NC Vacation

 It was a long drive to the mountains, but well worth it.  We hiked to the highest peak this side of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell.   It was a difficult 2 1/2 mile hike up (and then 2 1/2 miles back down). I was super proud of my four peas.  They were a little floored when we hit the top of the trail to find a parking lot.  I quote, "Jeez, Mom!  We could have drove up here!  My legs feel like they were hit with a bag of hammers."  The next day we did a bit more hiking to some of the amazing waterfalls that Pisgah National Forest has to offer -- beautiful. 

We spent another day at the Biltmore, where it rained (and rained and rained).  Can you believe the opulence of such a place?  We couldn't get over the fact that kids actually lived there.  It seemed too musuem-like to fathom someone spilling juice on the couch or writing on the walls.

The rain followed us for the next two days.  We literally drove through three states of rain, but as soon as we got an hour into the Indiana border it all evaporated. I tried to drag it with us!  We wrapped up the vacation with a day at Holiday World.  I was dreading this day -- not a huge fan of amusement parks.  However, this has to be the nicest, cleanest amusement park I've ever been to.  The water park was amazing, and it had some of the biggest, longest, craziest roller coasters we've ever rode.