Loose Leaf Notes

On the drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway Saddle Overlook, just a few miles from our house, the fall trees lit up like a sunset.

I knew it was going to be a good sunset because the clouds in the sky were beautiful.  I was late meeting Joe, who rode his bike up, because I spotted the moon and had to pull over.

I arrived just in time to see the sun go down behind Buffalo Mountain. But that was just the beginning.  The colors spread out and lasted.

It was spectacular!

Maybe the best we had ever seen at The Saddle.

Whenever I visited my hometown peninsula on the South Shore of Boston, I would go out near sunset and run or bike from the ocean to the bay to watch the moon rise and the sun set. Same thing at the Saddle Parkway overlook. Everywhere you turned it was beautiful to see.

If there are clouds on the moonrise side of the Parkway usually glows pink after sunset.

Joe and I were married at the Saddle in a full moon ceremony. We wanted to do it while the sun and moon were in the sky together, across from each other. I later learned that the moon rises at sunset a day or two before it’s full. This one is full on Saturday.

We meet the nicest people at Saddle sunsets and often run into Floyd friends. “Do you come here often?” one of the friends we ran into asked. “All the time. This is my place. My natural therapy,”  I answered.