Sunday, August 2, 2009

North Carolina overview--so far

North Carolina has been absolutely beautiful, despite the rather large amount of rain we have received; it has been nice rain, not torrentous thunderstorms. I don't want to share pictures until I'm home (it is so much easier to resize on my computer than on Mom's laptop) so today is just a brief description of all the stuff we've done. It has been my kind of vacation; I have gotten to sleep in somewhat, and we have done so much fun stuff.

Tuesday we arrived in Charlotte. My aunt and uncle (on my dad's side of the family) picked us up and drove us to their house in Lincolnton, then loaned us their extra car so we could drive the rest of the way to Boone. We used a map that my cousin, Adam, drew us about ten years ago and made it to my aunt and uncle's (on my mom's side) house.
Wednesday we picked up Chic-fil-a and took it to my aunts office at Tweetsie (the kids' amusement park she works at here). Then we drove around town with my cousin, Amy. We ate barbeque at a place called Bandanas and then got Kilwins ice cream in Blowing Rock.
Thursday my uncle arranged for me to be part of a tour at Appalachion State University, where he works. Amy is a student there, so we had a mini tour with her--we ate lunch at one of the cafes on campus, then did the official tour. The school is really nice; I like it a lot. Though, like my dad told me later on the phone, I'm going to like everywhere. I got a hoodie on clearance at their bookstore (that is the way I shop, haha). My uncle took us to hike at a beautiful place called the cascades while my aunt made a yummy dinner.
Friday we had quiznos before driving to Ashe county to visit the Church of the Frescoes, a really neat craft store, and the Ashe County Cheese Factory (where we got not only really good cheese, but all kinds of delicious snack food and coke in a glass bottle). We got to see my cousin, Justin's, cabin on our way back; he met us in Valle Crucis for a picnic of KFC in the park.
Saturday we got up earlier and went to the Watauga County Farmer's Market where my uncle got me a scrumptious whole wheat cinnimon roll. Then we drove up to Grandfather Mountain where they have sort of a zoo and a swinging bridge that's a mile above sea level and hiking trails. I fed bears (they can catch the food in their mouths if you throw it right). :) My cousin, Sara, and her boyfriend came up from Asheville and we went to a mexican restaurant that I was super impressed with.
Today we celebrated Amy's birthday, even though it was a while back (she was out of town). There were about 14 people here for lunch. This evening we walked around Bass Lake which was very nice. Amy, her boyfriend, my mom, and I played several games of Yahtzee. I did pretty badly until the last game which I managed to win. I also got to talk to my cousin, Adam. He's the only one of the five cousins on this side of the family that we don't get to see, because he lives all the way out in California instead of good old North Carolina now.

See? Fun. :)

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