An important question for travelers on the Blue Ridge Parkway, especially in the winter, is "How's the weather?" The Parkway is open year-round, with one important caveat: "As long as snow or ice do not create dangerous driving conditions." Now, thanks to a new website, BRPweather.com, it's possible to get real-time weather conditions and forecasts for multiple locations along the popular roadway before you decide to go for a drive.

A section of Blue Ridge Parkway just north of Asheville, North Carolina, will close next week so work can resume on stabilizing the road bed.

Though it looks anything but a great habitat for prehistoric animals today, Big Bend National Park's landscape has a rich connection with the long-ago past. And to display some of that history, park officials are proposing to build a fossil exhibit along the Fossil Discovery Trail.

W. Clark Bunting, who most recently was president and general manager of the Discovery Channel, next week takes the helm of the National Parks Conservation Association.