The Adventure Continues

After a wonderful respite in the clear mountain woods, it is time for the second leg of this trip. Today, we start with a surprise visit. Just before we left home, we heard our previous golf pro moved to Georgia. Curiosity got the better of us, and we checked out the location. Unbelievable! It was literally along the route we already had planned! Destiny. We had to make a stop at Sky Valley Country Club. Beautiful mountain course. Oh if only we had the time to play. Not this time but we will be back!

The second stop has been on our wish list for awhile: the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. This could be a day-long stop if we toured the interior of the estate and surrounding area; maybe even two days. We opted to tour only the gardens of the Estate. The landscape surrounding Biltmore and the trees of America's first forest adjoining the grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. He also designed Central Park in Manhattan. What an amazing place! The scents. The colors. The flawlessly manicured gardens. Sheer paradise. Stunning.

It was time to push on to the third spot of the day: Grandfather Mountain. It isn't a spot widely known, like the Blue Ridge Parkway or Appalachian Mountains. Yet it is more famous than you know. Remember the movie Forest Gump? Remember his marathon run across the country and back, the beautiful scenery? Grandfather Mountain is one of those scenes: the Forest Gump Curve. The curvy mountain road where Forest is running and people begin following him is on the two-mile main road within Grandfather Mountain. Beautiful countryside. 

That wasn't the end, though. Just beyond the curve, we head to the top of the mountain and the Mile High Swinging Bridge. This suspension bridge is about 228 feet long, or roughly two-thirds the length of a football field. It is suspended over an 80-foot chasm at one mile elevation, or just over 5,000 feet. The 360 degree views from the bridge are spectacular! We love walking across swinging bridges, driving on various bridges. This was one of the best.

What a remarkable day! We will cap it off with a restful night in Greensboro. No not Alabama, Forest Gump reference. *wink*