| Mike and I decided at the
last minute to make a trip up to the mountains to a little town
called Blowing Rock. It's about a 2 hr drive from home. We lucked
out with a Great Bed and Breakfast called The Maple Lodge that we found shortly before
leaving Sat. morning. Our room was the WildFlower Room on the
main floor and was delightful and relaxing. Breakfast was grand!
Couldn't have asked for a nicer place or time. The main street
area is full of shops and restaurants and more hidden down all
the little side streets. We took a trip out to the "Blue
Moon" - a small run down shack where we've picked up such
goodies as preserves in salsa, took a ride on the Blue Ridge
Parkway and a ride up Grandfather Mountain. The Blowing Rock area,
the windy cliffs of the area were home to the Cherokee and the
Catawba Indian tribes, hostile to each other, and the basis for
the story of “The “Blowing Rock”. Two star-crossed
lovers, one from each tribe, were walking near The Rock when
the reddening sky signaled to the brave that he must return to
his tribal duty, and the maiden urged him to stay with her. His
desperation in choosing between duty and love caused him to leap
from the edge of the gorge toward the rocks below, while the
maiden beseeched the Great Spirit to bring him back to her. The
famous winds of the John’s River Gorge blew her lover back
into her arms, and this legend about The Blowing Rock is still
told today. Scotch-Irish began to settle close to this area, the passes from southern Virginia into Kentucky attracted many colonists, farmers, hunters, and trappers who continued south to the mountains of North Carolina. |
|
 |
 |
 Split Rock on the way up Grandfather Mountain - I couldn't climb the back side so it's off to the knee dr. for wisdom |
 |
 |
 I was naive... Thought Natural Habitat meant out in the wild - not in enclosures like a zoo. Missed the otters and the cougars. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |