Our fun summer continued last week with a little less creativity needed on my part, since we were on our actual vacation!
We traveled to Beech Mountain, North Carolina, to stay at a timeshare provided by my oldest friend and her family.  We had a wonderful time and I took so many beautiful pictures that I would love to devote a longer post to it, but this is not that post! Instead, in keeping with what I’ve been doing, I’ll hit the high points and show a couple of pictures of each day’s special activity.
The kids and I (John was still working) drove up Friday afternoon.  It’s three hours from Knoxville, most of it through beautiful scenery.  John arrived at midnight and our friends the following day.  Saturday was for sleeping in and relaxing.
On Sunday we took a short hike, and were rewarded with close-up deer and a beautiful view at the top.

Later in the afternoon we went down to nearby Banner Elk, looked around a bit, and celebrated Father’s Day with dinner out (and had a close encounter with another wild animal!).

Monday we drove to Boone and did a little browsing in some of the interesting shops there.

After lunch we visited Mystery Hill, a tourist attraction involving a mysterious “vortex” that causes people’s apparent height to change, water to run uphill, and some other fun effects.  The complex also contained a Native American museum, a restored 1800s home, and a fairly impressive dinosaur museum.

Tuesday was another quiet day, with only a visit to the local general store, because we were waiting for Emily to arrive.  The kids were more than ready to hit the road again on Wednesday, when we visited Linville Caverns and then took a hike to Linville Falls, just on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

After our walk, we stopped at a quaint roadside antique shop/dessert parlor.

Thursday brought the event the kids had been most excited about–Grandfather Mountain.  I can’t recommend this attraction enough.  The animal habitats allow you to get very close to some animals who were formerly native to the area.  We were particularly excited about the cougars.

We enjoyed the museum, some fudge, and a nature hike before driving to the top of the mountain.

And the views up there defy description–especially those from the far side of the Mile-High Swinging Bridge.

Checkout was Friday morning, and Emily and the kids and I went a little out of the way home to visit Creation Kingdom Zoo just over the Virginia state line in Gate City.  I had discovered its existence earlier this summer while researching nearby zoos.  We spent a happy two hours there feeding some animals and seeing some that were new to our experience.  William was especially excited about the spotted hyenas.


We got back to Knoxville in the early evening and have spent most of the time since recovering from the vacation!  I plan to take it easy this week–if the kids will allow it.