North Carolina {Day 2}

Our journey in North Carolina continues on Day 2 with some exploring in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Cherokee Indian Reservation and me getting to check an item off of my bucket list! Read about the first day of our trip here - North Carolina {Day 1}.

On to Day 2...warning: this blog post is going to be quite lengthy and photo heavy. On the bright side, it does contain the only photos (two of them to be exact) that Jared and I managed to take together on the entire trip.

Friday, July 5

Friday morning we headed into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for some hiking and exploring. Jared made fun of me for wanting to pose with the National Park sign. I feel like he should have expected nothing less.

 And here is the first of 2 pictures of us together on this trip. 

I'm in two states at once, wooo! Getting ready to check the item off my bucket list! 

One thing that has always been on my lifelong bucket list is to hike a portion of the Appalachian Trail. Let's be honest, there is no way that I'm going to hike all the way from Georgia to Maine, so a small portion of it will have to do.

Here we go! This portion of the Appalachian Trail through the Smoky Mountains is the most challenging section of the entire 2,200 mile trail.

I really enjoyed hiking this trail and getting to check it off my bucket list! 

 Hiking the portion of the Appalachian Trail up to Clingman's Dome

Standing in the observation tower at Clingman's Dome. This is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail at an elevation of 6,643 feet!

Here is photo 2 of 2 of us together. And such a lovely photo of us indeed. Raining, 55 degrees and zero visibility at 6,643 feet. This was definitely not an ideal day for hiking, but we drove all this way up the mountain to get to the trail and there was no way that I was going to back out on completing my bucket list item now. 

 We did it! Maybe next time I'll hike the 1,972 miles to Maine? Yeah, not likely. 

Next item on the agenda, hiking up to Mingo Falls in Cherokee. I love watching the other tourists who come to see these sites. We had to hike up a muddy trail in the rain on the side of a mountain and the family in front of us has their small children in shorts and flip flops, freezing and sliding in the mud almost off the side of the mountain. Seriously? If you are going on vacation in the mountains, invest in boots. 

Mingo Falls, Cherokee, NC

The town of Cherokee is located right down the highway from the cabin, so we passed through there a few times on our trip. One thing I really wanted to do on this vacation was visit the Cherokee Indian Reservation. I know, educational activities on vacation? I'm such a nerd. The real reason I wanted to visit the reservation is because it is part of my heritage. My ancestors on my dad's side of the family were Cherokee Indian.

All throughout the reservation, there are these black bear statues painted with symbols that represent the Cherokee culture.

Look! Jared let me take a picture of him. Bwahaha

We visited the Indian Village where we got to see how the Cherokee people lived long ago and how they preserve their culture in today's modern society. I absolutely loved learning about my heritage.

We had some time before our plans for the evening, so we decided to check out some of the local craft beers. Western North Carolina has quite a few craft breweries, majority of them being in Asheville (we will have to check those out on our next trip), but some of them are in the towns around the cabin. We found a great one in Bryson City, Nantahala Brewing Company. This one may have jumped to the very top of my brewery list as a favorite.

That night, we went to a performance of "Unto These Hills". This drama is performed in an outdoor theater and it tells the story of the Cherokee people. It has been performed in the Smokies every summer for over 60 years and it is a must see if you ever visit this area of North Carolina. The show is very entertaining and heart-wrenching at the same time. I really enjoyed it, especially because I got to learn so much about the Cherokee culture. Overall, it was an amazing day of vacation.