Kickin' Back Hour

What we Photogs call the Golden Hour is that time of day when the sun has just come up or is just setting. I prefer the latter as I tend to be a bit bah humbug in the wee hours. I got an opportunity to catch a Golden Hour view from the porch of one of the Blue Ridge Vacation Cabins overlooking the Watauga River. Pretty sweet place to kick back and watch the sun settle itself behind the mountains for the evening.

Setting Sun

To keep our outdoor activity week going, my roomates and I headed out to the parkway to throw a little disc and catch the sunset, but not before stopping at Woodlands BBQ for dinner. When we sat down our server let us know that the daily special was a chicken plate with all you can eat pit cooked chicken for $5.25. We all went for it with the house sauce, a sweet and spicy mix. Woodlands serves some of the best BBQ and chicken I've ever had, if you're ever in the Blowing rock area check them out.
Out on the parkway we decided to hike the popular Rough Ridge trail (milepost 302.8), one we hadn't visited together since 3 years ago. The parkway is still fairly vacant this early in the summer which is a great time to hit the more popular hikes. The sunset was nice from the top of the ridge, although we weren't really facing west. I really like the perspective of the photo of Will I caught when I turned around to put the camera back in the pelican case. Now off to try and find a good spot to catch the sunrise.

A lingering sunset

Tate and I headed out to the parkway to throw a little frisbee and then stop at Ravens Rock overlook to take some photos of the sunset. Due to the rainy weather we have had lately, we haven't really noticed how late the sunset has gotten and were out there far too early. Oh well, we hung our for awhile, then headed to Woodlands to eat some BBQ pork. Mmm Woodlands.