We've been itching to get back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway! We are working on driving the entire thing and this trip we caught the southern most tip of it!
Our first stop, though, was to attempt to see the elk that are rutting right now and have been known to frequent a field by the Oconaluftee Visitor's Center, but of course on the morning that we were there, they were a no-show. Boo! But, we still enjoyed walking by the river and exploring the Mountain Farm Museum that is there on site!
We then managed to find a very off the beaten path waterfall that I'd researched, Mingo Falls. We climbed what seemed to be 20,000 steps. It was SUPER tall and we were able to get right up underneath it! Pretty cool!!
Next, we went into Cherokee, NC and let the kids check out all the indian stuff in the gift shops and then ate lunch at Peter's(supposedly the best breakfast in town, but that is debatable, or else there aren't many places for breakfast - we'd had better for sure!). After we were refueled, we let the kids do some ruby and sapphire mining and then said goodbye to Cherokee and got on the Blue Ridge Parkway!
We got on at the very southern tip and drove north. We stopped and checked out another really neat waterfall, Soco Falls. This one required using a rope to help get us down to the base of the falls! That was a first. We also stopped at North Carolina's largest observation tower that is attached to a cute little souvenir shop just off the Parkway.
We continued our drive north on the Blue Ridge Parkway until we got past Waterrock Knob, which is as far south as we'd ever been before. We got off the Parkway not too much further past that, drove to Hendersonville, NC for dinner at Binion's Roadhouse, and finally came home!
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| Mountain Farm Museum |
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| Stairs to Mingo Falls |
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| Mingo Falls |
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C was getting hungry by this point and was not much interested
in appeasing me with pictures! |
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| Ruby and sapphire mining |
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| He had a full belly at this point and was much more agreeable! |
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| The southern most tip of the Blue Ridge Parkway |
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| Soco Falls |
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| Climbing back up the rope at Soco Falls |
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| The lookout tower |
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