When Mary Ann Claud set out to explore the Blue Ridge Mountains from her home in Tryon, NC, she knew she would find waterfalls, scenic overlooks and charming small towns. But would she have predicted a full scale, private observatory, a mynah bird in charge of a gas station or an alternative theory of where Abraham Lincoln was born? Probably not, yet there they were and she captured all of that, and more, in her weekly newspaper columns for the Hendersonville, N.C. Times-News. The columns collected here will inspire readers to embark on their own Blue Ridge pilgrimage.