In anticipation

of the National Parks possibly closing at midnight yesterday, we made sure we got to the Oconaluftee Visitors Center and Farm Museum of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

There is a brand spankin’ new visitor’s center there (open just a week!) that we wanted to check out

along with the Farm Museum and riverwalk.

The day was certainly less than bright and sunny, but we enjoyed both the farm museum and the river walk.

And oh, the wildflowers just beginning to blanket the forest floor –

Here’s my best guess at identifying them –
Clockwise, from the top Left –
Great Chickweed,Fringed-phacelia,??,??,Louswort, Periwinkle?,Dutchman’s Britches, Foam Flower, Trillium.
This one didn’t make the collage because I liked the river in the background –

Yes, it was a lovely morning!
Later in the day we did a little bit of exploring in the Deep Creek section of the park, which is actually less than a mile from where we’re parked! Gary was mostly checking out the fishing situation (he just got a 10 day North Carolina fishing license), but I was intent on doing at least a short hike to one of the many waterfalls in this area.

Success!
Even without the sunshine, it was still a lovely day. We didn’t get rained on, we got in a fair amount of exercise (for us, anyway), and were blessed to see some of the beauty that is found here in NW North Carolina!