Summer Vacation 2017...Day 2!
We are onto Day 2 of our summer vacation and it is getting good! We haven't even gotten to our destination yet! After having a great breakfast in the hotel, at a table that actually seated the 10 of (believe it or not) we headed up Big Walker Mountain to the Lookout and Swinging Bridge! This is a privately owned attraction that is beyond cool!
It is a long way up there!
When you got up there, what a view!
100 feet above this huge mountain that we were already on. Only birds have been this high! You could see 5 states from the top of the Lookout! (really, it's a fact!) Some of the kids were a little freaked when we got up there. As we were walking up the stairs, the wind was shaking the Lookout. Got a pic of them all and then quite a few made it back down the stairs (quickly being an understatement)
Greg and I got a nice pic!
Quite a few steps back down and a sticker later...
We were ready to try out the swinging bridge. It was all the way across the lot and had a few missing boards once you got to the other side, but very cool, nonetheless. There's some of my crew!
Back down the mountain and into Wytheville for a 2nd go at the Edith Bolling Wilson Museum. This time, we caught them open! This museum had some really cool stuff and as I said before, was free of charge! Donations accepted and definitely worth giving. We started out with a short documentary which explained her birth and then moved onto how she met President Woodrow Wilson, how their lives crossed paths and then eventually, led to Edith Bolling becoming the First Lady. Furniture, place settings, photos...this little museum had quite a bit packed into one area.
Check out this very old White House Cookbook.
If you paid a $5 admission, you could walk through this door to the apartment above where Edith Bolling lived with her family from childhood on.
We chose to forgo this time around, but maybe on a future visit. As a souvenir, I purchased each of the kids a packet of this wool.
It signified how the President and his wife supported the war effort by bringing a flock of 18 sheep to graze on the White House lawn during World War I. At only $1 each, it will make a very nice conversation piece for them to look back on and tell their kids about one day.
After hopping back in the car, we hit the road for the next place we wanted to find something cool to do. Winston-Salem was the chosen city. While doing some research, I found out that there is a Chocolate Factory in town that you can tour and shop.
You were able to see the entire process from bean to bar of how the chocolate comes about. At the end, samples of course!
We bought ourselves a chocolate bar to split and then spotted an ad in the window. Come to find out, this company has hit the big headlines!
Black Mountain Chocolate Company was voted the best Chocolate Chip Cookies in town and are ranked in the top best of the state of North Carolina by Cosmopolitan Magazine in partnership with Yelp. Well, now that we heard this, we had to have this amazing cookie!!
And oh, was it ever!!! We tried out the signature cookie and a peanut butter one too! Ooey-Gooey goodness that made its may on our lips and into our tummies.
Walking out of the door, we stumbled across a festival going on in town. You ever heard of Rock-a-Billy? All of a sudden, people and cars, that looked like they had just stepped straight out of the past (and I mean, way back) were there next to us.
Cool things around every corner...
This guy was particularly cool....
Reminded me of the Ghostbusters car. Siren on top worked and fire came out of those exhausts on the windows! He had pulled in quite a crowd!
Let me ask you? Have you ever been to this city? The art district is something else! Everywhere you go, there is some sort of art!
Walls...
Roofs...
even stand alone doors in parking lots!
I just loved this city and can't wait to return for more! It is good for the eyes!!!
Until next time,
