Awesome photos!

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Spent some time up there last summer, beautiful country.

Terrific photos, Derek! Thanks so much. Stunning country down there.

............lasting at least 45 minutes, the only thing that ended this beautiful rainbow over Wilson Creek Gorge on the backside of Grandfather Mountain was the sun going down behind the Roan Mountain Grassy Balds peak, which rises to 6,185 feet to the west in Tennessee............Stack Rock overlook...........Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 304...........

Really nice shots!

.....our bears....right in downtown Banner Elk;

A video of a mother bear and her four cubs crossing a road in Banner Elk has gone viral.

The video was posted to the Grandfather Mountain Facebook page and has over 495,000 views along with over 8,000 shares.

http://abc11.com/news/video-of-momma-bear-and-4-cubs-in-banner-elk-goes-viral/1340888/

[Edited on 6/28/2016 by DerekFromCincinnati]

Amazing pictures, Derek.

I lean more towards the landscape photos myself. Not much of a flower lover but those pics are equally beautiful.

One of my favorite States. I have told many friends that one of the greatest sins is how people might judge the beauty of the State driving up and down the I95. Get off that road and billboards and the beauty jumps right at you.

Lost one of my true loves to NC as I didn't follow her there long ago. Our lives took different paths and I ended up regretting my path. Years passed and fate brought me back to my wife ( even earlier love) and along came those kids. Anyone with a time machine? 😉

Thanks Derek. Beautiful pics and you took me on a memory trip too.

Thanks, CM!!!