This past week and for the Fourth of July weekend I tromped around North Carolina with family and enjoyed myself immensely. Happy Birthday, America!
First stop was the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina, right near the big NASCAR track. We had a little family reunion of sorts as most of my brothers and sisters and their families were present, including my oldest brother, an officer in the armed forces, who had just returned from living in Belgium with his family. The awesome thing about the chain of Great Wolf Lodge hotels is the fact that they each feature a humongous indoor water park, complete with a wave pool, water slides (most of them exhilarating and even too intense in some cases for seasoned adults!), water forts, pools, what have you.
Other amenities include restaurants, bakeries, arcade, teen/adult media room, fitness center, and more. Another cool thing worth noting is “MagiQuest,” an interactive game laid out in all parts and floors of the hotel requiring you to use your own custom magic wand to complete fantasy-style quests, like slaying dragons and aiding princesses (the level of digital interaction in this game has to be seen to be believed). All in all, Great Wolf Lodge is worth a visit by any family looking for a good time. One quick note to add – Ice Age 3 is hilarious!
After separating after our fun-filled stay in Concord, my mother and I took off to the Asheville area to spend more time with my oldest sister and her family. I love all of my nieces and nephews, and it was great to spend even more time here with a couple of them. After resting for a day we traveled to the Bryson City area to go white water rafting on the Nantahala river. The weather was unseasonably cool at around sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit and it was pouring down rain at the same time, so needless to say that situation mixed with fifty-two degree water was somewhat unpleasant! We did survive though and I enjoyed the rafting just as I have the million other times (it seems) I’ve gone, albeit on various rivers.
The final leg of our little vacation was to go “camping” in a rented cabin up around Linville with my mother and aforementioned niece/nephew. Our cabin was small and cozy and just perfect for the occasion. The Highland Games were going on at the same time so we saw a number of burly men (and women) dressed up in kilts, ready to make a win for their clan.
We also had the opportunity to hike a little up Grandfather Mountain to walk on the summit. This same park has an excellent little animal habitat where you can see a bald eagle, bears, cougars, deer, otters and more. At night we cooked a little dinner over a campfire and provided gas grill (I know, we were really roughing it), complete with Campbell’s Chunky Soup and S’mores. I especially enjoyed the time we spent telling little stories by the fire.
Trying to keep the kids from falling off the ledge!
Priceless little moments like these just make life extra special.
16 July 2009 at 10:44 AM
Thanks for the accounting Nigel! Maddie looks unusually grumpy that picture, lol.
16 July 2009 at 10:53 AM
Yeah, she was probably irritated at the fact that I was nagging at both of them for frolicking a little too much around the ledges and not listening to me!