My First Five Days in the Mountains

 “Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us, God.” -- John Muir

I arrived in Flat Rock on Sunday and am now 1/2 way into my vacation. So far it has been relaxing, invigorating, and peaceful -- yes, all of those at once. I have done a lot of hiking with a total of 24 miles including over 127 floors. (I will specifically enumerate the trails and waterfalls on separate posts.) Here I will share about some of my excursions including some surprising finds. I always love the surprises that are part of my travels!

One of my big surprises was Jump Off Rock. I came upon it in a search of points of interest near Flat Rock. It was about a 20 minute drive from my lodgings. The drive itself was so enjoyable. The road meandered up a mountainside near Hendersonville in an area called Laurel Park. Along the way I got to see amazing homes set into pockets of the hillside, homes with gorgeous views. I also discovered a Bed & Breakfast which also serves lunch and dinner to non-residents; I am already planning to have a meal there in the second half of my trip. At the conclusion of my winding up the mountain was a view more than worth the lovely drive. Jump Off Rock is stupendous!!! You can drive right up to the walkway, park, and skip across the grass to a collection of stones. I cannot do justice to this spot with mere words, so here are the pictures. Even they don't show the real grandeur of the place. This is a must-see if you are in the Hendersonville- Flat Rock area. 

Another fun surprise was found when I took a longer roadtrip to Highlands, NC. I had lunch there after a slightly grueling trip up to see Rainbow Falls (see future post). I didn't choose to stop in the main part of town. It seemed to be mostly upper-end shops, hotels, and restaurants; made more obvious by my count of Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes Benz cars lined up in the parking spots. I did find a yummy Mexican restaurant in a strip-mall, then drove around some. I happened to pass a sign indicating a nature center. It took me a couple of passes to actually find the entrance but was well rewarded for my search. The nature center was a system of walkways around a pond and through some cool tree coverage. It was the kind of place I'd love to take a picnic lunch and a book to and stay a while. Enjoy the views below.

I have also visited Carl Sandburg's home which is just down the road from my room at Mill House Lodge. The buildings on site are all closed right now due to COVID, but the grounds are lovely, there are several trails. It was rainy when I was there, so I didn't stay too long.

One day I drove around through some mountainous areas, just driving from road to road, not following any directions at all. I knew that I couldn't get lost because of the wonder of GPS. After driving with no destination in mind, I next made my way to the Lake Lure area and a second visit to the Flowering Bridge. My first visit was last summer, and I couldn't resist another look.

On Monday I visited Brevard. There were several frustrating things about that visit. One was that many shops are closed on Monday, not unlike downtown Greensboro. Another frustration was that even with the closed stores, the streets were very crowded with traffic. Also the town seemed to be very tourist-minded. I kept comparing it in my mind to Southern Pines, and it just didn't measure up. I did really enjoy nearby Pisgah Forest which I will share about in future posts on trails and waterfalls.

Chicken raspberry wrap from Mayberry's in Brevard.

One of Brevard's famous white squirrels. (Look behind the statue.)

I have thoroughly enjoyed just driving around, hanging out, reading, crocheting, resting, soaking up the mountain sun, breezes, and daily rains. I can't wait to see what the next 5 days bring! 

Lunch at Flat Rock's Campfire Grill

Southern Pines -- My New Happy Place

 "The art of being happy lies in the power of extracting happiness from common things." -- Henry Ward Beecher

Those common things that Beecher was referring to can definitely be found in Southern Pines. I extracted much happiness in my three visits there and look forward to future visits.

Southern Pines is a small town in south-central North Carolina, about 75 miles from Greensboro. The population is around 14,500. The old train depot is in the center of town, and Southern Pines is a stop on Amtrak's Savannah to NYC route. It is surrounded by lovely and famous horse farms and horse-show locations. 

 Nearby is Pinehurst, a community well known for its historic golf resort. Several U.S. Open and Amateur Championships have been held here. (Another interesting fact is that the central village of Pinehurst was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted of Central Park/Biltmore fame.) 

Enough about the background and demographics. Southern Pines is my ideal place of peace and old-fashioned small town southern charm. There is a park, aptly called Downtown Park, where children play, families picnic, young people gather to talk and play basketball, and everyone feels safe. I love to just sit on a bench here and soak in the normal-ness of it, to forget the anger, fear, and confusion of our country right now. It's like it doesn't exist in this park in this pleasant idyllic community. 

Moving from the park towards the central shopping area, there are sidewalks and crossings where pedestrians usually have the right-of-way. The old depot is definitely an attention-getter, sitting as it does alongside the tracks right in the center of town. On either side of the tracks and depot, the town spreads down Broad Street in both directions. 

On my last visit, with Kathryn, Natalie, and Celestine, we wandered in to several shops. My favorite (for all three visits) is the book store, called The Country Bookshop. This store has an awesome selection of classics, non-fiction, children's, and history books along with the usual fiction fare. It also has a small card collection and some neat collectible books. Not surprising confession: I have spent money there on all three visits!!

We also visited a nice gift shop, Mockingbird on Broad which was full of a variety of items. Against the Grain was a shop with mostly wooden objects but also some other items.There was a really nice outdoors store called River Jack Outdoor Trading. It was deceptively small from the outside but seemed to go on and on inside. They had an amazing supply of tennis shoes, t-shirts, and camping supplies. Some of the other stores were a toy store, a Christian bookstore (closed the day we were there), a restyle store, and several clothing stores. 

A trip is not complete without food, and Southern Pines did not disappoint there either. We ate a sandwich cafe called Sweet Basil. Kathryn got a quesadilla, Natalie got the hot vegetarian, and I ordered roast beef and brie. You can see my side salad in the pic below. It was huge, and the homemade dressing was delicious. The sandwich had a hard time living up to the salad. I would definitely recommend this spot. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays. 

Later in the day we sampled ice-cream from The Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant and kombucha from Southern Salt Room. (If you know me, you know that the kombucha sampling was not done by me but the ice cream was.) Natalie does say the kombucha is excellent; this was her second visit to this shop, and she got her "growler" refilled while we were there. We also bought cupcakes to take home from Cups to take home. Everyone was happy with the day's food selections!

Wrapping it up, Southern Pines is a place I would DEFINITELY recommend making a visit to. It would be a perfect day-trip destination or even a worthy detour when heading to or returning from the beach. You might even see me there, as I plan on making several return trips. After all, there are more books in the bookstore and several restaurants I haven't sampled...

Links:

Sweet Basil Menu

The Country Bookshop

River Jack Outdoor Trading Company

Cups Cakery

Southern Salt Room

Southern Pines Info.