Monday, July 15, 2013

North Carolina, Waynesville - Monday, July 15, 2013 - Exploring the Smokies


We had so much fun today.  We took off on the bike once we figured the neighbors were up.  Starting up the Harley too early in the morning doesn’t make for good neighbors.  We still had one little neighbor that was “up in arms” about us moving around.  This little crawdad (spelling?) was looking for a fight.


The first stop was Barbara and Anne’s mountain cabin for breakfast on the deck looking out over the river.  What a way to start the morning!
 
 
From there they were kind enough to be our travel guides for the day, up and down the mountains and into quaint little towns we wouldn’t have had a clue existed.

Sliding Rock is amazing.  This is a natural rock formation that people line up to slide down.  The sliding was restricted to people over 16 because the water was running faster and deeper than usual today.  They looked like they were having as much fun as they would at an expensive water park and they could do this all day for $1.00 per person.
 
 
 

Looking Glass was our next stop.  A beautiful waterfall you can normally see through and walk behind, but today the water was running stronger here also.  Still a beautiful sight to behold.


Next we headed for the Blue Grass Parkway.  This would be a wonderful ride on the bike – lots of curves and breathtaking scenery.  Right now there are a few areas that have some minor mud/gravel slides onto the road that might not be a nice surprise.


They promised we were going to the large farmer’s market – they weren’t kidding!  Unfortunately, I got so engrossed in buying fantastic produce, I forgot to take good pictures.  This is what we came back with from the market.
 

We were getting pretty hungry at this point so we headed into the Frog Level of Waynesville.  We went to a local deli (I’m going to have to get better at documenting the names of the places where we eat).  We ate lunch on the deck overlooking a rapidly flowing creek.  Eating and water in the mountains – we are getting into a wonderful pattern here.
 

After lunch we checked out just a few of the many interesting stores in Waynesville.  Mast General Store had a massive display of all kinds of candy downstairs which we couldn’t pass up.  Then we went to Steeplechase English Toffee where we picked up half a pound of the most delicious toffee I’ve ever tasted.  Then, as if that wasn’t enough sweet stuff for us, Barbara and Anne sent home cookies and banana bread.

 
 

Our last stop before heading back to Barbara and Anne’s cabin was a self-sufficient organic farm that belongs to some of their friends.  We met Kathy (sorry, I’m not sure of the spelling of her name) who is a wealth of knowledge about plants and living in harmony with nature.  Lots of things to see there, but one of the most interesting was a mother peacock and her four babies, one of them was white.  Kathy told us that they have to wait until the white peacocks are at least two years old to see what color their tail feathers will be.
 

Kathy shared some of her rhubarb and squash with us along with a jar of blackberry jam.  Tomorrow night we’ll be having rhubarb crisp.
 

When we headed back to the motor coach the bike was loaded down with all of our goodies from the farmer’s market, candy stores, and Kathy’s farm.  We are going to be eating good for days to come.  For supper we had leftover shrimp and bread from our wonderful supper last night (I got the recipe!) along with cottage cheese and the purple Cherokee tomato from the farmer’s market.  I really like North Carolina.

1 comment:

  1. We were in that area a few years ago. We need to go back and spend more time. Thanks for the posting.

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