Blogs from North Carolina, United States, North America - page 3

Hiking at Lake Norman State Park. Trying to keep up with an 88 year old on a 3.5 mile hike should not have been difficult. Hopefully I have inherited the same generics. Hills. Water views. Assorted trees. Funky mushrooms. Made good time? Uncle Wayne says we were 20 minutes slower than his regular hike. My excuse was I was taking pictures. Next adventure Southern Distillery Company.. Tasting session. Learned the process for making bourbon. Dinner with family at the lake. Lots of laughs One game of chess on Joan's chess board with the pieces she carved. ... read more

Wonderful day in North Carolina on Lake Norman. Flew in on a direct flight from Madison to Charlotte, North Carolina. Everything on time and no issues. Picked up our bags and headed to the car rental area. Had put in a reservation for one of the big name places. Filled in the paperwork and then went to "pick out the car". Had a whole bunch lined up in one section. The problem with traveling with 4 is now there are 4 opinions. We all had a different idea on which car would be best. Tried to take a vote on 2 and of course, that was a tie. Finally it was decided that Pedro, the driver, would pick.... read more

We had booked months in advance through REI a mountain biking expedition which would involve seeing waterfalls and a lot of beautiful scenery. It was a two wheeled waterfall tour that was 10-12 miles. Going into it, Chloe and I weren't sure what to expect. We did a Zoom call to learn more about mountain biking and things to know when going out on the trail. We practiced a little bit on gravel and some hills by us in Durham. We wouldn't know what to expect until we got there. We left on a Saturday and had very nice weather out to the mountains. We stopped for Starbucks and then a 2nd time for gas. We headed to Asheville for lunch. It was approximately 25-30 minutes from Flat Rock, where we stayed for the weekend. We ... read more

The Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is on the northern end of Roanoke Island, not far from the town of Manteo. It is considered to be the location of an earthwork redoubt associated with the English expeditions sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584-1587. Archaeological work concluded a defensive earth fort was probably constructed during the 1585 expedition. It was reconstructed by the National Park Service in 1950. Near the fort there is evidence of a site where metallurgical work took place. The location of the main colony of 1587, known as the Roanoke Colony, the famous "Lost Colony," has not been found, but evidence is strong that it was in this area. We toured the Visitor Center first. One exhibit displays a room with 16th century English paneling, evoking a space where Sir Water Raleigh ... read more

10/6/21 Our drive to Apex on 10/1/21 was only half a day, so we decided to take a scenic drive to get there. We left the hotel at 8:45 and 67 degrees and pointed the car NE. We drove through more of the heartland of America…Old Fort, North Cove, Crossnore, Linville, Grandfather, and Boone. One of several Ethan Allen factories is located in Old Fort. The yard was stacked high with fresh lumber and the building was quite large and probably a major employer in this general area. The drive took us through the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Applanation Mountain Range. The roads were good, and the scenery great as we circled around mountain ridges, up in elevation and down, then up again. Based on the many businesses we saw for rentals ... read more