High Time for Labor Day Lunch

 We've had a pretty busy Labor Day weekend, which started with a few hours on Friday at Highland Brewery to welcome in their new Oktoberfest beer, Clawhammer.  

Saturday we were in Hendersonville for the Apple Festival, one of our favorites of the many celebrations in the neighboring towns.  And then Saturday night we enjoyed the final Shindig on the Green of the season and Ann got to go on stage with her friends and Mountain Jam Circle colleagues Alice and Cheryl to show off the raffle quilt.  

Sunday we golfed nine holes at Highland Lake Golf Course with our friends Ed and Carol, feeling kind of sad that this course will be closing at the end of the month.  And then in the evening we enjoyed the first couple of innings of the Asheville Tourist baseball game until we were surprised with sudden heavy rain that sent us home early.
  

I thought today would be a quiet "stay at home" day.  I went to a class at the "Y," as I usually do on a Monday, and Russ took a run on the parkway.  I guess the lure of the Blue Ridge Parkway got to him because he came home with the suggestion that we drive to Pisgah Inn for lunch.  I would never turn down that offer, so off we went!

In spite of the holiday crowd that was there, we got seated rather quickly and even scored a window seat!  (Russ must have winked at the hostess.)

I got to enjoy this view of the mountains to my right:

and Russ to my left:

In the interest of equal time, here's me:

And here's my Monte Cristo sandwich:

(Some of it came home with me for tomorrow's lunch.)

We remembered that last time we were here, likely this spring shortly after they opened for the season, it was so foggy that we couldn't see anything outside the restaurant.  So even though the cloud cover was a little heavier than we would have liked today we still got a spectacular view.

A tourist couple that we struck up a conversation with outside offered to take our picture, so I figured I had better include it in this blog post, too.

And here is a view of the restaurant from the area where we were taking the outdoor photos:

Before we left, I took this photo of some Mountain Ash trees with their brilliant berries.  Whenever I see a Mountain Ash, I think of my dad, as this was a favorite tree of his.  Many of the Mountain Ash trees near the Pisgah Inn are quite old and because of the exposed setting near the mountain top they are quite weathered.  The best stand was actually across the road, so I had to take this photo from some distance away, but you can see the pretty contrast of the green leafy foliage and the bright red/orange berries this time of year.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is truly a treasure and 

we are so lucky to have it right down the street from us!