I recently took Kathryn and Saber on a much-needed, much-deserved long weekend away -- away from sewing masks until the middle of the night, away from standing on tired feet for hours on end helping customers and then cutting out masks, away from hours and hours of hard work and an unending attempt to power through this difficult financial time that our whole world is locked in. I chose as our destination the mountains, rivers and lakes of western North Carolina. We stayed in Flat Rock but visited Saluda and Hendersonville during our sojourn there.
Our hotel was Mill House Lodge in Flat Rock. (link below) The lodge was a collection of older buildings nestled around a lovely lawn and shimmering lake. The buildings, though older, were picturesque and well-maintained. Our room was on the second floor and had a balcony which faced the lake. We had a small suite with a sofa bed for me and a separate bedroom for them. We also had a fully-equipped kitchen and a table that was great for holding the puzzle we worked on over the weekend. Beside the lake sat some picnic tables, Adirondack chairs, a deck area, and canoes and pedal boats free for all to use. The lodge also had a pool with a cabana-type area and adequate seating around the pool. The whole place was the epitome of "peace" to me. I would go out on the balcony early each morning and just soak in the quiet and the essence of mountain air. It rained a good deal while we were there, but even the rain could not detract from the utter peacefulness of this place.
We planned only a couple of excursions since the point of the trip was for the two hard workers to get some relaxation. Our first planned adventure was to go tubing on the Green River. I set it up with Living Waters Tubing. (link below) There are several tubing companies on the river, all in close proximity to each other. After reading the reviews, I chose Living Waters because they were highly recommended due to their kindness and customer interaction. We found those recommendations to be accurate. We did a 2 hour trip and loved all 120 minutes of it. Saber is not a swimmer, and Living Waters provided him with a life jacket. The Green River is not a lazy river and has several class 1 and 2 rapids along the way. I was a little worried about how Saber would handle it (as was his mother far away in Afghanistan) and insisted he wear the life-saving device. He handled the rapids and the river remarkably well and was ecstatic about the entire ride. He exclaimed that it was one of the best days he's had since he's been in the United States! I personally enjoyed the mindless floating parts better than the rock-riddled rapids, but those areas weren't too scary or anything.
Our other excursion was not quite as exciting and was actually a little of a let-down to me. We went "gem mining" at Elijah Mountain Gem Mines. I realize were weren't actually gem mining and have participated in other rock-sifting situations before. I knew what to expect as far as that went. Elijah Mountain Gem Mining itself was a little disappointing. The build-up online was a little inflated. It was just a place on the side of the road near other buildings and houses. They had goats, a small store, and a little trail down to a brook out back. That was it. We did "find" some pretty rocks and plan to do some polishing up soon. What I found to be more fun was the Rudnick Nature Trail we found not too far from our gem mining location. This trail is maintained my UNC Asheville and meandered through trees, meadows, and near a creek. We walked about a mile in and then had to turn around when I kind of tore my finger open on a thorn. (It wasn't too bad, but those of you who know me know about my issue with blood. I had to get back to the car! No jeering from the sidelines; the fear of blood is real and scary!!!)
One of Kathryn's favorite parts of the trip was visiting several little shops. The two best were less than 1/2 a mile from our lodge. Her favorite of those two (and her favorite of the whole trip) was Dogwood. It was small but held the work of several artists, some fair trade merchandise, and many interesting items. Nearby was also The Wrinkled Egg. It was larger and a little more touristy. I got a couple of journals on sale there. We also visited some shops in Hendersonville. The problem there was that because of COVID, most of the downtown shops and restaurants are keeping shorter hours. We got there around 5 and barely had time to visit the stores. We went to Mast General Store and a couple other little places before everything shut down for the night. In Saluda we visited Thompson's Store which I found to be delightful. It was one of those old places where you can purchase your nails by the pound, your vegetables from a neighbor's garden, and grab some ice-cream on the way out. We also did a quick tour of the Saluda Train Museum. Saluda is famous for having the steepest gauge railroad line in US history.
We also did some eating on this trip. The Flat Rock Village Bakery was a short walk away, and I took full advantage of that place. It was awesome. Make sure you get there early because they sell out fast. We also ate at the Campfire Grill in Flat Rock, as well as the Flat Rock Wood Room where I ate on my last trip. In Hendersonville we ate at Mezzaluna because it was about the only thing open. My favorite meal was in Saluda. We ate at The Purple Onion, and it was delicious. Eating in their outdoor area made it even more enjoyable. The meal was made even better by the lovely surroundings.
The 3 above are from Campfire Grill.
These two are from The Purple Onion. The first was scrumptious crab dip. We dug in immediately as we were starving after tubing. It looked as good as it tasted, take my word for it.
One example of a pastry from the bakery. This was a almond fig pinwheel. It was good, but the chocolate bearclaw (not pictured because of speedy consumption while walking) was amazing!
Overall, this was a wonderful trip. Saber and I even got to see a quirky weird truck on the drive back. (Kathryn was, of course, asleep.) We had fun. We relaxed. We took a boat ride and laid by the pool. We watched mindless television. We shared enjoyable times that will now become enjoyable memories that we can look back on together. We rested but were not idle. I highly recommend it!
A look at the strange truck on the interstate coming home. The top of the cab and hood were covered with small plastic toys!
Links:
Mill House Lodge, Flat Rock
Living Waters Tubing, Saluda
Dogwood, Flat Rock
The Wrinkled Egg, Flat Rock
Village Bakery, Flat Rock
Purple Onion, Saluda
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