I figure it’s time to post some good things about our trip to the mountains — and while we had very little opportunity for recreation and my enjoyment of it was tempered by my injuries, we still took in some incredible scenery. First up is Jump Off Rock, in Laurel Park (near Hendersonville), North Carolina. It was a slow, steep, twisty drive to the top of the mountain.

View from Jump Off Rock

Sarah at Jump Off Rock

Mountain layers

Neighboring mountain

There were a couple of hiking trails, but I was in too much pain to hike. As you can see, though, there were some truly incredible views. Later that night we saw some other mountains on the other side of town.

House in the mountains

Sunset

On our way to Roanoke, VA from Hendersonville, we got caught in a couple of intense storms. We stopped at an overlook alongside the incredibly scenic Interstate 81. It was still raining and there was thick fog nestled in the mountains. My photos don’t do justice to the sheer size of some of these mountains or the atmospheric beauty we witnessed.

Fog rises from the mountains during a thunderstorm

One of many climbs on the interstate

Panoramic shot of the mountains and the interstate

In Roanoke, we made a trip up to the top of Mill Mountain, where the Roanoke Star sits. It’s a 100-foot lighted star on the mountain overlooking the city. This spot also offers panoramic views of the Roanoke Valley. Once again there had been strong storms and the whole region was enveloped in a thick fog.

Roanoke Valley

Roanoke Star

Roanoke Valley panorama

I also took a few infrared shots. It’s interesting how well the IR shots cut through the haze

Part of Roanoke Valley, in infrared

Infrared mountains

Steps on the short hiking trail

Trail leading back to the parking lot

We also took in part of the Blue Ridge Parkway near Roanoke. It was absolutely stunning.

Houses and power lines

Hazy mountains as darkness falls

Blue ridge panorama 1

Sky

The Blue Ridge Parkway — maybe someday I’ll get to ride part of this

Mountains

Blue Ridge Panorama 2

Sun setting over the mountains

As you can see, our trip was not exactly a bust in terms of scenery. And while we experienced the mountains from a more passive perspective than I prefer (driving, rather than hiking or biking), I feel lucky we got to go at all.

It’s true what they say. Virginia is for lovers. I sure was glad to be there with mine.

Here are some photos and x-rays of my injuries from my accident in North Carolina. You need to click on the link below to see them, in case anyone is squeamish.

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Our trip to the mountains is not going as well as we had hoped. I’m writing from the public library in Roanoke, VA right now. I’ll post more details later, but for now I’ll say that on Wednesday I was going for a ride, and I ended up being the victim in a hit & run accident in Hendersonville, NC. There were two lanes of traffic going in my direction. I was on the right side of the right lane, not on the edge but in my usual position where the right tire of a car would go. Someone passed me too close, moving further to the right as they passed me. I’m guessing they thought there was room to pass in the lane, but there wasn’t. I felt the smooth paint on the side of their car as it hit me, and I went down. I looked down at my right hand and my middle finger was bent in unnatural ways, almost in an S shape. It was ugly.

I am lucky: I wasn’t going very fast, and neither was the car. My worst injury was the dislocated/broken finger. The doctor popped it back into joint and that’s about all they can do. It’s still very bruised, swollen, and stiff, but I need to use it as much as possible to regain mobility in my finger. I’ll probably need some follow-up with an orthopedic surgeon. Other than that I just have a few scrapes and bruises. They hurt a bit but they’re fundamentally superficial.

Then our car broke down on the way to Roanoke but some very nice mechanics worked late to get us back on the road. Southern Hospitality is no joke.

Again, more details on all of this later. For now typing is pretty difficult. Here’s hoping our luck changes.

We’ll be leaving this afternoon to go to North Carolina and Virginia. We’ll spend some time in the mountains, among other things, and be back on Sunday. This trip will actually be more business than pleasure, but we’ll find time for some of both.

A few weeks ago, Sarah was gone most of the weekend, so Monday I took a day off at the last minute and Sarah and I spent the day together, driving around southern Indiana, taking photos and exploring/hiking. I fell behind in my blogging, so I’m just now writing about it.

The great thing about taking a day off at the last minute is that it feels like playing hooky, without any guilt (well, maybe a little guilt for not giving my boss more notice, but hey, it wasn’t a problem). We started our day off by going to our favorite breakfast establishment, Wee Willie’s (we like the Ellettsville location). Anyway, after that we started heading south with no real destination in mind. Unfortunately I left my Indiana Atlas and Gazetteer at home, so we had to make do with the road atlas. We ultimately decided to drive down to Paoli, a town I had driven through but Sarah had never seen. We stopped in downtown Paoli to take a few photos. There is a pretty quaint square with some big hills in the background.

Courthouse, downtown Paoli, IN

Some shops

I did a couple of infrared shots, but quickly decided I didn’t want to haul the tripod around or deal with the cumbersome nature of IR photography.

Courthouse in infrared

Infrared shops and hills

So, I put the tripod away and broke out my kit lens, and threw a circular polarizer filter on it. We had fun just walking around the square, seeing what shops were there (actually surprisingly few of interest), and just being together. I was fascinated by many of the buildings’ textures, and several very interesting windows. Many buildings were vacant or businesses closed. A couple of businesses had moved across the square to different stores.

Siding

Sherrod (not sure what that was …)

Windows

The Music Store

Railing

Walters Ye Olde Barber Shoppe

Peeling paint

Stairs

Public Library

Hills

After going around the square and taking some photos, we went into a “pub” that based on the outside looked like it was going to be pretty nice. It wasn’t dirty or anything, but it wasn’t what we expected. When I asked what they had on tap I got a funny look. Nothing on tap, just bottles. OK! One guy drank Stoli drinks out of a paper cup and a number of people gathered at the bar to watch Maury Povich. We each had a Rolling Rock and left.

Bar

After our … uh … “urban” expedition, we decided we should do something outdoors and found we weren’t far from Patoka Lake. We drove there and got a map at the front gate, but didn’t realize until it was too late that it didn’t include a map of the hiking trails. Oh well, we figured, we read that one trail was short and decided to give it a shot, even though we were not wearing proper shoes and didn’t have a map. As we prepared to go hiking, we saw an animal from a distance that we think was a fox. Then as we walked along, we saw a couple of lizards sunning themselves. They stuck around long enough for me to put the long lens on my camera.

Lizard

We took photos of the lizards and some nearby plants before heading down the trail

Ferns — nice and fractally (yes, I’m sure that is a word)

Flower

I’m not sure what this is, but it’s really cool-looking and fuzzy

We debated which way to go once we reached the trail. It was a loop, so we figured we should be able to go either way.

Sarah hiking

Hiking

To make a long story short, we must’ve gone the wrong way, I believe at the very beginning, because this trail was not short, and we ended up going “backwards” based on the signs. We hiked for a good hour or an hour and a half in sandals/poor shoes and really got pretty tired. Eventually we found a “short cut” back but it was probably another two miles from there. Sometimes being spontaneous has a price, but it was well worth it even though it was a bit frustrating, and we were not well-prepared this time around.

Trail

Light

Pines

Eventually we got back to the car. It took what seemed like forever to get back. We enjoyed our hike immensely, though, and we’d like to go back again and do more hiking at Patoka Lake. There are also some bike paths there that looked like a lot of fun, a couple of campgrounds, and I am sure some boat rental. It looks like it’d be a fun place to spend a weekend.

We drove back to Bloomington tired, but happy, and glad we were able to spend this time together. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day than wandering through the countryside with my soon-to-be wife.