NC Mountains

The NC mountains are so pretty! I've gained a new appreciation for them over the past couple weeks for our mountains. Last Friday night Mark and I went hiking in South Mountain because I have been wanting to go see waterfalls since July and we finally went. We chose South Mountain because it is close and we didn't even get to leave Charlotte until after 4:30. We brought the dogs with us and they seemed to enjoy hiking. It's a rather easy hike until you reach the 5 thousand steps that take you up to the waterfall. Now those were killer but it was totally worth it. We stayed up there for probably 20 minutes and then headed back down. We reached our car just as it was getting dark so it was perfectly timed. We loaded the car with the dogs and ourselves and headed home. We stopped in Gastonia and got pizza at Portofino's (we had never eaten here but I have heard great things about it so we tried it out and we were impressed. It's closer than our favorite pizza restaurant so we will definitely be going back.






Yesterday we visited another NC mountain. I'm not sure what the name of the area we were in is but it's in Brevard and it is beautiful. There are waterfalls you can see from the road. It is amazing. We made our way to a place called Sliding Rock. I never heard of Sliding Rock until last summer and I have wanted to go ever since. Mark and I were going to go earlier this summer but we discovered it was 2 1/2 hours away and we changed our mind about going. So anyways, yesterday we rode up there with Nate and Scarlett and met up with some friends of ours. We brought Reagan along with us and she seemed to enjoy herself and she kept me company while we watched everyone else play on sliding rock. I would have definitely gone on the rock but 1. I didn't even know we were going there so I didn't bring a bathing suit and 2. Mark didn't want me going on it because the water is so cold. So I was the videographer for the afternoon. I made them promise we would go back next year. Now, for those that are unfamiliar with what Sliding Rock is the video's I will post are self explanatory but it is basically a big rock waterslide that dumps you into a pool of water. The kicker is that the water is between 48 and 58 degrees year round! Here is avideos of Nate, Scarlett, and Mark. I can't wait to experience this for myself next year!!!





Here is Mark just before hitting the water


After we left Sliding Rock, we went to a picnic area and ate a delicious dinner courtesy mostly of Jason and Janae. We then headed over to the NC Mountain State Fair we passed on our way up to Sliding Rock and spent a couple of hours there. It was fun but it was no where near as good as the state fair in Raleigh. Mainly because they didn't have fried cheesecake. We left the fair at 11pm and headed home. We were all exhausted from a fun day in the mountains.