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I think I'll go to Boston... ok, maybe not.

Friday night, May 31st. I had been waiting, no dying to go to Boston. I was so excited. Planned on seeing Sunja. Would have seen Sophie (but she thought driving South while I was in the North was ironic and bailed. It was for a huge concert she'd planned forever, but still!)

Boarding passes are printed and I'm getting ready to shut down computer when I get a ping for a new email.
Our flight is delayed. We're going to miss our connection and will either be stuck in Newark or have to put off flying until Saturday night. Ugh. Mike had a serious migraine and I was grumpy as hell so we just cancelled the whole shebang because really - why lose a whole entire day of our vacation and spend so long on flights? We took it as a sign to put off the trip and stay home - or something.

Saturday morning, I wake up and am feeling less grumpy. Mike's migraine is gone so we start talking and realize that North Carolina has a lot to offer and we should start taking advantage of that. On June 1st, it was the 7 year anniversary (exact date) of our move to Raleigh, and I still haven't seen much of it - until now.

We do some very quick research on Google (erm, maybe it was Bing - whatever I don't care - there were waterfalls, y'all) and download the Blue Ridge Parkway app (greatest app ever and every person in North Carolina should download it now) then grab our previously packed bags (Heh, United... take that!) and jump in the car.

15 minutes on the road aaaaand... traffic jam. Ok, maybe we shouldn't leave the house at all.

We clear that jam and about an hour or so later, they have closed Interstate 40. Not even kidding. Closed it. Shut 'er down. Everyone get off the ride and detour then get back on. So, you know, a Saturday and one lane of traffic trying to exit the freeway and detour through some city, and, well, I'm not very patient but even I gotta laugh now. Mike and I are over being mad slash grumpy and are now laughing at it all. Screw it. Where will we end up? Will we even do anything this weekend? Should we just go home?

Finally, we get to Chimney Rock Village. (It's after 4p. We left our house at 10a. It's normally a 3.5 hr drive or so.) We take a quick little drive down to Lake Lure (some of Dirty Dancing was filmed there and it totally has that vibe of being back in the 50s) and then pick out our hotel for the night (The Carter Lodge - so cute and just a little bit o' perfect). Then we decide to grab some dinner, walk the river a bit, and have a relaxing night. We'll tackle Chimney Rock (and my dreams of Daniel Day Lewis circa Last of the Mohicans) in the morning then go hunting for the other waterfalls I saw online.

**CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE**

So, we start with a little view of the Broad River rushing over the rocks at the base of Chimney Rock.

 Chimney Rock herself... this is the tourist spot where scenes from TLotM was filmed:

 The waterfall was our view from the outdoor seating we enjoyed at Medina's. (YUMMY FOOD! If you go to CR, you must eat there.)

Oh and speaking of the above two pictures, let's take a moment for the greatness that is the final scene of:

 "The Last of the Mohicans"

Back to our scenic walk and enjoying the river:

The view of Chimney Rock from the balcony of our room at the Carter Lodge:

One more quick visit in to town for dessert and another little stroll of the river before calling a night:

Next morning - we woke up to pouring rain. Have I mentioned how funny this weekend turned out? I mean, for real. Delays, detours. So, we skip the hike of Chimney Rock (which let me just say, I ain't mad. I saw it from the deck at dinner and I'm OK with that. Who wants to hike and climb stairs and, you know, get exercise... outdoors? It sounds suspiciously close to camping and I don't roll like that.)

We are Blue Ridge Parkway bound and I'm convince I'll see waterfalls! So, we follow our little British speaking GPS (because really, if you must listen to directions, you should be able to listen to a posh, yet soothing British accent) who seems to be drunk because he is sending us on a crazy long detour.

Um, Pisgah National Forest? We might be a leeeetle bit off of the route, but I'm keeping the faith in our GPS and we trudge on. Besides, I remember seeing "Looking Glass Rock" on the internet and I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Until we are directed to a dirt road that is so hard to navigate, I'm pretty sure our car won't make it. So, no pictures from that bit because I was white-knuckling it the whole way. Scared to death. Mike thought it an adventure. I don't have that much adventurer in me. My bladder is small and the road is long. But we've started this route and instead of turning around (uh, we can't because the road is so jacked) we carry on.

Don't go chasin' waterfalls... OMG, that song has been stuck in my head since I woke up Saturday morning! Make it stop.

We finally make it to the point we were using on the GPS. (One Mike randomly picked while watching the Heat and Pacers play on our little lodge TV while I tried to sleep.)
A moment for a word about Balsam Grove, North Carolina (from Wikipedia):

Balsam is an unincorporated community located in the Scott Creek township of Jackson County, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, USA. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 49. There is one United States Post Officein the town. 

Balsam is located near Balsam Gap, a mountain pass between the Great Balsam Mountains and the Plott Balsams, two of the highest ranges in the Appalachian Mountains.

Wow. How did we get all the way over to that red dot? We're just two hidden moonshine networks away from Tennessee. Of course, we reach this point on the road and turn left. We were supposed to turn right... so we decide for once to turn around. I don't know why we would do this. We hadn't turned around yet, but this time we did. And good thing because I look at the GPS and a little white box with a camera pops up to let us know we're passing a point of interest. I glance over and see...

