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Blue Ridge Parkway
The Blue Ridge Parkway, sometimes called "America's Favorite Drive", is the most visited unit of America's National Park System. A drive down the Parkway provides stunning, long range vistas and close-up looks at the natural and cultural history of the southern Appalachian mountains. It is designed as a drive-awhile and stop-awhile experience, so please don't be in a hurry. During the winter seasons, sections of the road may be closed due to ice and snow, but there are always sections of the road that are open for travel. Year-round facilities include the Peaks of Otter Lodge and restaurant north of Roanoke, Va, the Museum of North Carolina Minerals at Spruce Pine, NC, and the Folk Art Center and Parkway Headquarters in Asheville, NC.
The park information number at (828) 298 0398 is your best source for up-to-date information on special events, blooms, or temporary closures due to weather conditions or construction. To get more involved in helping protect this special place, contact the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at www.brpfoundation.org.
Want some ideas for Road Trips during Fall? Check out this article for some great travel tips:
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.