10 yr Anniversary weekend getaway

 Last weekend we went to Chimney Rock while my parents watched the girls.  It really wasn't the perfect weekend I had envisioned, but we had fun and definitely will not forget our trip.  

I was getting over the symptoms of what I think was food poisoning, and at one point I thought I would not even be able to go on the trip.  Jamie is getting over the withdrawal of prednisone which includes tiredness and joint pain.  Needless to say, we were a mess!   That did not stop us from packing up and leaving just as planned.  I couldn't get our money back anyway :)  We got to The Esmeralda around 3:30 on Friday evening and we napped for about an hour.  The mountain package we bought included meals at the restaurant in our hotel.  We had a very nice dinner there although neither of us really felt like eating.  The next day after a full nights rest, we went up to Chimney Rock park.  We walked and climbed even though I thought they would have to helicopter us off the mountain, we eventually got to the water fall after a "moderate" walk.  Feeling accomplished we called it quits and went into town for lunch.  After that we went over to the boat tour place.  They said it would be an hour and a half before we could get on a boat to tour Lake Lure.  So while we waited we decided to try out the canoes.  This was probably my favorite thing.  We paddled around for about an hour and really had fun just being on the water and looking at all the beautiful mountains.  Later we did the boat tour and it was very fun also.  It was very informative and relaxing too.  They told us that Lake Lure is a man made lake.  It was made in the 1920's.  As soon as we got back in the car the rain started so that was perfect timing.
Sunday we woke up to lots of rain and a fog on the mountains.  When Jamie went out to pull the car near the door to load our luggage, he discovered it would not start.  Although this is funny now it was not at the time!  We tried to jump it off with no luck.  Luckily the cleaning lady there called her husband for us and he figured out that the battery bolt was loose.  Jamie had the car in the shop about 2 weeks ago and I guess they did not tighten everything back when they did all the work.  Anyway, what a end to a crazy weekend. 

                                                               

The beautiful stair case inside the hotel.

                                                   

  This was the view from our room

                                                      

Lake Lure

devils head rock

I thought this was hilarious!!!

Hickory Nut Falls

fog on the mountain tops

a friendly bear on the way out of town