A waterfall. OMG NOT EVEN KIDDING IT JUST POPPED UP OUT OF NOWHERE AND WE MISSED IT WHEN WE FIRST DROVE BY BECAUSE WE'RE LAME!!!

And we took a short video clip of it (the camera is new and we had to try it out!)

We left that little slice of heaven and start back on toward Blue Ridge Parkway. I see a sign that says there is a lake so I ask if we can take a minute and check it out. An hour later... no lake, but we did see some pretty scenic bits of the mountains, and got a wee bit lost.

A cute valley we drove by:

One of a few lots of the Christmas tree farm we passed:

Yeah, so after getting off of that road (sorry, I take full credit for that mistake. That sign promised a lake and I feel let down by the State of NC parks and recreation system) we ended up in a little town by NC Western U called Sylva. It had a very cute downtown and we decided to stop for lunch at a place called Bogarts. HUGE burgers and the food was really good, but I felt a bit out of place. Everyone knew everyone and the principal of one of the schools was there chatting up the people (and, I shudder, hugging students) after a Sunday church service that I'm sure they all attended together. (Except for the two dudes at the bar downing their beers - pretty sure I saw the equivalent of Norm and Cliff of Cheers. See. I didn't need to go to Boston after all.) The majority of the patrons were over 70. The waitstaff were all under 25. It was odd, but hey, we're starving and not trying to figure that out right now.

Back on the highway we hit Blue Ridge Parkway rather quickly. This time, I've got my eyes open and the first thing I see? A wild turkey. In June. He was chillin' on the side of the road.

Turns out he was scouting the road for safety because we also saw his wife and kids behind him a bit...

The rain that had stopped but started again. As we drove The Parkway, it would continue to rain off and on and we would drive through patches of low clouds- or I guess since the elevation was so high, not so low clouds.

I took a picture of Mike taking a picture. My belly was full and I was getting tired of getting out of the car to look at scenic views that we couldn't see because of the clouds and rain.

Like this one...

But, then there'd be a break in the rain and clouds and I'd try to capture a spot of sun...

Again, taking a pic of Mike taking a pic. The flowers were growing right out of the rock of the mountain.

Aaaand, shocker - the rain picked up again. Yeah, I stayed in the car this time. Not Mike. Ain't no stoppin' him. I am horrible to do nature stuff with, evidently.

Elevation 6053 ft. Explains the clouds, eh?

Oh, lookie. A hidden waterfall. The rain was coming down the side of the rock face and going under the street, then continuing on down the mountain.

This is a picture of the rock face on one side of the street and as the rain came down, the waterfalls were created. (And, of course, the foggy - but not really fog, clouds.)

Another break in weather as we hit this stop on the road:

(And you can see the rain pouring down the mountain still to create a bunch of baby waterfalls:)

*Looking Glass Rock - I knew it! Didn't I say that way at the top with the Pisgah Mountain?

So, from where we were standing, we got this picture of Looking Glass Rock. Earlier when we started our day we saw the beginning of the trail that you can climb to that rock. And there are waterfalls on the trail. But it was too wet and we weren't prepared to hike it. We'll go back. (Or so I said to appease Mike. I mean, really, me? Hike? Bwahahaha)

Then we are driving along and as we pass a curve I glance these two birds. At first, I swear to you, hand to God, that I thought these were fake and that someone just stuck them up in the tree as a joke or something. They didn't move as we passed them and Mike didn't see them. So, I made him stop and turn around and go back. I told him they were fake but we should still look at them. He turns the car around and we look and he (for a split second) agrees that they're fake because they're wings are still spread and they're not moving. At all. And they looked fake. They did.

Um, until they do... Move. OMG. They are real and they're like, right there. Not far. At all. Ewww. They're vultures. I feel dirty. Mike is in heaven. He loves wild animals. Dude gets excited over ground hogs and geese. Not. Even. Kidding. You should see him at home when I get grossed out over a filthy opossum in our back yard.

So, now, this one is all, Look at me.

Then he flies off...

About this time, I was done for the day. We decided that since it was supposed to be worse weather on Monday, we'd just go home. So we started the trek back to civilization and Starbucks and the four hour drive home. 

We'll save the Biltmore Estate for another time. I really wanted to do that on Monday, but I was so tired and the weather was just getting more crummy. We called it a trip and made it home in time to tease the cats with the vulture feather we brought them. Again, ewwww!

Ashley's backpacking update

Spoke to Ashley today. She's in Barcelona. (Below is an update of where's she has been so far - the pictures were taken by Ash - or her travel companion, Nathania).

It all started May 22 - she left Raleigh and flew to Dublin. 3 days in Ireland with a tour to the other side to see the Cliffs of Moher:

Next she ferried over to England (attended a music festival in Wolverhampton) and stopped in London...

They left London and went to Paris to visit Nathania's family there.

With France behind them, they sped off to Spain, first Madrid...

And as of today, they are in Barcelona.

Still have many more places to go! They won't even come home until June 27th!