Below is a gallery of snaps I took at the media preview for the “Art in Bloom 2026” exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Exhibit from Art in Bloom 2026
I’ve put the Gallery on a different page than my main article, for release after the show is over, so I don’t spoil it for people going to the exhibit.
“Art in Bloom” is an annual fundraiser at the North Carolina Museum of Art, taking place March 18-22, 2026.
Beautiful florals at Art in Bloom
More than 50 floral designers from across North Carolina and beyond will interpret artwork and objects in the NCMA’s People’s Collection during this five-day festival of florals.
This year’s theme, “Written in the Stars”, is reflected in 14 gallery installations inspired by the zodiac’s astrological signs and their various meanings.
I was lucky enough to be invited to a media “sneak preview” of the exhibit before it opened. And I have to say, if you can find a way to get there – do it!!
Opening remarks at the Art in Bloom media preview.
As the NCMA’s largest annual fundraiser, Art in Bloom supports the museum’s public programming, annual exhibitions and the NCMA Foundation, Inc.
(PNC Bank returns as the founding presenting sponsor of Art in Bloom.)
The five-day event also includes floral workshops, lectures and programs as well as special extended hours and expanded food options.
The North Carolina Museum of Art’s collection spans more than 5,000 years, from antiquity to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the South.
The NCMA collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond.
The museum is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Rd. in Raleigh and is home to the People’s Collection.
Last minute touches before the show!
Just a word about parking at the NCMA during Art in Bloom – even if you’re just there to go to the park – it will be terrible!
If you can park at a nearby location, and walk in, it will be much better for you ! 🙂
About the NCMA Art Park
The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through site-specific works of environmental art.
Whirligig sculpture and remaining smokestack in NCMA Art Park
The museum park offers changing special exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films and concerts.
The Grayson Highlands Park is right on the edge of the areas of North Carolina and Virginia that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
That said, the Park is open (with some restrictions) and many of the surrounding communities are open for business and could really use your Fall vacation dollars to help rebuild!
Go to my Hurricane Helene page to get the latest updates on the latest Park, Trail and road repairs.
Smoky Mountains get their name from the mist that settles in the valleys.
Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia is a great place to go hiking and look for wild ponies!
I was lucky enough to spend a few days there this past September.
The Park covers 4800-acres, and is adjacent to Virginia’s highest peak at an elevation of 5,729 feet, Mount Rogers.
You’ll find camping, picnicking, overnight horse stables, a visitor center, hiking trails, and access to the Appalachian Trail at Grayson Highlands.
But the ponies were the REAL attraction for me 🙂
A young pony being friendly.
The mountain balds are inhabited by a herd of ~120 ponies that run wild within the confines of the Park.
They’re not at all shy, so you get a lot of chances to see them.
Grayson Highlands is home to other wildlife, too.
Visitors might also see black bear, bobcat, red fox, ruffed grouse, deer, and wild turkeys – and also longhorn cattle!
These cattle were blocking the trailhead, and also adorable 🙂
Read on to learn about the park and area history, hiking trails, and all of those wild ponies just waiting for you to visit!
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a favorite Summer family vacation spot!
Located in the center of the 60-mile long stretch of beach known as “The Grand Strand”, it’s one of the major tourist destinations in the entire country, attracting over 20M visitors each year.
Myrtle Beach Spring Break
Spring Break reveler at Myrtle Beach 🙂
Myrtle Beach is also a notorious Spring Break destination, but it’s not what you think!
The Spring Break crowd in Myrtle typically has adult supervision and isn’t the crazy College break scene like you get in Fort Lauderdale.
So Myrtle Beach is a good choice for both adult travelers and families with school-aged children on Easter break.
Winter at the Beach
I usually go to Myrtle in the off-season, because it’s both less crowded and less expensive then.
North Myrtle Beach in February.
And I like the beach in the Winter, because you can walk by the water for miles without suffering heat stroke 😉
That said, more things are open in the Summer season, when more people are around.
Read on to learn about fun activities I’ve found in every season – including the beach – that work for adult travelers and families, too.
The Great Channels are right on the edge of the areas of North Carolina and Virginia that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
That said, the Park is open (with some restrictions) and many of the surrounding communities are open for business and could really use your Fall vacation dollars to help rebuild!
Go to my Hurricane Helene page to get the latest updates on the latest Park, Trail and road repairs.
Smoky Mountains get their name from the mist that settles in the valleys.
I finally got to explore the Great Channels on Brumley Mountain, Virginia earlier this Fall after obsessing over it for nearly a year!
On the Navajo Trail in Bryce Canyon, Utah
The Great Channels sit at the summit of a mountain, and features a maze of slot canyons similar to those you might find in the parks in Utah or Arizona.
But the Great Channels formation is a surprise geologic gem hidden in southwest Virginia!
Anyway, last year, while planning a hiking trip to Grayson Highlands State Park (more on that later), I stumbled across an article about the Great Channels.
“Stumbled” is probably not the best word for a hiker to use, but you know what I mean 😉
I made some new friends at Grayson Highlands State Park.
The Channels are a series of deep crevices worn into prehistoric sandstone outcrops, where you can walk down into the maze-like network of crevices and explore.
You can also climb up on top of the Channels to get a stunning 360 view of the surrounding mountains!
Read on to learn how you can hike to the Great Channels, too.
Apple Hill Farm is very close to Grandfather Mountain and other areas of North Carolina and Virginia that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
Grandfather Mountain State Park, along with many other NC State Parks are closed. That said, many of the surrounding communities are open for business and could really use your Fall vacation dollars to help rebuild! So please check with Apple Hill Farm directly.
Go to my Hurricane Helene page to get the latest updates on the latest area Park, Trail and road repairs.
