We are in day 2 of our Blue Ridge Parkway adventure. We started our day by taking a short drive from Asheville into the Pisgah National Forest in search of Looking Glass Falls. On our way to the falls we stopped in at the ranger station. Inside the ranger station is a small nature exhibit. Just outside the ranger station there were several hummingbirds flying around and drinking from the hummingbird feeder. The kids loved watching the hummingbirds. We rarely get to see hummingbirds at home and when we do see them they are so fast we only see them for a brief second. We also took a short walk around the nature trail behind the ranger station where we crossed a swinging bridge.
Next up we found Looking Glass Falls. This is a very popular stop because you can see the falls from the road and you can take a short walk down the stairs to actually get to the falls. There were several people who were brave enough to jump in the cold water in swim under the falls while others like my family just took off our shoes to walk around on the rocks.
After our stop to the falls we decided to head on up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to find a spot to have some lunch. While we were having lunch we made friends with a nice hippy couple and their 2 year old. We had so much fun chatting with them and our kids had so much fun playing that we decided to hike up to the top of Mt. Pisgah together.
The hike up to Mt. Pisgah is 1.5 miles. While it’s a short hike, that last mile is pretty strenuous with some rock traversing required. With that said the three kids managed to make it up to the top with no problems. The view from the top is pretty breathtaking. 360 degree views of the mountains all around us and a view of Asheville way off in the distance. At the top there is a variety of vegetation where butterflies love to fly around. We saw a wide variety of beautiful butterflies while we were up there.
After our hike we decided to go check into our room that we lucked out getting at the Pisgah Inn. The Pisgah Inn was a little more pricey than we would usually pay to stay somewhere, but SO worth the money. We had great amenities, very comfortable beds and a priceless view from our little porch. We had a fantastic dinner at the Pisgah Inn restaurant at prices comparable to your average restaurant. The service was amazing and we had SO much fun that we had to take some back to our room with us. The view from the restaurant is amazing with the huge windows looking out over the mountains below us. I haven’t been this relaxed in a long time.
We woke up early enough to watch the sunrise over the mountains. Life couldn’t be any better. After watching the sunset we walked up the the restaurant to get our complimentary breakfast. The breakfast was delicious. It included scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and biscuits and pancakes and sausage for the kids. I didn’t think it was possible, but our view during breakfast was even better than the view we had a dinner the evening before.
I’m writing this just as it’s about time to check out. I’ll be sad to leave the mountains, but can’t wait to come back up to the Blue Ridge Parkway this fall when the leaves start changing.
