Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2012
Edit Blog Post
View from Hanging Rock
See the storm in the distance! That's the one that got us. Ahhh... at last... our final stop. A full day on the road behind us, we pulled into a small and spread out suburb of Greensboro, North Carolina by the name of Walkertown, home to Adina's aunt and uncle. This stop on our trip was clearly not about seeing any famous local architecture or museums, nor having a unique or notable cultural experience, but was simply to spend time with family, and in my case, meet them for the first time. Adina's aunt, uncle and cousins satisfied all of our building desires from the road. Home cooked meals... fresh laundry... hi-speed internet... a movie room with lazy boy recliners. Ahhh, yes... nothing to plan or think about as our hosts were accounting for all our needs. Nevertheless, our time in North Carolina would not be as simple as nestling up and watching movies in a recliner for three days (though I would've been happy to do such). No - instead, North Carolina would provide two days of unexpected adventure.
Wine tasting in North Carolina? Well, its not what I expected to be doing in North Carolina, but I was more than happy to! When we arrived at our first vineyard by
the name of Sanders Ridge, I was completely shocked by how magnificent and picturesque this place was. It was nearly as beautiful as the vineyards in California, yet with an entirely different flavor. This didn't feel buried in some Italian foothills, and I didn't feel transported to some distant country when I was there. Yet, I was impressed with how beautifully this more familiar setting, forests that reminded me of New Jersey, could be transformed. The vineyard itself extended across a clearing, but was surrounded with deciduous forest on all sides. The wine tasting room and it's restaurant were nestled in a pocket of forest, and on one side of the building, an outdoor seating area over looked a nearby pond. We dined at the restaurant inside, its kitchen serving local and organic produce crafted into colorful, healthy and delicious sandwiches. And the wine... well, I had not become an expert since our wine tours outside Santa Barbara, but delicious these all were to me. The fun and beautiful experiences that come entirely out of the blue, when you are completely unsuspecting, with no expectations because you hadn't the time to even formulate one, are often some of the most
memorable experiences in life. This day in North Carolina was one of these days. A second and equally as beautiful vineyard followed, this one with an elegant stone wine tasting building perched on a small hill with expansive vineyards on all sides. At this point in the day, a light rain began to fall, but sipping wine and looking out on rows of grapevines being nurtured by mother nature ain't all that bad.
The proceeding day more unexpected pleasantries resumed. The lot of us piled in the car to drive to Hanging Rock State Park for a hike in the Sauratown Mountain Range. The hike of choice was the short and sweet Hanging Rock Trail, which wound its way up, down, and around some small mountains through dense and vibrant North Carolina forest. The trail culminated with a quarter mile ascent reaching a point known as... you guessed it... Hanging Rock. At this precipice, the soil became stone and extended out into thin air. The spot offered a 180 degree view of the lower lying forest which carpeted the rolling hills beneath us. With this stunning and dizzying vantage, we took photos for several minutes until realizing that a
rain cloud, draped across the landscape in front of us, was steadily growing nearer, consuming more and more of our view. As soon as we took note of this, we made an about face and began the 1.5 mile walk back toward the car, but no more than ten steps into our return trip a loud crack overhead signaled what was imminent to come. Ten minutes later, the skies opened up on us all and within ten seconds we were all soaked to the core by the torrential downpour. With nowhere to hide, we accepted this fate with smiles on our faces. For the next 30 minutes, we accepted our helpless situation and enjoyed the cleansing rain and the deafening thunder. Back at the parking lot, our soggy crew scurried into the car as though one more drop of rain on our clothes would make any difference at all, and as we departed the parking area, and predictably so, the rain came to an end.
Back in our Walkertown home, we all got clean, dry and warm for the remainder of what would be a cozy afternoon. We packed our suitcases, backpacks and other items for what would be
the last time on this trip. Once all preperations for the 9 hour drive from Walkertown, North Carolina to Livingston, New Jersey had been made, we contentedly collapsed in the tv room recliners with a good movie. It had been an amazing trip... one more night to go... 550 more miles left to drive... Almost home!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.19s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 19; qc: 76; dbt: 0.1323s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb