Bliss Mountain

I’ve spent quite a bit of the last month traveling, but the best traveling was the three days my daughter and I spent wandering around the South. I spent a week in South Carolina for work and she flew down to Atlanta to meet me. We had no set agenda, except to see the sites and enjoy each other’s company.

Her flight landed right on time and I was thrilled to see my so-grown up daughter get off the plane. Even though she is 17 and has flown several times before, I was so nervous about all the things that could go wrong between when her dad put her on the plane in Chicago and I picked her up in Atlanta that I breathed a deep sigh of relief when I saw her get off the plane.

We started our adventure with a trip to the Pendergrass Flea Market, which bills itself as Georgia’s Largest and the World’s Largest Flea Market. I can’t speak for it being the largest, but it was certainly a change for a girl who grew up believing flea markets were grungy affairs where people sold left overs out of the back of their trucks. There was an amazing array of goods at the Pendergrass Flea Market from necklaces to pigs. We spent a relaxing hour or so looking at stuff we didn’t need before we decided to head on our way.

I’d given Caitlin the option of mountains or the ocean and she chose the mountains. We headed north toward North Carolina. As we passed through the tip of South Carolina, we decided to stop at Oconee Station to see what was there. Deep in the SC woods we found a small ranger’s station and two old buildings. One had been a house in prior days and the other an outpost. Although it was a beautifully sunny day, there seemed to be a chill in the air when we stepped into the dwellings and it was as if the ghosts of the past were speaking to us and urging us never to forget the atrocities that had taken place in the peaceful hills of the South.

As we were about to leave the station, we saw a sign for the Station Cove Falls. Inquiring at the guard station we were told the falls were an easy 30 minute walk. The hike was easy for my very in shape daughter, but very out of shape me struggled with the ups and downs of the mountain hills. Caitlin walked ahead and it took me over an hour to catch up with her and by then she was walking back from the falls because she’d gotten worried about me. She told me that once I got there I would have to walk down and over hills and she advised me to turn around because she could see I was already pretty worn out. I heeded her advice and started walking back, dreading the long and hilly walk back. However, my sweet and brave daughter knew I was physically exhausted and dehydrated and she walked all the way back and got the car and then met me at a way post. I was so proud of her because even though she is 17, she doesn’t have her license and has less than 10 hours experience behind the wheel. She explained to me that she drove very slowly and watched the road carefully. I’m just glad this happened in the backwoods of South Carolina and not downtown Chicago.

After this adventure, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought some of the best nectarines and blackberries we’d ever had and called that lunch. We spent the next few hours driving through the mountains and talking about life, college, and a host of other things. It was refreshing to listen to my daughter talk about her goals and realize that her dad and I had done a pretty good job raising her. We stopped for dinner at a quaint little restaurant overlooking some falls. I had trout and Cat had what she declared was the best veggie lasagna that she’d ever had.

We also stopped by a little shop selling crafts from local artisans and we bought some beautiful glass jewelry. After we left though, Cat and I talked and we both realized that we’d gotten a really bad vibe from the lady running the store as if she was taking advantage of the local artists. Neither of us is sure why we felt that, but it was interesting that we both had the same feeling.

We rolled into Asheville, NC around 8 pm and there wasn’t a hotel room to be had unless we were willing to pay $150 a night, which we weren’t. I pulled into the parking lot of the local Chik-a-filet and started surfing the net and making calls to find us a room. I finally found one in Greenville, SC so we got back on the road and drove for another hour before bedding down. I spent some time before we headed to bed figuring out where we’d be the next two nights and making reservations so that we didn’t hear “no room at the inn” again.

Breakfast the next morning was a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. The Krispy Kreme by us closed about six months ago so we were both ready for our donut fix. Driving around Greenville we came upon this beautiful park built around a waterfall. There was a magnificent suspension bridge and an amazing park full of people running, playing, and enjoying life. We got out and spent some time enjoying the serenity before we headed north to Asheville and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is known as “America’s Favorite Drive and I can see how it got that name. It is an incredibly beautiful parkway through the Blue Ridge Mountains. We drove up mountains, down mountains, and through tunnels all the while enjoying some sweet bluegrass music and the amazing scenery. The first hour or so we stopped at every scenic overlook to take pictures, but then we realized we’d never get to Johnson City, TN if we kept stopping so we vowed to only stop when we got to the top of the mountain. Mount Mitchell was definitely worth stopping for as it is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. I felt as if I could see forever. We made Johnson City by 6:30 pm and after a meal at Caitlin’s favorite restaurant, Waffle House, we turned in early so we could drive back to Atlanta the next day.

Our last day in the South we spent driving through TN, NC, SC, and GA. We got to the hotel by 7 and after a quick meal, Caitlin turned in and I went to return the rental car. All too soon our journey was over and it was time to return to the mundane world of work, bills, and the like, but I know I will always carry memories of this special trip in my heart as I felt like I had three wonderful days with my daughter outside the bounds of everyday life. I’ve always loved my daughter, but in those three days I learned what an incredible, independent, vivacious, and wonderful young woman she really is.