A long weekend in the mountains to see the fall foliage

I’ve been wanting to take my family to the Asheville area to see the changing of the leaves & for Nick & Alexis to see where I spent my college years (theirs was in Gainesville). Plus Nikki knew the only way to get me out of my shop for more than 1 day a week was to get me out of town.  I mentioned to Nick & Alexis a couple of places I wanted them to see & they arranged everything else including the plane flight, rental car, great places to eat & a really nice place to stay in Black Mountain.Not only are they my tech support, but our travel agents as well. When Nikki & I were in our early years of marriage we were involved with an organization called Young Life which is a ministry to high school students. Young Life has camps all around the country & one of them is  Windy Gap located just outside of Asheville where every December we would accompany a large group of Florida kids & let them experience snow skiing, most for the first time.

The next day we headed up to Mt. Mitchell (driving, not hiking), the highest point east of the Mississippi

It was a very clear day &, needless to say, the view was stunning & the fall colors were at their peak. We were now ready to do a little hiking so on Saturday we visited Chimney Rock & made the 3/4 mile trek over to the water falls.

Chimney Rock is quite an iconic place to climb, but of the 4 of us, only 2 were up for the many steps it takes to get there (if it was Nikki & I, we would still be climbing).

We flew back to Orlando on Sunday, but first got to visit my alma mater, Montreat College, before we departed.

It’s always  special to spend time with family & enjoy the different areas of our great country. For more information on the benefits of travel, check out this great article.