We spent this weekend at about 3,500 feet in elevation in the NC mountains with our RV club - the Sams-O-Wake.
On Friday, we took some friends up to
Blowing Rock, North Carolina's oldest tourist attraction (it's over 250 million year old). It is called Blowing Rock because the rocky walls of the gorge form a flume through which the northwest wind sweeps up the mountain with such force that it returns light objects cast into the gorge. I didn't try it though. The scenery was nice, too. From there, we drove to Valle Crucis, NC to visit (and shop) at the original Mast General Store. This place is like going back in time. They even had an old-time band playing on the back porch.
On Saturday, our main goal was to show our RV friends the famous
Grandfather Mountain. This place has a mile-high swinging bridge that takes you over to the rocky summit of the mountain. We all crossed over the bridge but I was the only one who was brave (or stupid) enough to walk out on the rocks but the view from there was totally awesome! Then we traveled north along the Blue Ridge Parkway, walked under then drove across the Linn Cove Viaduct, and finally visited the Moses Cone House/Memorial Park before returning to the campground for dinner with the club. A fun weekend indeed!
Last Thursday, we drove to Hagen-Stone Park near Greensboro, NC for the annual High Lonesome Strings Camp-N-Pick. We spent the whole weekend visiting with musician friends from the Triad area and playing a wide variety of music from old-time to bluegrass. For the first time in ages, I played all of my instruments - bass, fiddle, banjo and mandolin - over the course of the weekend. What fun!
On Saturday evening, we were treated to a covered dish supper featuring some delicious pork barbecue prepared by our resident chef, Kent, with help from his cut-up friend, Brent. I nicknamed them the "Ent" brothers. ;-) After we all pigged out, we were entertained by the Snyder Family Band featuring 10-year old Samantha on fiddle and 14-year old Zeb on guitar. Talk about young talent - wow! Then the picking sessions resumed until the wee hours of the night. . .
