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Dine and Donate: First Ever "Plates for the Parkway" Program Offers Fuel For You And The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

Raise a toast to the Blue Ridge Parkway—and do it while enjoying a great meal at one of dozens of restaurants sponsoring “Plates for the Parkway” on September 18th, 2012. The first annual event will include restaurants that agree to donate a minimum of 10% of a meal or the day’s sales to benefit the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s efforts to protect the Parkway.

Autumn Stargazing: Blue Ridge Parkway

This is the kind of great stargazing you'll get in September at a variety of events in the Southern Appalachians. Tonight, there's a great event on Purchase Knob at the Great Smokies' Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center. Tomorrow, Mount Mitchell, East's highest peak, is the place to train telescopes on the sky. And there's another event September 14th at Craggy Dome, also reached on the Blue Ridge Parkway (like Mount Mitchell). There's still time to attend the later events.

Tim Barnwell

Help Your Essential Friends: Suggestions On Contributing To National Park Friends Groups

Throughout the summer we've been celebrating the work of national park friends groups. While the summer is coming to an end, their good work continues throughout the year. And with that in mind, they could use your support to fund that work. Here's a look back at some of the park system's "essential friends" and how you can support them.

Discriminating Explorer: Friends Groups Sample The Secrets Of The East’s Best National Parks

It’s hard to argue that Acadia, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Great Smokies, and Shenandoah don’t represent the cream of what the National Park Service offers in Eastern America. There are a lot of great experiences in these top East Coast national parks, but for the truly discriminating explorer, the friends groups for these parks have truly awesome best-kept-secret suggestions.

A Long And Winding Road: The Blue Ridge Parkway—And Insider Travel Tips From The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation

Stretches of road elsewhere in the country are as spectacular, but nothing matches the manicured, uniquely uncommercialized, half-a-thousand-mile thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge Parkway through the lofty heart of America’s first frontier. The scenery is great, but equally memorable is the encounter with history and traditional Appalachian culture and music.

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