Thunderstorm

An approaching Thunderstorm at Pop and Grandma Rita's--Jenna is hurriedly gathering some "awesome" dirt to take home and play with

Our trip to North Carolina and Tennessee

We left on the fourth of July for Asheville, North Carolina area.  Once we hit the Magic Road, the girls dug into their bags and settled in for seven hours+ of driving.

 

 

We headed here to escape the oppressive record-breaking heat and drought, to remember what it felt like to be outside almost all day again on adventures instead of holed up in air-conditioned, darkened rooms.  Day 1 consisted mainlyl of driving, but on day 2, we headed straight to the water of DuPont Falls Park.

 

  Hooker Falls

 



The water was oh-so-cold, but exhilarating.  We stayed until early afternoon swimming, sun-bathing, climbing on rocks, and playing in the waterfall.

 

Blue Lips

On Day 3, we visited a Gem Mine.  The kids loved it!!  We walked away with several bags of gems--smokey quartz, rubies, fool's gold, amethyst, etc.  

We visited Sliding Rock next.  It's a 50ft or so natural rock slide that dumps you, not very gently, into a 7 foot pool of frigid water.  The line for this was loooonng, but moved quickly and it was fun to watch the varying speeds and positions of those going down before us.  Caroline insisted she didn't want to go, but Bryan talked her into it.  Once.  Upon hitting the ice cold water, she said very matter-of-factly, "I don't want to do that again. :)  After we were through sliding, we played in the mountain river away from the Big Rock and cooked beef stew and lasagna on the Jet boil. 

 

 

We finished the night off in downtown Asheville.  

 

 

Day 4.  Saturday. Lake Lure nearly all day long.  This was the hottest day!  I built a sandcastle w/the girls in the morning while Bryan went for a mountain run.  I ended up taking a break from the heat in the afternoon and read about hiking the AT in the shade away from the beach, while Daddy played with the girls. The girls certainly did not need a break and swam for hours.

 

Oh and I almost forgot--each night ended with a trip to YoLos Frozen Yogurt Bar, where you get to serve yourself.  All sorts of combinations were created--coffee-flavored yogurt topped with gummy worms, peanut butter-flavored yogurt mixed with Ferrero Rochero and Nutter Butters sprinkled on top....and some of us (Caroline) stuck with what she knew worked: Vanilla Bean and rainbow sprinkles all three nights. 

 

 

Day 5:  Smoky Mountains and Clingman's Dome.

We were in the car a lot on Day 5.  Mountain driving is slow going.  It was another really hot day for this area.  We enjoyed the old mountain home set up in the entrance to the park.  It took about an hour to get up to the parking lot of Clingman's.  When we got there it was 30 degrees cooler than at the bottom (66) and cloudy and raining!  We couldn't see much, but the air felt fantastic.  It was a brutal little half-mile walk to the top.  Jenna said we couldn't stop once until we made it breathlessly to the top.  Caroline needed to hitch a ride on Dad, but she was foregoing a nap to see this place, after-all.  

 

3D topographic map at the Welcome Center.  The girls found Clingman's on here before we left.

At the top of the dome

Bryan and I are in love with this area.  Cooler mountain air and whitewater all around.  A bookstore I could visit every, single week.  Drum circles in downtown Asheville every Friday night (the kids used empty water bottles filled with dirt and rocks to shake to the rhythm).  We left with plans and dreams of overnight hikes here--even the girls were excited at the notion of hiking part of the AT--a whitewater family adventure, and more camping. We will be back. I'm talking to you too, YoLos!