Vacation, where do I start? It was a interesting week to say the least. Let's start w/ no one really knowing what day we were leaving. Then we stoped at a gas station and I sat the keys down, mom shut the door and they keys were locked in the van. Oops... not the first time I had done that. BUT the up side was that we were in a city w/ gas stations and other places around so we got snacks and chilled while the pop a lock guy showed up. We made it to the cabin around midnight.
Monday-we went to a really nice park/play groung w/ a creek running though it at Montreat which is Billy Graham's retreat. That afternoon we went into the town, did a little shopping and got icecream. :)
Tuesday-we went to Cherokee NC which is a reservation for the Eastern Band Cherokee Indians. Those that never left the area during the Trail of Tears. We went to a Oconaluftee Indain camp where they had stations showing how they made beads, weapons, homes, baskets and other things origionally. I learned alot about the Indians, it was facinatin and our guide was great. Not hard on the eyes either. Towards the end we saw a traditional War dance and a reinactment. After we left there we went to white water rafting. That was a experience. It had small rapids so no guide. We got stuck on a lot of rocks (guess the water was still a little low) but we had a great time. Something new for most of use.
Wed-Dad stayed home with the boys while me, mom and my aunt did some shopping. Took the boys to play putt putt that night. It was a hard course and putt putt bring out the worst in my boys don't think we will be doing that again soon.....
Thursday-we went to Walk Grandfather Mountain. We missed the short trail up and drove to the top. Then we walked to the top, across a swinging bridge that one point is a mile high. The other side we were able to look out over the beautiful Smokey Mountain/Blue Ridge. It was overcast but nice. About the time we got off the mountain into the gift shop it started to rain. We waited it out a few minutes and then drove a little down the mountain to the nature center. No hike back down. The center was small but fun b/c it had nature that you can find in a mountains and a casting of a tree someone found that Danile Boone had carved in. It said "Daniel Boon kiled a Bar here" and the date. Saw a statue of a bear that used to be in the mountains and liked humans. The rain stopped so we walked around outside to see the other bears. Went to the pic-nic station to eat lunch only to remember we forgot to stop and get bread. Packed everything back up, got bread and stoped at a overlook to eat. Got attacked by gnats and deer ticks so ate fast and went to Linville falls. It was a hike in the humid, post rain air to a view of the falls. Boy wished we could have gotten in, us to at that point, but there was no where to do that. Hiked back out and on the way out stopped at a small town called Little Switzerland. Interesting place, got more ice cream. It has some shops and little places to rent cabins. There are a lot of motercycles on those roads b/c there are so many curves. Some almost circled back on themselves. We were all pretty green by the time we got down the mountain.
Friday-We got up early and decided to do another hike today. It was through the mountains, on a tril to Catawaba falls. It's a decent walk to a beautiful falls. We can get in at the bottom of the falls and the falls were so different. They come dowin in many small streams all over the face of the mountain. Right as we were putting on our shoes we hear a boom of thunder and the the sky opened. The whole 30+ minutes of the walk out it poured down on us. Wet, mudy and interesting. With my walking stick, mud and rain I felt like I was on my way to tribal council on Survivor. All we could do was laugh. we were soaked to the bone and then some. We finally made it to the car , run out as much as we could and drove home, very wet.
Saturday-Dad and the boys got to have fun at the Asheville nature center and then Fun Zone (putt putt, go carts, laser tag) while the ladies and I went shopping.
Sunday-laundry, packing and home.
Whew, if you are still hanging in through all this, thanks!
