7/25/08 (Friday): As promised, here's a synopsis of our adventure earlier this week. We left Sunday afternoon right after work and headed for Mars Hill (click here to see it on a map: Mars Hill ). We had dinner in Burnsville (see map) and then stayed at a lovely Comfort Inn. We enjoyed some TV and I had a long bath (I still miss my bathtub!). The bed was so comfortable--it had a memory foam mattress--luxurious!



The next day we headed for Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi, via the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway is closed just south of Mt. Mitchell due to construction. It's a beautiful drive.

This is St. John's Wort -- the bumblebees loved it!
The wildflowers are in full bloom. These yellow flowers look just like black eyed susans, except the center is green. I read about them in the museum (I forget the name of them). Apparently they only grow in the high elevations.

This is called a "Turk's Cap Lily." It's a native of this mountainous region, and it was everywhere. In addition to the orange ones, we saw a couple of yellow ones.

This red one is called "bee balm" or "oswego tea." They were everywhere, too.

It was warm and sunny when we left the hotel, but as we headed up the mountain, it got really cool and foggy. We had to put on our sweatshirts! We roamed around the visitor center and got a little background about the area. Here's a link to Wikipedia, which has lots of information about Mt. Mitchell. We drove all the way to the top.

We had a great hike (about 4-5 miles). We started on the Old Mitchell trail, then looped back via the Concession trail. We finished off by taking the Alice Camp trail back to where the truck was parked. We should probably have done it in reverse, because the Alice Camp trail was marked "very strenuous," and we were already tired when we started it. But it was a great hike anyhow.

Spectacular views!

After our long hike, we stopped at the highest restaurant east of the Mississippi (in the park) and had peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Re-energized, we headed back up the Blue Ridge Parkway (north) and stopped in the little town of New Switzerland. We found a gorgeous little inn perched precariously on the mountainside and promptly registered for the night. The Alpine Inn was long and narrow (because it was cantilevered out over the mountain), so our room was actually two long, narrow rooms with small beds in each end and the bathroom in the middle.

We also had a great balcony with a gorgeous view of the sunrise.

We enjoyed a yummy breakfast on the balcony while watching the hummingbirds at the feeder. We had fresh fruit topped with cottage cheese (me) or frozen yogurt (Wiley) and two slices of homemade bread. We felt like we were suspended in air--what a great experience!

We took a little drive out the road the inn was on while we waited for the shops in Little Switzerland to open. We say several flocks of wild turkeys (some with young).

As we were headed back toward town, I saw something in the middle of the road. I thought it was a dog, but as we got closer we realized it was a black bear and three cubs! Three cubs is very uncommon. We later talked to someone in the general store, and she said she had seen them before. This isn't a very good picture, because they got back into to the woods before I could get to my camera, but you can see one of the cubs in this shot.

Little Switzerland is small, but it has a couple of neat shops and restaurants. I thought Katelyn would get a kick out of these painted rocks in one of the shops (she painted some rocks she found here).

I have more to blog about, including our stop at a real mine where they got the mineral used to manufacture Bon Ami. But I'm going to stop for now, because Wiley and I are going to a campground potluck supper. Tune in again soon!

7/20/08 (Sunday): This is just a quick heads up--we're headed off for a couple of days of R&R in the Asheville area. We'll probably go to Mt. Mitchell. We're hoping to stay in a hotel or cabin with access to a lake or river. I promise a nice, newsy post when we get back.

7/12/08 (Saturday): Good evening all--and it's a beautiful one here in Boone! We worked until 2 PM today and then went fishing (well, I took Wiley fishing, anyhow). We had a lovely dinner of Wiley's home grown squash, mashed sweet potatoes and sloppy joes. Yummy! Then we listened for a while to some bluegrass music under the trees outside the camp store. Now we're relaxing in front of the TV.

I just found the photos I thought I'd lost--they were just mislabeled. While Mag and Wiley were hee, we packed a picnic lunch and went to Grandfather Mountain. While Mag and Wiley observed from the parking lot below, David, Katelyn, Wiley and I climbed a bunch of stairs and crossed the mile-high bridge. The weather was gorgeous nd the view magnificent.

I'm not sure what the honeymooners were up to while we were crossing the bridge, but they sure looked happy when we got back!

The watermelon I brought on the picnic was really delicious.

But we didn't let it spoil our appetite for dinner at Mountain House Inn. We celebrated Mag's birthday a little early with a lovely meal at one of our favorite restaurants.

A good time was had by all--and we look forward to many more.

7/10/08 (Friday): I've got lots to blog about, so I'll just jump right in!

We enjoyed a visit with Wiley's parents and our niece and nephew. Two weeks ago, I flew to Orlando and then drove them back here. Last Monday, I reversed the process and drove them home to Orlando, then flew back to Boone. We had a great time, and it was good to have the whole family together.

The campground goats were thrilled to make a new friend of Katelyn. They're so funny--we have goat food in ice cream cones for the kids to feed them with. You hold up the cone as you walk down the hill to their pasture and make ba-a-a-ing noises. They stampede up the hill, pushing and shoving and then eat the food out of the cones.

We ladies enjoyed a trip to the cemetery just up the hill. The land where the campground is located was originally a land grant of 1 square mile to the Brown family. Jont Brown was the first Brown to be buried there. It's a family cemetary with graves dating back to the 1700's, including the grave of an unknown child. Surviving members of the family have a reunion at our campground every year. They spend an afternoon maintaining the cemetery, and it's really a lovely place.
There's even a little outhouse--very clean and well maintained!

We have a lovely swimming pool in the campground, but the kids never went in. Katelyn and Nana did play a game of mini golf, though.
A number of the barns in this area have these quilt square paintings on them. After a little research, I discovered that local people have painted the quilt square patterns of their families on their barns. Mag was intrigued by this idea. These barns were on the way to Valle Crucis, where we went to the Mast General Store.

I've talked about Mast General Store before. There are several of them in this area, but this one in Valle Crucis is the original one. We enjoyed picking out penny candy and doing a little early Christmas shopping.
Of course, we had a couple of evening campfires, complete with hamburgers and hot dogs on our tripod grill and s'mores.
Katelyn is very gifted artistically. She spent a lot of time with her sketch book.

David enjoyed a little computer time.

For me, the highlights of the week were Blowing Rock,

Kayaking on the New River,
and visiting Mt. Airy, which was the inspiration for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show. Wiley Sr. and Jr. and Katelyn all got haircuts in the historic Floyd's Barber Shop. What fun! It took about 3 hours by the time they finished with all the customers and locals who dropped in, but it was an afternoon well spent. We had lunch in the Blue Bird Cafe, which is famous for pork chop sandwiches.

I also have pictures from Grandfather Mountain and the mile-high bridge, but that'll wait for another blog. We made some wonderful memories!