A few weeks ago, during Spring Break, we took a day trip to the mountains of North Carolina. We walked around Lake Lure, which just so happens to be the home of Chimney Rock.
We walked around all the cute little shops, and Brandi stopped to take a peek through the telescope. She wanted to see the flag that sits on the huge rock, and luckily, she was able to.
This flags sits on Chimney Rock. I went up the mountain years ago when I first moved to South Carolina, and was scared to death. (I have a slight fear of heights) The kids wanted so bad to go up there, but there was no way I was doing that again. Besides, the walk through the park is dangerous, and I would have been a nervous wreck the entire time.
One of the little shops had a place where the kids could mine for gems. We paid $20 for a bucket full of sand and planted gems, and the girls had a ball shaking the little screens in the water to discover their treasures. Ryan gave up after his first scoop, but the girls sat for about 30 minutes doing it.Ryan
Kasi
Brandi
Here is a shot of some of the gems that Brandi found. She was so excited every time the sand washed away and there were colorful treasures left behind.
Next time we go, we hope to be able to go to a real mine, and let the kids try and find some real gems. We were going to go on this trip, but their buckets were so expensive, and there was no guarantee that the kids would find anything. They wanted like $50 for a small bucket, and that was using a coupon code I found online. But, these mines give you the chance to find diamonds and rubies and all kinds of real gems.
We also got our feet wet, and let me assure you, that mountain water was COLD! But after walking for a while in the heat, it felt so good.