ADVENTURES ADVENTURES ADVENTURES
This has been a weekend of adventures for us here at Ridgehaven. Yesterday started off with our weekly visit to the Farmer's Market in Waynesville to buy fresh corn and peaches. Then, since it was the first weekend of Folkmoot, we went downtown for a look at the visitors from foreign lands. Waynesville sponsors this event every July, when cultural exchange groups from a few countries come here to dance, sing, and display their wares. I'm not sure how a small town in western North Carolina came to be this Folkmoot center, but it's a nice event. We kept missing the performers we wanted to see, but our meanderings through the festival crowd made for a nice morning.
Last night, we were prepared to go see the HMS Pinafore in nearby Brevard, which houses a wonderful summer music center with very good young performers of high school and college age. One of Carol's former students was the assistant director of the program and had graciously arranged for us to pick up some tickets and come see the performance. Well, on our way out of Canton, we decided to take the short cut to I-40 (yes, I know...) we THOUGHT we had learned about last week from our neighbors Mike and Sue. Long story short, we got on the wrong road. We KNEW it was the wrong road but kept thinking that we would eventually feed us back on the road we needed to be on. NOTE TO SELF: roads in the mountains run through valleys and coves and not over major mountains. Ok...so after we finally looked at my GPS on my iPhone, we decided we had to turn around and retrace our steps. In case you're wondering, Dutch Cove is a very nice little area...but I don't recommend it if you're trying to get to Brevard.
We finally got back on the highway and made our way to Brevard, but we were running short on time and didn't get to eat at the restaurant we had wanted. Instead, we ate at a place Carol had been to a short time ago, Mayberry's. Across the road is the O.P. Taylor toy store...get the theme here? After a hasty meal, we hightailed it to the Music Center, only to find that our tickets were not waiting for us at All Call. However, Carol got us in, nice tickets, and we got seated with just minutes to spare before the performance. But wait...why is a full orchestra on stage for a Gilbert and Sullivan opera? Hmmm...Oops!! We were at the wrong venue! The performance WE were looking for was a Brevard College! Fortunately, Brevard is a small town and we weren't far from the college, so after a trek to the car and a hurried drive, we found the auditorium...so why were there no cars there? Uhhhhhh...because after looking on my iPhone at the Music Center's website, we discovered that the performance had been at TWO o'clock and not 7:30!!! Rats. Carol felt awful that we had missed her friend's performance, especially after she had made special arrangements for us to have free tickets, and we were both disappointed not to be able to see Pinafore. I gave my best rendition of "I am the Captain of the Pinafore and a right good captain too. I'm very very good, and be it understood, I command a right good crew." I especially like the line, "Bad language or abuse I never never use, whatever the emergency. Though 'bother it' I may occasionally say, I never use the big big D." Some of you who know me may be asking, "What never?" No, never. "What never?" Well, hardly ever!! I completed my limited recollection from 8th grade choir with a few lines as Buttercup, but I think Carol was still wishing for more.
So, what does one do with an unexpected night in Brevard? If you're Carol and Donna, you beat it back downtown to the chocolate store, that's what! Ah yes...there's nothing like dessert to soothe the sadness of a missed performance.
We decided to take the twisty-turny highway 276 back home, and after about an hour of intense driving, we returned to Ridgehaven, glad for our adventure but definitely devoid of culture.
LOOKING FOR CATNESS AND DANIEL DAY LEWIS
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| Triple Falls |
This morning, we decided it was time to get back to our pledge to hike once a week, so we embarked on our trip to Dupont State Forest, again heading to Brevard and then east. We had read and heard about the great waterfalls there (Transylvania County is known for its many waterfalls), and Carol had planned for us to hike to three falls, all close to one another. With a picnic basket, a small ice chest, and our hiking boots waterproofed and ready to go, we set out. This time we had no false starts. We found the very crowded parking area (note to self: avoid Sundays during high tourist season), then hiked to Hooker Falls, Triple Falls (the site of many movie scenes, including The Hunger Games), and then on to High Falls. We had hoped the day would be a bit cooler, but it wasn't too bad. I'm sure many of the young girls we encountered were looking for Catness, but I still had my eyes peeled for Daniel Day Lewis. I'll take Natty Bumppo any day! Sadly, we saw neither of them, but we did have a nice hike. Hungry by this time, we asked a Friend of Dupont State Forest volunteer for some suggested picnic sites. We ended up at Fawn Lake, which frankly sounds nicer than it really was, but we got in another mile or so of hiking on the way in and out.
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| High Falls |
On our way out of town, we stopped at a wonderful ice cream stand and treated ourselves, then headed home. I promptly crashed for a couple of hours--glad once again to be back on the hill.
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