Visiting Grandfather Mountain

Saturday, July 23

Today was scheduled to be an exploring day.  And boy was it!  We had plans that would take us over 8 hours or so.  This meant we were not taking off too early during the day.  In fact, we decided to wait until after lunch. 

Our first destination was Grandfather Mountain.  It was originally called that as some of the views of the mountain show a face of an old man.  I personally never saw that but who am I to question the name?  We decided it would be cooler up here than down in the campground.  Exploring the mountain requires driving a 2.5 mile drive to get to the top.  You can also hike in many of the areas.  There is a small nature museum and animal habitats.  Entrance fees are a bit high, being $13 each for seniors.  (I think I was insulted as I drove up to the entrance the lady said, "2 seniors?" before I ever said anything.  Oh well, a discount is a discount.)  If you have a large family it could be expensive.

At the top of the mountain is the Mile High Swinging Bridge (elevation 5,280 feet).    As we were driving up the weather started to turn bad.  The clouds rolled in and the thunder and lightening started.  The road is really twisty and turny.  When we got to the top and found a parking spot the skies opened up!  We stayed in the car until the rain let up. 

There is a gift shop you enter and then go up to the bridge.  We had to wait inside for the weather to clear up a bit.  You do not want to be a mile in the sky on a metal bridge during a thunderstorm!  They finally let us out into the bridge area but just as we got to the other side and had been there a minute there was a really big clap of thunder and the rain started again.  Bill and I hurried back across and back into the building.  We still got pretty wet.

We drove back down and out of the park.  We picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed south.  The Parkway is a two land road that has beautiful views and not a lot of traffic.  They don't allow commercial vehicles on the Parkway. 

It is also a twisty road.  We didn't see a lot of traffic.  At one point we passed a place called The Orchard.  This is a building where they sell home made items and during the fall, apples.  Today they had a band performing and people dancing.  We had an ice cream and listened for awhile. 

Back on the Parkway we headed towards Little Switzerland.  This is a small town in the mountains.  They advertised a square dance tonight and we thought we would go.  We checked out the few stores and then asked about a place to have dinner.  One was the Switzerland Inn, the other was a place called the Mountain View, and the third was the golf course restaurant.  We chose the golf course and it was a great choice.  The special for tonight was prime rib.  And it was really, really good.  We had a leisurely meal and then headed back to Little Switzerland.  Turns out we were early and spoke to the gentleman setting up for the dance.  They don't have a square dance like we think of one, but a mountain dance.  Even though it was suppose to start at 8:00 PM he said most people didn't get there until 9:00 PM.  We decided not to wait that long and headed home. 

It was a long but good day.  I hope you enjoy the pictures.