Smoky Mountains get their name from the mist that settles in the valleys.
I found Apple Hill Farm – a working Alpaca textile farm – when I was hiking out in the Grandfather Mountain area few weeks ago.
I was looking for an activity to take a break from hiking (uphill!) in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, but was still outdoors.
Apple Hill Farm was the perfect find! It’s a working textile farm on the site of an old apple orchard that offers farm tours, and even has a fiber gift shop on site.
Alpaca graze at Apple Hill Farm.
The farm was started in 2002 by a single Mom (and cancer survivor) with just 2 pregnant female alpacas and one young male.
Today Apple Hill Farm is home to 9 kinds of animals: alpacas, llamas, angora goats, zebu cattle, horses, pigs, donkeys, chickens, and livestock guardian dogs.
The farm site includes 15 fields, 4 barns, and a farm store on 43 acres of land.
They’re still a working textile farm, and lucky for us, they now also give visitors educational tours of the farm all year round.
Read on to learn about my tour, and how you can visit too.
The Blue Ridge Parkway runs through or very near areas of North Carolina and Virginia that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
The North Carolina section of the Blue Ridge Parkway is closed, along with many other NC State Parks. That said, the Virginia side of the BRP and many surrounding communities are open for business and could really use your Fall vacation dollars to help rebuild!
Go to my Hurricane Helene page to get the latest updates on the latest area Park, Trail and road repairs.
Smoky Mountains get their name from the mist that settles in the valleys.
I’ve been driving the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) in North Carolina and Virginia to get between places for more than 25 years.
But, I have to admit – until the last couple of years – I have completely neglected Blue Ridge Parkway hikes!
Then last year, a hiking friend introduced me to the Rock Castle Gorge trail near Rocky Knob on the BRP. Ever since then I’ve kept an eye peeled for new Parkway hikes I could try.
Tunnel beneath the BRP on a carriage road at Moses Cone Memorial Park.
And this summer… I found some! 🙂
This past season, I hiked some trails in and around Grandfather Mountain State Park (more on that later) and found myself driving the Parkway more than once to get from my lodgings in Banner Elk, NC to nearby trailheads and attractions.
One afternoon I finished a hike earlier than planned, and spotted Moses Cone Memorial Park on the way back.
It was a beautiful day, and I still had a couple of hours until sundown so I stopped to check it out.
Hike the carriage roads to the Flat Top Observation Tower.
I found beautiful grounds with 25 miles of hikes along old carriage roads, including a 5-mile RT hike to the Flat Rock Observation Tower!
Read on to learn more about the Flat Top Tower hike in Moses Cone Memorial Park and all of the other beautiful bridle and hiking trails you can experience there, too.
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia is our nation’s 63rd – and newest – National Park.
Rock wall along the Rend Trail in the Thurmond area.
The park encompasses over 70,000 acres of land along 53 miles of the New River from Bluestone Dam to Hawk’s Nest Lake.
In spite of it’s name, the New River is one of the oldest rivers on Earth, and has carved the deepest and longest river gorge in the Appalachian Mountains – dropping 750 feet over 50 miles!
More than a million people visit the gorge each year to kayak, canoe, and fish in the river or hike, bike, and camp on the land.
For the past few years, I’ve been one of them!
Each Summer, my family has a reunion in Indiana over the July 4th holiday.
One of the smaller Falls at Sandstone Falls in the Park.
It’s a long drive, so on the return trip I’ve stopped at New River Gorge National Park to break up the drive and check it out.
The first year, I only had a day at the Park, but this time I scheduled 4 whole days! I was NOT disappointed 🙂
The Shenandoah National Park is right on the edge of the areas of North Carolina and Virginia that were hardest hit by Hurricane Helene.
That said, the Park is open and many of the surrounding communities are open for business and could really use your Fall vacation dollars to help rebuild!
Go to my Hurricane Helene page to get the latest updates on the latest Park, Trail and road repairs.
Smoky Mountains get their name from the mist that settles in the valleys.
I made the journey to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia again last Spring, specifically to (finally!) hike the iconic Old Rag summit hike.
Until this year, Old Rag was my Moby Hike – the one that got away!
It was the hike that got away – my Moby Hike!
I’ve had plans to hike Old Rag for the past three years – but each attempt was thwarted by weather or logistics.
So I went back to try again – and I’m so glad I did!
It was a perfect-weather weekday in May before all of the families started their Summer vacations, so there were other hikers on the trail, but the place wasn’t over-run.
There’s a long rock scramble to the mountain’s summit that works better with some teamwork – especially if you’re a little bit vertically challenged, like I am 🙂
I conquered Old Rag, then I found a couple of other rock-scrambly hikes in Shenandoah that were a little less daunting to do the next day.
Read on to learn how you can hike Old Rag, and those other hikes too!
I’ve been exploring and hiking on trails in North Carolina for more than 20 years, but one thing I’ve neglected – partly because they don’t have many long hiking trails – are the State Natural Areas.
Though not great for hiking North Carolina State Natural Areasare good for exploring nature and different habitats in a fairly small space.
This kind of place can be an exciting outdoor adventure for small children, like your kids or grandkids.
Mitchell Mill State Natural Area in Northern Wake County is one such very unique spot to explore.
The 93-acre site is a Registered Heritage Area, and sits atop one of the largest granite domes on the east coast, called the Rolesville Batholith.
Plant life from lichens to full grown trees sit atop the Rolesville Batholith.
Mitchell Mill State Natural area protects this Paleozoic-era granite, and also houses a fragile and rare ecosystem, including native plant communities that can only grow in such a “granitic flatrock” environment.
Read more to learn how you can visit and explore this unique State Natural Area!
