I decided to show Roan Mountain some love in this latest post. Why? Because yesterday it gave me lots of joy. Can a place do that? I sure think it can. Have you ever “gone home” or visited your dream location or traveled to an exotic place with friends, or spent time anywhere in nature where you found joy, felt refreshed and come away feeling different and changed in some way? Well, that was the case yesterday on my trip back to Roane which happened to be the third trip there this year. See, I think nature can do that to us and for us. I love it because it can be different every single time no matter how many times you go to one location. There are always so many variables. There is the weather, the atmosphere, the temperature, the foliage change, the new buds and blooms, the people you go with, or those you encounter on the way, etc.. Yesterday it was 81 at the bottom of the mountain and 50 degrees in the gardens at the top. The gates to the gardens were finally back open, so a whole new world opened up to us this trip. It was also very foggy and very windy and very damp. I could stand in one spot and have fog whipping past while also clouding distance views, at times. We hiked trails and walked along paved paths lined with rhododendrons and massive, towering cedars. There were flowers and the most lush ferns everywhere, but I believe the rhododendrons needed a few more days or a week to be in perfect, full bloom, at least in the gardens which are a bit higher up. They were beautiful and amazing, none the less. I am going to post a few of my favorite pictures. Again, I do not edit any of my photos. What you see is what I saw and what I captured. I took well over one hundred pics. I’m being kind in selecting just a few. That is always the hard part for me. When I visit a place I think is beautiful, I take way too many photos, so the selection process becomes overwhelming. When I see something beautiful, I feel compelled to capture everything I can to share with anyone willing to look. I’m not sure why that is exactly. I do remember the one time I saw one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and I was without a camera. Perhaps, that has something to do with it. I was devastated at the time and the memory still haunts me today, especially when I find myself without even a phone or with a phone with zero percent battery. I know how to enjoy the moment without capturing every second, but I feel like I “owe it to the world” to share what I see. It is a chance to share my gifts. I know I notice a whole lot of things that others have admitted to never even noticing. It is a blessing and a curse, at times. I also want to share the joy and beauty with others who may not get a chance to go and see for themselves or to share with others, even those within my own family, who just might not notice all of the wonders nature and creation has to show us all.