Our first stop was in Asheville, NC at the Western North Carolina Nature Center. They have a collection of plants and animals that can be found in the Carolina mountains. The park was a great place to walk around and learn about the animals around us. One of our favorites was the black bears. There were two bears playing below the elevated path. We saw one of them run over to a tree and climb it in about three seconds.
Cari looked at me with amazement and asked me to remind her not to climb a tree if we are ever chased by a bear. The last animal I saw at the park was a squirrel. He sat on a branch just above my head chewing on a nut. He was so used to humans that he allowed me to stand very close and capture some pictures of him. 
After the park we drove through downtown and headed West toward Franklin, NC. In Franklin, I stopped at the visitor center and picked up an armful of brochures. We found a hotel and unloaded the car. It was still early and we started talking about dinner. 
Eating out on our trips has not usually turned out well. Cari and I try to find non-chain restaurants so that we can eat at a local place. Most times our luck is not good. We have a good ability to find places that are over priced with horrible service and food below McDonald's quality.
We decided to try Willy's BBQ in Franklin. We walked into a pleasant looking restaurant as an older lady greeted us at the door and cheerfully seated us. Wood panelling covered with family nick knacks was on each wall and a large television in the corner had the news on. It felt like you had entered this woman's house. There was an older man wearing work clothes at a table near us. He was alone, watching the news while he ate, and I kinda felt sorry that we had just seated "Screechy" near him. Our waitress came up and chatted with our kids for a while as she took our order.
The food was great and the service continued to be awesome through the entire visit. Screechy behaved very well for the most part and even smiled and waved to the working man - who waved back with a friendly smile.
We actually picked a great local place to eat out!!! Awesome! Cari and I were excited that it went so well. 
The next morning, we got up and got going to check out some waterfalls. This was the part of the vacation the kids didn't want but I was going to force upon them. We checked out a couple of falls that were road-side on our way to Highlands, NC. In Highlands, we took a dirt road for a mile to the trail head for Glenn Falls. It is listed as "very strenuous", but I wasn't afraid. I put Screechy in the backpack carrier and strapped her to my back. The trail was no more than a mile in one direction but was all downhill (until the way back). There are three tiers to the falls, but we stopped after the second tier.
Meredith had fallen once and if I had pushed her for much more hiking, it wouldn't have been fun for anyone. We turned back and headed into Highlands were we searched for lunch. We chose the local pizza place that was starting to get crowded. Guess what? We found a second GREAT restaurant in a row!
After lunch we headed home through Rosman, NC. That's where we saw some fat kids get off the school bus we were trailing. No kidding, this bus stopped at three houses in a row to let one kid off at each house. Couldn't the two on the end houses have walked to their neighbors house?
On top of all that, I made the trip over the mountain back into South Carolina without making anyone in my family car sick!
Spring Break was great!
No comments:
Post a Comment