Vacation Wrap Up

We drove back to Chimney Rock on Wednesday with the hopes of going up-top, only to discover that the elevator was out of service. Total Bummer.  We spent about an hour browsing on the main strip and then decided to drive to Hendersonville to do some nosing around.

Twenty-five years ago the downtown Hendersonville was filled with antique shops.  I have distinct memories about one building that housed an antique mall filled with many dealers.  At the time I purchased a set of three books, circa 1870, and Jay bought himself a cool little carved wooden box to store his rocks. :-)  We still own both today.

I was happy to see that this particular store is still an antique mall.  The rest of the downtown however was barely recognizable.  In a good way.  Like so many small downtown areas, Hendersonville's has been totally revitalized and it's beautiful! It boasts lots of restaurants, a yogurt shop, a really great coffee shop, a wine cellar, a spice/oil/vinegar shop,  a few solo antique shops, some specialty stores and our personal favorite....Mast General Store. This store carries a whole lotta stuff but Meg and I were totally fixated on the candy.  This panorama doesn't even begin to show it all.

We were good though.  Meg picked up a couple of lollipops and some Bit O'Honey.  I've been really good about not eating sweets but the black licorice taffy was calling my name.  If you look close, you can see Meg in the back, just right of center,

Thursday ended up being cold and wet.  We opted to head back to downtown Asheville where Meg and I boarded the trolley for a historical tour of the city. Randy chose to hang out and explore on his own.

The weather cleared up on Friday so we decided to visit the Nature Center. Meg has never outgrown her love of zoos and animals.  It was larger than I expected and a good way to spend a couple of hours.  Afterward we drove up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway to take in some scenic views.  Quite surprisingly, Meg did not balk at getting her picture taken.

I'm sure if I were to go back through decades of photos I will find pictures of Jay at these very same spots.

We continued down the parkway toward Brevard stopping at familiar sites along the way, one of which was Sliding Rock.

When I texted the photo to Jay with a "Guess where we are now?" message, he knew immediately and wanted to know why no one was sliding. Ummm....'cause it's March in the NC mountains?  LOL!

We exited the parkway in Brevard where I immediately spied a scrapbook store. There was a sporting goods store in the same complex so it was a win/win for all.  :-)  I did my part to support the local economy *wink* and had a great time doing so.

We left NC the following morning and had a very uneventful trip home.  I hope I didn't bore too many of you but as I've mentioned before, this blog is now serving as my Project Life so I wanted to get the photos and details documented.  As always, thanks for taking the time to stop by.