From the travel journal - Sapphire - day four

While Maddy slept, Darcy and I planned today's adventure. She made reservations for horseback riding, and I added another waterfall hike that was a half a mile from the horseback riding stables.

Me: "Please. This hike is only half a mile. Why that's just a warm-up. Probably I should look for another hike after we warm up."

The horseback riding information assured me there was a beautiful shady area for non-riders, and so I brought along my writing notebook. We were the only ones there, and we started out by gathering on the porch in rocking chairs while the owner told us an Indian story about a Princess who fell in love with a warrior from another tribe. Her father did not want her marrying outside the tribe, so he created a sporting event with the winner getting the hand of his daughter. When it became clear that the Princess' lover was going to win the sporting event, her father left the warrior to be dealt with by his minions, and he took his daughter into the canoe and paddled off with her. The princess, knowing her loved one, was probably being scalped, jumped out of the boat to her death.

Me: "So, the moral of that story is that parents should stay the hell out of their kids' love life."

Him: "Or kids should stay in their own tribe."

Hmm...forgot I was in North Carolina. Oh boy. I let that one pass. The girls went off to ride the trail, and I sat with a nice woman on the porch. She felt like she had to entertain me when all I wanted to do was write. But we chatted and the hour went by quickly. We thanked the people and headed off to our next adventure.

This hike was on a paved trail, and despite telling us it was half a mile, it seemed like a hop, skip, and a jump, and we were there. Definitely more my speed, and that was even after climbing down 154 steps to the bottom of the falls AND climbing back up those 154 steps. Yep. That hike was nothing compared to the previous days' hike.

On the way back to the resort, we stopped at one of the recommended places to eat. It was a Brewery, and we had the Appalachian nachos that Christopher highly recommended. Those turned out to be potato chips covered in chili with a tablespoon of onions. There was maybe a dollop of cheese on top as well. We do not recommend them. The Brewery was at a golf resort, and the view from our table was quite lovely. The food? Not so much.

Day four in the books.