Trip own Parkway to Moses Cone,Old Hampton Store and Grandfather Mountain

Wow what a beautiful day we had as the temp's were in the 50's to start the morning. After a routine check of the both flower and veggie gardens we found once again NO deer damage. After our quiet time we got ready to meet with our friends Helen and Joe.

We struck out at 9AM down the Blue Ridge Parkway(BPR) enroute to Moses Cone Estate. The views from the front porch are magnificent and the old house and grounds are kept immaculate. We walked down one of the trails from the carriage house to the main house. There are 26 miles of trails for hiking and horseback riding. We saw several hikers and a few people riding horses. sorry to hear bikes are not allowed on the well maintained trails. We observed a wood carver, Ray Henry who was carving figurines from wet popular wood. We purchased a small craving of an ax in a stump. What made the carver interesting was he used only a pocket knife and a piece of sandpaper for his creations. The attendants here were very helpful and just plain nice people. I mention the old Hampton Store (as we had checked it out on the Internet) and they gave us explicit directions and highly recommended the smoke turkey bbq sandwich.

We headed south on the BPR across the Lin ville Viaduct. This structure was designed by a bridge builder(Fitt) from Tallahassee, Florida. The construction took place some where else and was transported and reconstructed at a later date over the mountain.It looks as if your riding in the air as support columns are not visible to the motorist.

We continued south until we found the Old Hampton Store and Gristmill. We immediately liked the looks of the old building and the front porch. We also noticed the parking lot(just after 12PM) was nearly full with out of state vehicles, many were from Florida. The smell of good food drifted through to the front from the rear of the store. A very nice young man answered our questions and was really a fun nice guy. He brought our food out to the front porch where we enjoyed the ambiance, great weather and good food. After eating we ventured next door to see some really neat art and crafts. The owner was very friendly and helpful and took a moment to exchange pleasantries and talk about the old gristmill. We bought some peach butter and fresh ground buckwheat pancake mix.

We headed to Grandfather Mountain and was totally in awe of the views as we traveled in the car and even more so by foot. The park is a bit scary as you travel upwards under large over hanging rocks which were house size and sheer drop offs. Finally reaching the top which is over a mile in height we reached the swinging bridge. The views are breathtaking and the bridge does move as you walk across it. All of us made the trip across however some of us did not look down or stop to chat(not to mention names, Nancy) while walking the bridge. We made it back to the car and headed down from the top to the animal habitat and museum area. This area was well maintained and the trails to the animal areas were paved with benches along the way. We watched the otter's playing in their area both in and out of the water; we observed 3 black bears hamming it up for treats and 2 large beautiful cougars or panthers as well as 2 eagles. The museum had all kinds of artifacts from the area as well lots of arts and crafts. A cross section from a large Chestnut Oak(now extinct) depicted rings which took us back to the 1700's. This is a must place for hikers as you can walk trails which take you to breath taking heights. On the way back down I had related a story about a woman who was afraid to cross the Skyway Bridge in her car. As a trooper I had her follow me at a lower speed with my blue lights on to get her safely to the other side. A couple from Ashville (Carol and Paul) stopped me and said they heard me telling this story and related she was also afraid of bridges over water and found it interesting how I solved this problem.

Well, we headed back down the mountain towards Boone where yes you guessed it, a Wal-Mart. We needed sure-gel to make jelly out all those blackberries I picked the day before. After leaving Boone we headed back to the BRP and headed north. We decided to get a bite to eat before getting home so we stopped at a local restaurant, Circle L and had dinner. We made it back to the cabin before 7PM.

Well we learned that Nancy's brother Eric (age 56) had a stent placed in an artery that was 90 % blocked. Thankfully he will be going home tomorrow and suffered no real heart damage from his chest pains. Our neighbors ,Gerald and Jodie came up with their son and his friend and we played spades(girls won ) and domino's (Nancy won by 2 points). Well it was a great day, lots of beautiful scenery, lots of laughs and most of all thankful that Eric will live to see another day. Well better go missing our families and grand babies, Ava and Annsley.