Sunday, September 7, 2014

NC Mountains 2014 - Days 27 & 28

Day 27 - Wednesday 9/3/14 We saw a deer on our morning walk around the campground. After breakfast we drove to the trailhead to hike up to the Stone Mountain Falls. The water flows over a 200’ high massive rock formation. The park service had built steps down to the bottom of the falls so we walked down to the bottom. Going down was easy but not so easy coming back up. The hike was about 1 ½ miles.

We were a little disgusted at all the trash people had thrown over the railings of the steps. There were soft drank cans, water bottles, paper, juice packets and dog poop bags and even a bath towel. This is a really beautiful park and slobs just don’t respect it enough to take their trash back to the provided trash cans or to their cars. Haul it in - haul it out.

Then we drove on through the park to visit the Historic Hutchinson Homestead. We parked in the parking lot and hiked about ¾ mile up the hill to the homestead. There were several buildings including the cabin where 4 generations of the family lived. John Hutchinson and Sidney Jane Brown were the original people that lived at the homestead. I wonder if I am distant relative of Sidney Jane. The plaques described the buildings and explained a little about the mountain life. Then we drove on to see the Garden Creek Baptist Church that was established in 1837. Weekly Sunday services are still being held there during the Spring/Summer and monthly in the Fall/Winter. Then we returned to the campground for lunch. We saw 5 deer during the drive.

Day 28 - Thursday  9/4/14 Happy 66th birthday to Lena. We did our morning walk, ate breakfast and relaxed/read for awhile before driving to North Wilkesboro. Lena wanted to eat her birthday lunch at Branciforte’s Italian Ristorante. We ate at this restaurant exactly 2 years ago for Lena’s birthday lunch. They have really good brick oven pizza. I told the manager as he greeted us at the door that we were here exactly 2 years ago he was pleased that we had returned. When we ordered coffee and a Tiramisu dessert the waiter told us the Manager said the dessert was on the house. If you are in the area check it out it is a 810 Main St. North Wilkesboro. It is closed Sunday and Monday.

Then we stopped for some groceries and returned to the campground.

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