On the First Day

So we made it to the mountains and then what? Why, chase waterfalls, that's what. After all Transylvania County bills themselves as the Land of Waterfalls! But first you have to get to them which generally involves some hiking on uneven ground. Oftentimes rocky, or filled with roots too.

That is my honey hiking to High Falls in Dupont State Forest, a large mountainy place formerly owned by the Dupont Corporation, where scenes from both The Hunger Games, and Last of the Mohicans were shot. The walk from the visitor center isn't really all that far, yet at times the inclines got to these folks who are accustomed to only flat walking surfaces! At any rate, you can hear the falls long before you see them, and what a magnificent sight they are.

There is a lovely spot to view them from afar but what the heck, let's get down to that rushing water and walk on the big boulders that line the shore.

 I was super keen on doing what the folks in the photo below were doing!

EXCEPT, I fell. Don't ask me how because the rocks were not slippery but I did fall on rocks rather than in the water so that was a plus! Before you worry, I merely scraped my leg a tiny bit thanks to my blue jeans which I'd worn because it was a bit cool when we left the cabin. Poor Bruce, he was ahead of me, only turning around when he heard a woman gasp at my fall.  He quickly put a stop to our exploring, meaning there would be no going around the water for us. :)

Instead, rolling up my jeans and putting my feet in the chilly mountain water, I soon felt just fine.

Bruce was laying out on another rock and when he sat up a gorgeous butterfly was right in front of his shoe, seemingly in no hurry to fly away. Naturally he called it to my attention and because my camera was in my lap, well, here you go.

Which reminds me, when I took the tumble the camera went down hard on the boulders, thankfully continuing to work like a champ. Remember when I had two cameras, neither of which fully worked? Well, I actually sent in my favorite camera, the one that died in Vancouver, and after replacing the shutter, it works beautifully. The one that won't turn off is just sitting there until I feel good about spending another $200 on getting it fixed. In the forest there were loads of lovely little wildflowers,

and super cool mushrooms. Not like I saw at Lake Davis, but some, nonetheless. I've not seen the plethora of mushrooms at LD since that one day, making me ever so glad I returned to gather them.

Up the hill and back in the car we drove the 10 or so miles into Brevard where it looks like a movie set with so many cute shops. Wouldn't it be neat to go to one of the Mountain Music festivals?

After watching most of the  Ken Burn's documentary, I am more eager than ever to hear some live bluegrass! We enjoyed the yummy lunch below at the Square Root. You just know I had to have the fried green tomatoes and the pimento cheese that the pickled okra is standing up in. Double yum!

We roamed some of the shops, spending both time and money in Starfangled Press where even the bathroom has a display.

Another neat shop that specialized in more guy-centric stuff. Loads of Florida license plates in the display, some of which we both remember.

 Heading back to the cabin on the Greenville Highway, crazy winding btw, causing you know who some anxiety, we stopped a this cute roadside market where I bought some fresh tomatoes and local corn on the cob, both of which were sensational. Bruce fashioned some corn holders from his wooden marshmallow sticks which worked great. There was a full stove top in the cabin and a small refrigerator but no oven. I didn't plan on baking anyway. :)

 So, you pull into a parking lot for the Connasstee Falls and walk about 50 yards and there you are. All flat ground was a big plus.

 We returned to the cabin in time to watch a little college football including the UCF loss, a real heartbreaker.

Falling asleep with the windows open and hearing the night sounds was a great way to end our day in the mountains.

Next morning we drove into this:

Have I mentioned no cell service? We got used to that pretty quickly as it was spotty our entire trip. Who says you don't need a paper map?