THE MOUNTAINS

July 5-7; Asheville, North Carolina. From Tennessee we took another "not so direct route" and headed over east and south a bit towards Asheville, NC. We wanted to visit the Smokey Mountain National Forest, and also the town of Cherokee and the Cherokee Indian Reservation. My great grandmother was a full blooded eastern Cherokee. The drive through the mountains in the national park was quite beautiful, and also quite an inauguration to driving since it is all up and down with sharp curves and narrow lanes. I was actually happy to see a freeway again, just to rest my hands and get a bit of blood back to my knuckles. After passing through the national forest we first entered the town of Cherokee, which reminded me of a mini-Las Vegas in the country. Very crowded on the holiday weekend but very interesting with lots to see. Then it was on to the reservation where we toured an authentic replica of an eastern Cherokee village from the mid-1800's - with demonstration of all their crafts and weapon making, their structures, clothing, etc. - all instructed from current members of the tribe. The kids enjoyed it too, and no one fussed or cried the entire time!!! Finally, we made it to a beautiful campground just outside of Asheville where Karen's cousin Dave Gibson and his wife Brenda and their four children met us at our campsite for s'mores and good times catching up around the campfire. The next day we jumped in the car and headed for some swimming in nature at Looking Glass Falls and The Sliding Rock in the Pisgah National Forest. The Sliding Rock is literally a long slide over natural rock into a 10 foot deep spring of ice cold water. You slide on your bottom on smooth rock. The falls are about 100 feet high and it was awesome to swim up to and under them. That night we did some fishing at the lake and Wesley and Zack both caught catfish, although neither was the biggest catch of their lives. After a late dinner, we were off to sleep before spending one more night in Asheville and then heading north.