This past weekend Don and I took a trip to Bryson City in southwestern NC. Whenever we travel to this part of the state, we always comment about how the mountains look much taller than Boone, although they are around 1500 feet lower than our Ball Branch property, which clocks in at around 3900 feet. The forest is so lovely and undeveloped as either most of the land around this area is either National Forest (Smokey Mountain or Pisgah) or a part of the Qualla Boundary (land held by the Cherokee nation).
On Saturday, we met up with our friends Lisa and Kevin from Knoxville. They met us in Bryson at the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad where we took a a 4.5 hour excursion through the Nantahala Gorge/Fontana Lake area.
Fontana Lake is a man-made lake that is unique in that it has house-boats that are tethered to the shoreline.
After riding for about 2 hours, we had a short layover at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. The water was rushing and cold– just like the kayakers and rafters like it. The Appalachian Trail is here and Don made me take a picture so he could say he “hiked” the AT. Hiking is a generous word~ He stood on the AT…LOL.
After the train ride, we all went to Cherokee to give them some of our money. Kevin and Lisa came out with more money, Don and I, not so much. But we all had fun gambling as well as having dinner, and I had to have a picture taken with the old school Wonder Woman.
While we were in Bryson, we stayed at the Nantahala Village Resort. Our room overlooked the pond and we had an inside fireplace and an fireplace on the deck. It was quite a comfy stay.
Sunday, on the way back home, we decided to stop for lunch at one of our favorite places– The Grove Park Inn. We had lunch at the Sunset Terrace. Of course, the views were awesome and lunch was impeccable and yummy! Don had Filet Mignon and Michele had the Lobster Cobb salad as mains and then we followed with some top-shelf desserts as a finale!
Thanks for reading! Until next time.
Michele and Don