The Mountains are Calling...

I spent my teenage years living in the foothills of North Carolina. I went to college at Appalachian State University…. My mom still has a house there and the mountains are one of my FAVORITE places to go.

Since the baby is getting to the age where we can take her on more adventures, we decided to take a weekend trip to the mountains this past weekend and it was the BEST weekend we have had in a LONG time!

We stayed at my aunts cabin about an hour south of the Blue Ridge Parkway. She has horses and ducks and the girls were in absolute HEAVEN.

We spent the first night sitting around a fire and catching Lightning bugs (something Fayetteville is sadly lacking) and blowing bubbles. It made my heart so happy to see my girls running all over my mom’s yard just being kids. No worries about electronics, friends, boys… none of that. and Josh was more relaxed than I had seen him in a wHile.

Early the next morning we packed the cooler and the kids and headed to Brown Mountain Beach. I had spent many a summer days hiking and swimming there as a teenager. When we got there we were almost deterred – the Pisgah Forest National Park was CLOSED and they weren’t letting people hike down to the water! Fortunately we were able to find a spot that wasn’t *technically* on the National Forest land and spoke to the police patrolling and they said we were good to go.

My best friend and her family met us there, as well as my cousin and his family.

What a perfect spot to spend the day! It was cool, shaded and so much fun! (Aside from the frigid mountain waters… which we quickly got used to… and the sand…) We spent the ENTIRE day here!

Day two

Day two dawned bright and early and today we were headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway!

We found a great spot right off the parkway with a stream, hiking trails and bathrooms (which were actually open!).

We spent the day swimming in the stream, skipping rocks, catching minnows and just relaxing.

Day Three ?

Our trip was only supposed to last two days, but my AMAZING WONDERFUL husband agreed to stay an extra day so we quickly did some googling and found Elk River Falls, just 2 hours north. According to Dr. Google, it was an easy hike to an 85’ waterfall!

We set off. Upon arrival we discovered the term ‘EASY’ was open to interpretation. It was SHORT, yes. But by the time we got to the waterfall, and then DOWN to where we could swim we were really reconsidering our decision…

BUT after we got down and got situated we quickly realized we had found our new favorite spot. Below the falls was a swimming area, and lots of little ‘slides’ for the girls to play on, and some areas were shallow enough for harper to play in!

We left around 4 – I didn’t want to be hiking out when it started to get dark – and headed to Boone for dinner and some shopping.

We scored some ASU swag, and then hit up Macadoos – my FAVORITE restaurant back from my college days.

Then we headed back to home and to bed.

Day 4 was spent MINING FOR GEMS – but that deserves its own post!