spilling all over. I think this was positively one of the coolest displays I have seen at the festival. So much attention to detail makes this scene worthy of a picture.

Well that about wraps up today’s post. I really hope you enjoyed reading about the festival and viewing the pictures as much as liked sharing it with you. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have as I always appreciate hearing from my visitors!