Saturday, July 04, 2009

Waterfall Adventure - Last Day

We are home safe and sound. It really was a good trip and today was no different.

We slept a little late (9am), got dressed and checked out of the hotel. First stop was Waffle House for breakfast and some good coffee. After which we headed out to Chimney Rock State Park. We arrived at Chimney Rock and took the shuttle from the parking area to the welcome center. There is an elevator that goes up, but the line was like 40 minutes long so we decided to walk up - God Help Me. We went up I don't know how many stairs to the top - I came close to dying a few times I think, but the view from the top was worth it. Mountainous beauty as far as the eye could see...

After we relaxed (and got our breath back) from hiking up we ate lunch at their little restaurant. Only $10 for both us so we were happy... We then took the elevator back to the bottom and decided to hike to the waterfall. It was so worth it 404 feet of sheer beauty; I really wish I would have had on swimming attire, that pool sure looked fun :). We then left the waterfall area and hiked back down to the parking lot. I'd say over all we walked about 5 or 6 miles today, a good portion of it up hill or up stairs... I'm pretty proud that I pulled it off.

After leaving Chimney Rock we headed to Pisgah National Forest and checked out another couple of waterfalls. By this time it was 4:30 pm and we decided to head home (the scenic route). We took long windy roads for about 2 hours and only went 60 miles, by this time I was ready to end our scenic tour and head for food so I detoured from the GPS and had it reroute me... LOL ... we ended up on a driveway that lead to a horse trail that was gated (no kidding)... yea not the route I planned. It was so funny.. then Jack and I argued about the best way to get home (no trip is complete w/o a good argument). We finally wound up on a 4 lane and started heading to the house.

We stopped in Buford and ate Cracker Barrel on the way home; I had strawberry shortcake (YUMMY). We then finished our commute by watching the fireworks of the ATL as we drove around 285. Kinda cool to see the various firework shows from the interstate. Now we are home and burning up in the heat (cause we were energy efficient and cut it up in our absence). Overall it was a really good trip; I can't wait to go back.

No comments:

Maine - Day 9

It rained today; if it was going to rain today was really the best day for it as we needed to travel so I'm grateful.  We've really ...