53/365 Chimney Rock State Park

East of Asheville, NC, Chimney Rock State Park became our destination on our second full day in the area.

The park came up in every travel brochure and website we consulted -- and this kind of activity was right up our alley. We started the visit with a climb to the top of Chimney Rock (see a photo of the rock at the very bottom of this post), and what a climb it was! Being the hardy, brave souls that Mom and I are, we intended to climb the hundreds of steps to the top before we even entered the park. It's a good thing we had our minds set that way, because when we paid our entrance fee, we learned that the elevator to the top -- 26 stories -- was out of service. We certainly got our exercise that day. I made the photo at the top of this post from the top of Chimney Rock.

We took a slightly cooler hike after our descent, and we walked about .75 miles through the forest to Hickory Nut Falls.

It's one of the tallest waterfalls east of the Mississippi River. I admit I was a little envious of the kids frolicking in the water at the bottom! I could have followed suit, but the desire to keep my clothes relatively dry won that debate.

This Park is actually fairly famous. The last scene of The Last of the Mohicans was filmed at the top of Hickory Nut Falls, and a scene of Dirty Dancing was filmed at a lake nearby. (You know, the best place to do lifts, right?)

After we cooled off and rehydrated, we drove to Hendersonville, NC and back to downtown Asheville to check out some bead shops and fabric stores. We fell in love with the bead store we found in Hendersonville and came away thoroughly inspired. I expect you'll be seeing some photos of my upcoming bead projects in some future posts!

Camera: Canon 40D, 1/500s and 1/320s, f/5.6 at ISO 100 at about 10:30 a.m.