Quick Labor Day Getaway

We didn't really have any plans for Labor Day weekend.

But it's hard for me to let a day off of work and school go by

without planning something fun.

I told Andrew and the girls we could stay home and chill on Saturday

and then I wanted to go on a quick overnight getaway after church on Sunday.

They were on board. Yay!

I got us a room in Boone on Sunday night.

But rather than driving straight there, I found a few

roadside waterfalls that we could visit along the way.

It was so fun!

On the way to our first waterfall,

we were driving through a quiet, rural area when we

saw the some sort of art installation project from the road.

Andrew turned around and we went to check it out.

It was so cool!

Unlike anything we'd ever seen before.

Little Dr-Seuss-like buildings out of branches.

It was crazy to then see same artist featured

at the Biltmore with Erik and Heidi!

Fun little unexpected diversion. 

It's near Patterson School Foundation

and there's also a Western NC Sculpture Park nearby.

We drove through part of it.

Our first waterfall:

Silvervale Falls.

None of the waterfalls were very big.

But all of them were cute.

And we didn't have to do any hiking to get to them.

This one was actually pretty tall, just

not a whole lot of water coming down.

Next up:

Green Mountain Creek Falls

Whitney was determined to get her feet

wet at all of the waterfalls. :)

This one had an interesting little tunnel you could walk through.

If you ducked.

Oh, how I love going on adventures with my fam!

And our last one was called Waterfalls Park in Newland, NC.

This was the only one where we ran into other people.

It's a really cute little park right in the middle of a town.

After chasing those waterfalls,

we checked into our hotel.

Whit wanted some time to swim.

Andrew and Care Bear just wanted to chill.

I wanted to chase the sunset.

I googled a place in Boone on the campus of 

CCC&TI where there is a great view.

There were probably 40-50 other people there to watch the sunset.

It was SO gorgeous.

Oh, I loved it.

The world is beautiful and I'm so grateful to live in NC.

The next morning, we got to ride the

Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster.

It was so fun!

Caroline and I have done an alpine slide once in South Dakota 

and that's what I was picturing.

Oh, no, this was completely different.

Much more modern.

The coaster takes you to the top of the mountain and then

you get to control how fast you want to go on the way down.

We got a three ride pass and I got a little braver each time,

using the brake a little less.

Andrew told me he never even touched his brake. Ha!

After the coaster,

we went on a little hike to a swimming hole.

We took the Hebron Falls Trail.

The directions I got online were super sketchy.

It took us a while to figure

out where we were going.

It was a great little hike, though.

Andrew's poor heels are still really painful, though.

The hike down was okay,

but coming back up was rough.

I hate that he has to constantly deal with pain.

It was unseasonably cool weather for early September,

but Whitney doesn't care and was determined to 

swim in the creek.

I told her I would join her.

It was chilly, but not terrible.

We came up with a great idea of walking

up the creek to a cute little tub-area.

It was NOT a great idea.

The rocks were super slippery 

and it was hard to see what you were doing.

I ended up falling and was afraid I was going to drown.

Luckily, I just ended up with a bad bruise on my chin,

but was otherwise fine.

After our hike, we dried off and got changed and

went to eat at a cute restaurant in Blowing Rock

called Six Pence Pub. It served British food.

It was delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Blowing Rock has a super cute little main street with

fun shops. Andrew's heels couldn't handle any more walking,

so we left him to rest on this nice park bench.

Then the girls and I went shopping.

We found a candle shop that we loved and I got an

awesome Panthers cup for Drew.

One last little stop for a pick on the Blue Ridge Parkway

on the way home.

Love it!

I'm definitely the adventure-er in the family. If Andrew and the girls could choose, we would spend a lot more time just "relaxing" (on our devices) at home. I'm so happy that I can talk them into going on adventures with me. And once they're out, they always enjoy themselves. I just need to find the right balance between exploring and relaxing so that all of can be happy. 

Erik and Heidi Come to NC!

 Andrew really only keeps in touch with one friend from his childhood and that's his best friend, Erik. They call each other on their birthdays and that's pretty much the extent of their friendship, talking twice a year. Well, when they talked this spring Erik told Andrew that he and his wife, Heidi, were thinking about taking a trip to the east coast and would love to spend some time with us in NC. We were THRILLED! 

Erik and Heidi haven't been married very long and we'd only met Heidi once before, but we had a great time visiting with her so looked forward to spending more time with both of them. We had a BLAST together and hope we can spend time together again sometime.

Andrew and I put together a tentative plan of places we could visit, including the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. Little did we know that Heidi's family are HUGE fans of an 80's show called Private Eyes that takes place at the Biltmore. She was ECSTATIC to see several places from the movie in real life.

Isn't that a pretty view, with the Biltmore behind us 

and reflecting in the water?

Andrew and I had never been to this part of the state.

We loved this view. While we were standing by the

water, we kept hearing some critter/creature splashing

nearby. It freaked us out, but we never figured out what it was.

I'm pretty sure it was a big a fish. Maybe.

This was a cool willow-branch artwork structure.

We enjoyed walking around some of the gardens.

Erik and Heidi have a koi pond, so they liked this part.

The conservatory is pretty spectacular.

They had a whole room full of succulents.

They had a special exhibit going on with trains

and re-creations of some of the buildings on the estate.

Mid-September was a nice time to be there.

Not super hot,

but lots of things were still in bloom.

The inside of the house was amazing, as always.

They used to have tour guides take you through.

Covid protocols now have everyone wearing headsets

and listening to pre-recorded explanations.

The indoor pool is one of my favorite parts.

This Halloween room in the basement is crazy.

These tapestries were amazing.

The Vanderbilts had an amazing view from their back porch.

The dining room is a show-stopper.

So happy we could share this gem with Erik and Heidi.

It was so fun laughing in the van while we drove there and back, too.

Another night we took them around Greensboro.

Made a fun stop at Boxcar arcade.

It was fun watching Erik and Andrew compete on pop-a-shot.

Space Invaders!

We ate at a YUMMY restaurant that was new to us called Blue Denim.

The food was delicious and the dessert was even better.

I'm still dreaming about that amazing creme brulee banana pudding.

In fact, I've tried to go back TWICE just to get that pudding

and have been thwarted both times...

We took them to the Guilford Courthouse Battleground.

There were some cute not-so-shy deer.

We walked around some of the trails.

They both enjoy history, so it was fun to share a piece

of our town's story with them.

We spent some time at Old Salem,

which all of us enjoyed.

The night before, Erik had told us this HILARIOUS story about him and Andrew trying to make a kiln in Andrew's backyard and almost burning down the house.

So I made them pose by this brick oven to remember it. :)

People were shorter in the days of Old Salem...

We loved all the stained glass in the Moravian church and

enjoyed listening to a little about the history of the church 

and the settlement.

And the last stop in our whirlwind tour of NC was at Hanging Rock.

We went on the cute little hike to Lower Cascades.

And also showed them Tory's Den,

a Revolutionary war hideout.

It was so fun exploring NC with Erik and Heidi. But the best part was actually just talking and talking and talking with them. Erik has turned into a talker. Andrew remembers him being more of the shy, quiet type when they were growing up. I LOVED laughing together over the crazy stories they would share from their childhood together. Building booby traps, designing catapults, Erik defending Andrew when bullies were around. I'm grateful for lifelong friendships and hope we can do this again sometime.