2022 Fall Mountains Trip Starts!

Our annual fall trip to the mountains this year is underway!

We arrived last night right at sunset, so we weren’t able to see a lot once we got up to the top of the mountain. We could see the sun setting off in the distance (between Grandfather Mountain and Sugar Mountain Ski Resort) and we could see the lights of businesses between us and these mountains, but we couldn’t really tell how great the view really was yet. We cooked and spent the evening relaxing after the four hour drive over.

After having breakfast, we explored around the house a bit. There were a couple levels of decks behind it with incredible views over Seven Devils Mountain. There was also a swing that was made from an old ski lift that the kids really enjoyed sitting in. It is a pretty cool idea for retiring ski lift chairs.

Otter Falls

We went to Otter Falls, which is in Seven Devils. We went a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, but Emily was too little to do much hiking and we didn’t make it all the way to the waterfalls. This year we did, and it was well worth it. We spent about 30 minutes at the Falls and it looked like you can hike along Valley Creek for quite some distance. We knew the kids would start to wear down, so we headed back up.

Beacon Heights

This is another great hike we have done in previous years. This location always gives Jen the dizzies. I took the kids a ways down the shelf this time so they could look out farther, which she didn’t really care for, but they enjoyed it.

Pedalin’ Pig

We ate here on our 2020 trip. It wasn’t actually that great in terms of service. I think they just got slammed as we arrived; we waited about an hour for food, then had to drive nearly 20 minutes back with it, so it was pretty miserable by the time we ate. That isn’t really their fault, I suppose. This year I had ribs with a side of brisket. It was amazing. We will be back.

We came back to the house and roasted marshmallows, which became a nightly tradition during this trip.