God's Country

Well, we finally made it to the west side of the state. We spent a long weekend with some friends in Valle Crucis. It is a quaint little mountain town that has not changed much over the years. It is truly a spectacular place. We stayed at a really nice cabin on 11 acres with a huge deck on the edge of the mountain. The cabin was great, however, we did not have a view from the deck. It was thick forest. If you didn’t know you were in the mountains, it would seem a lot like northern Michigan. We spent a couple of days bumming around and doing some hiking and checking out the river. On Saturday we took the kids gem mining. They actually got to pan for gems and found a lot of good stuff. They found ruby, garnet, emerald, and a couple other gems. Sunday was the best day as far as sight seeing goes. We headed over to Grandfather mountain. It is the highest peak in the Blue Ridge Mountains at 5,984 feet (That is over 1 mile high!) It is rumored that Daniel Boone used to hunt on this mountain in the 1700’s. We crossed a hanging bridge a hiked up a sketchy peak and had the most spectacular views of the mountains. It was absolutely amazing. When we left for home we headed down the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a road that spans over 250 miles through the mountains and took over 50 years to complete. These views were even better (we did not stop to take pics, the kids were tired and wanted to get home). It is a spectacular drive. We hope to head back in the fall to see the colors. We are proud to call North Carolina home and are having a great time exploring all of its wonders and beauty. We really enjoy sharing our new experiences.

‘Til next time…