Friday:
Friday afternoon we drove to our campground and got Lucy settled in. In the past we've stayed at KOA Asheville-East (near Black Mountain), but we couldn't get reservations there so we had to trek a bit further to KOA Asheville-West.
Saturday:
Saturday morning we took a scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway ...
... to the Cradle of Forestry In America National Forest Historic Site. First we wandered through the Forest Discovery Center, though I didn't take any pictures while we were inside. The kids had fun with the scavenger hunt, trying to locate various plants, animals, and such among the displays. Then we headed outside to the Forest Festival Trail. It was a nice walk in the woods, and we also got to see a portable saw mill and a logging locomotive. For some reason Norman was being extremely camera shy.
Walking the trail tired us out, so we pulled out our picnic lunch and relaxed a while. Then we checked out the Biltmore Campus Trail, though the kids were growing tired of both forestry and walking by this point. We explored the Schoolhouse at the start of the loop and the Lodge at the end of the loop, since neither required much walking.
We continued our scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed into Asheville. It was a bit early for dinner, but that turned out to be okay. We were planning on pizza (and beer) at Asheville Pizza, and arrived in time for an early showing of the movie UP beforehand. Fun!
We were back at the campground in time for our favorite camping treat before bedtime ... a campfire and s'mores. It was dusk by the time we were roasting marshmallows -- to dark to see much but embers without the flash, but the fire looks like ashes with the flash.
Sunday:
Sunday morning we visited the Old Pressley Sapphire Mine, which was fairly close to the campground. I think the kids were hoping we'd chip rocks out of a cave, but we just washed and picked through a bucket of rocks that had been scooped up by a digger for us. We left carrying baggies with rocks that contain bits of sapphire, but we need to figure out how to cut and polish them (or maybe they'll just stay in baggies forever).
We ate lunch at one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants anywhere, The Laughing Seed Cafe. There are so many yummy choices on the menu that I always have a hard time deciding what to eat.
After lunch we walked over to The Health Adventure at Pack Place, which we've visited on nearly every trip to Asheville. There were a couple of new hands-on activities (fun with physics!) that the kids really enjoyed. I'm not sure what this one was called, but it involved pipes, balls, and air. The smile on Norman's face says it all.
This one was called Rollercoaster: release a ball from the start and watch it travel over the humps to the box at the end. Simple but fascinating.
There's a Traveling Exhibit space upstairs, which was hosting "Arthur's World". The kids don't watch Arthur on TV anymore, but fortunately they're still young enough to act silly. Me too, as evidenced by the picture Boo took of me with Francine.
Monday:
Monday morning we broke camp and packed up Lucy. The kids played on the playground for a while, but that wasn't anywhere near as much fun as catching bugs at our campsite.
Another camping adventure that we wished could have gone on for much longer.
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