If I Could Move, It Would Be Here

What's more refreshing than a waterfall? Five waterfalls of course!

Last week, the kiddos and I took a trip to the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina with our friends to find refreshment. And boy did we find it. Why do I live in Florida? For the 110 degree weather? For the buggy, sweaty, humid afternoons? Hmm...

We went to stay in a mountain house in Highlands, NC. The house belongs to the family of our friends. Besides there being a beautiful waterfall at every turn of the road around it, I was even more amazed at the fact that the house had no a/c system. It didn't need it! *deep sigh* It was beautiful.

The first day we packed up a picnic lunch and drove to the Pisgah National Forest. This is a gorgeous area full of mountain views, rivers, falls, campgrounds, etc. etc. Along one of the main roads runs the Davidson River, where a person can pull over at any point and jump in the cold, clear water. We found a quiet corner to set up our picnic spot.

What do we do with our wet clothes?

The four girls had a blast splashing around.

After lunch, we drove up the road to Looking Glass Falls. Here, we walked down a steep staircase to the bottom of the falls where people were playing and swimming underneath it. I discovered the unusual sensation of waterfall-wind. The force of the water passing through the air and hitting below caused a strong, damp wind to blast down the river. (I had to stand to the side of it while holding my precious camera!)

The wind, combined with the cold water, made it.... um, cold.

Poor Hopers.

But we played here for a short time.

(That's Noodle in the center with the pink shorts, and Gwen, in blue and black.)

Next, we drove up the road again to check out Sliding Rock Falls. Hundreds of people flock to this spot to slip down a huge, 60 foot wet rock and plunge into a deep pool of water below. We decided to pass on it because,(a.) there was no place to park, and (b.) the wait time to stand in line was 30 minutes.

Uh, no thanks.

We drove back down the river a bit and found a lovely little private spot to hop in an play again--just what the girls wanted to do anyway. We spread out our picnic blanket again and cracked open a watermelon. Heavenly!

The Davidson river is completely filled with river rock. This is something we Floridians are not used to, since our rivers are either sandy, muddy, or plant filled, (or all of the above) on the bottom. We all had a great time with those smooth round stones.

We tossed them.

We skipped them.

We stacked them.

We engineered with them.

Noodle and Jo, standing in their "pool" we created.

Hopers was much happier here. Me too.

Stay tuned tomorrow and I'll tell you about more waterfalls, a gem hunt, and the tubing trip of death.