Grandfather Mountain

Ah, the road to Grandfather Mountain, 

could there be anything more beautiful?
It felt like the road to heaven.

It was quite fitting that we found St. Bernadette's at the foot of the mountain,
the perfect place for us to go to church before our trip to the top.

Looking into the the clouds from St. Bernadette's, we could see the mile high bridge!  

We couldn't wait to get up there ourselves.

After Mass, we made a brief pitstop for lunch and ice cream at the charming Old Hampton Store.  We enjoyed it so much, it deserves it's own post some other time.

Yum!

Next it was time to tackle the mountain.  The drive to the top of Grandfather Mountain is wooded and beautiful.  It really is amazing that you can drive to the top of it's spectacular heights.  During the course of our ascent, the temperature dropped 10 degrees.  E-Bear and G-Bear had to borrow mommy and daddy's sweaters :)  Nevertheless, we were all thrilled to get to the top!

There was so much to enjoy and so much to see from the top of the mountain.  

It was really very family friendly, in spite of the warning signs.

Freshly four months old, Baby Bear was the youngest tourist at the top.

He has scaled great heights for such a young guy!

The Blue Ridge Range sprawls across the landscape from the summit.  

On a clear day, you can see all the way down to Charlotte, NC.  

Of course, we had to pose for pictures at the bridge.  

The kids loved to run across the bridge, not seeming to mind the 100 ft. drop visible through the metal planks.  Yikes!  I had to hold my breath and remember the bridge is quite safe.

The mountain was a perfectly spectacular way to end our special trip.  

When we pointed ourselves toward home, our journey had one last treat in store,

because we left the same way we came:

We have such a beautiful country!  We were blessed to get to enjoy it's wonders in such a special way last weekend.