Adventures in North Carolina

Before leaving Georgia we visited Bulloch Hall (1839), the home where Teddy Roosevelt's mother grew up, did some sightseeing in the historic town on Roswell and stopped in Brusters for an ice cream.

The next morning we headed for North Carolina. We traveled up route 85 through a "wake low", an unusual weather occurrence that the weather channel described as low pressure behind a rain event . Fifty-sixty mph straight line winds and trees falling along the road. We finally made it to Asheville, North Carolina.

It was a raining day on Tuesday, but we traveled through Bat Cave and to Chimney Rock. Pets are welcome in this park except on the elevator so we climbed, with Rigley and Bentley, the .5 mile round trip stairs to the top. Elevation 2280 feet.

Then is was seven flights of stairs down to connect with the Hickory Nut Falls Trail. We hiked 1.5 miles round trip to enjoy the 404 foot vertical drop of Hickory Falls, making it one of the highest waterfalls east of the Mississippi.

Another day brought us to the Smokey Mountains and Cherokee Nation. Austin needed to acquire more casino chips for his collection. Returned to camp by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Very scenic day.

The Biltmore House , a 255 room mansion on 8,000 acres is the largest private home in North America. It took us over 2 hours to tour the rooms that are open to the public. Diane and I thought we could live well in the basement. We spent over 6 hours here and I am sure we must have missed something. The tulips were in bloom and the gardens were beautiful. Diane, Bill, Austin and I went for a wine tasting at the Biltmore winery before calling it a day.

Saturday took us back on the road and into the mountains. We stopped at Looking Glass Falls before visiting Sliding Rock , both are in the Pisgah National Forest. Sliding Rock is a 60 foot nautical water slide, a well worn slab of rock, that empties into a pool of water 8 feet deep before the river continues down the mountain. This is a

favorite swimming hole for locals and tourist of all ages. Austin would have tried it if he had brought a change of clothes.

It's raining today in Asheville but we will fine an adventure indoors.