Chimney Rock

We rented a little house on the Rocky Broad river in Chimney Rock for a couple of nights. The house was over a hundred years old and had a lot of character. We got to Chimney Rock only to discover that the elevator is being replaced and won't be functioning until next spring. I should have checked beforehand. We decided to take the stairs...the equivalent of 26 flights. Madeline wouldn't let Jason take her in the Kelty so I had her on my back. Ethan ran up, and Colin didn't complain at all until the very end, and then not much.

Apparently riding on my back made Maddie very thirsty.

Maddie let Jason carry her down (thanks, Mads) and on the hike to the waterfall.

This is Maddie's "Mom, don't take my picture!!" stance. Stinker.

We left Chimney Rock and stopped at Laura's House for lunch, where the food (especially the cakes) were as good as we remembered. Then we headed over to Lake Lure and rented a pontoon boat for a couple of hours. The kids (and Jason) loved it. Jason tried to fish along the coast but didn't have any luck, and Maddie was starting to melt down by then, so we headed back for dinner and bed.

Poor Ethan always has to share a room (and usually a bed) with Colin when we travel. Colin is a very restless sleeper (he reminds me of my sister Erin at the same age). Ethan was in bed trying to fall sleep when Colin suddenly flung himself over Ethan. That's Colin's pillow over on the right side. They're laying across the bed...if they sleep the other way Colin inevitably ends up on the floor, so we put Colin parallel to the headboard and use Ethan to block him in. Sorry, Ethan!

Fishing

We read about a trout farm in the Boone area and decided to check it out. There are two ponds...one with smaller fish and one with much larger fish. We opted for the smaller one since you pay by the pound and our kids don't eat fish. Of course Colin and Jason caught the ONLY 5-pound fish in the 1-2 pound pond. Since it wasn't supposed to be there, the guy only charged us for 3.5 pounds. Ethan then caught a fish (more appropriately sized) entirely on his own. They gutted and cleaned it for us, and Jason made us a very tasty dinner. Unfortunately we still had to throw out lots of trout, since we couldn't take it with us and there was no way to eat 6 pounds of trout in 2 days.

Mountains

We were supposed to spend the last week of September in the Outer Banks (for the third year in a row) with Ryan and Leanne and other friends and family, but Hurricane Irene made it impossible for us to get on to Hatteras Island. Jason still had the week off, so we decided to head up the mountains instead. I love the beach, but I prefer the mountains. In keeping with our normal overly aggressive travel style, we spent the first 2 nights in Boone. We went to Grandfather Mountain. It was windy and too foggy to see to the other side of the bridge, but that didn't stop us from crossing it. We were the only people up there...a very cool and slightly eerie experience. Ethan found a snake on one of the rocks, which made his day.

We stopped on the way down to visit the bears, deer, and otters, to grab and snack and tour the museum and gift shop.

After Grandfather Mountain we had lunch at a very cool general store, then hiked to Linville Falls.

That night we attempted to fish in the river behind the cabin we rented and attempted to build a raging fire for smores, both of which were made difficult by all the rain.

The next day we stopped to fish for trout on our way out of town, then drove the Blue Ridge Parkway (my all-time favorite road) and picnicked along the way as we made our way down to Chimney Rock.