A Slight Disappointment

It's 6 a.m., and I'm wide awake here in North Carolina.  Once I'm awake I might as well get up and do something constructive.  How do I know that, if I were to lay in bed, I wouldn't go back to sleep?  I usually give it 20 or 30 minutes to convince myself otherwise.  When I realize that my brain is working overtime and my body repeatedly tenses up so that I have to consciously tell it to relax, that's how I know. It's time to rise and shine!

To determine what time the Chimney Rock State Park opens, I decide (belatedly) to check out their website.  Uh-oh.  The trail that leads to the 404 foot high Hickory Nut waterfall depicted in "The Last of the Mohicans," has been demolished by a landslide.  It's closed until further notice.  What a bummer!

Well, we're already here; we might as well give it a shot.  The website says there's a ton of other stuff to see and do.  So, after a Continental breakfast here at the hotel, we head over to the town of Chimney Rock.

A couple of miles on the Interstate, off to a state highway, and then down to a narrow, winding country road.  There's a billboard for the Park:  8 Miles, and Beyond Your Imagination.  I like that!

Here's a country lane that wanders off up the mountainside:  Bearwallow Mountain Road.  Cool!

There's a sign for an "Original Carolina Hillbilly," and, what a hoot! there's a barefoot, shirtless guy with a grey beard down to his belly-button stepping out of the front door of an ancient log home here on the side of the country road and taking a seat in his well worn wooden rocker!  Our timing could not have been more perfect, eh?  (But a flannel shirt would have been nice on this ol' feller...)

Now we're coming into the little village of Bat Cave, North Carolina.  Granpa asks if this might be where Batman comes to vacation.  He's funny!

Well, here's a place our fishermen sons and grandsons would love to come spend a couple of weeks:  Creekside Mountain Camping and Cabins.  Since getting on this small country road, we have seen trout fishermen fly-fishing up and down the beautiful mountain stream.  Here's a place where you don't even have to get in the car and drive from, just step out the back door and you're in the water.  It's beautiful!

We see over and over signs for a place called Manual Woodworkers and Weavers.  Not sure what that's all about, but when we get there it's someplace worth the stopping - but Granpa doesn't stop.  Like most men, he's all about point A to point B, the only reason to stop is to pee.  Well, that and photo ops.  Here's a covered bridge going over the Rocky River Road that he thinks he has to get a picture of.

It seems to be surrounded by power lines.  (He detests that!)  But when that happens there's usually other things he feels are worthy of getting a shot of:

 

And, of course, there's always the mountain stream itself:

Hmmm.  Here's a business for sale, the Old Mill Inn.  And it is old, but looks to be in pretty good shape.  It's right on this river and apparently really was an old mill that has been added on to and turned into an inn.  If I was a innkeeper lookin' for a place to retire, I'm thinkin' I'd be checkin' this one out!

Finally, (I don't know why I say finally, because it's only been 20 minutes or so since we left the hotel.) finally we arrive at the village of Chimney Rock and the State Park.  We cross the river, and we're almost immediately down to, well, less than two lane road.  This is gonna be a good day!