August 12, 2023 We took the opportunity to sleep in and spent the morning in our regular routine and did a little tidying up for our visitors this afternoon. Nancy and Nick, our friends from Wisconsin, then Florida, and now North Carolina arrived about 1:00. Nancy and I taught school together for many years and our husbands hunted deer together at their cabin in Waupaca for almost as many years. They moved from Wisconsin to Florida where they lived for 10+ years and now reside in Newland, NC. We made arrangements to see them back when we made our plan to visit the area. Once they arrived, we spent the next couple of hours catching up on what’s been happening in our lives since we last saw each other.
With good friends, no matter how much time has passed between us, we can always start where we left off like no time has passed between us at all. We talked until about 3:30 and then decided to leave for the town of Black Mountain, about 10 minutes down the road. We had decided to eat a late lunch at Black Mountain Bistro, a cute eaterie with an outside seating area. We didn’t know how busy it would be on a Saturday, so we took one car to avoid any parking problems. We arrived about 3:45 and the town was busy holding a street fair.
Black Mountain, aptly named for the mountains around town that look black, is a cute little town with galleries, specialty shops, breweries, and 40 restaurants. It was definitely a busy place on this Saturday and they refer to it as the “Little Town That Rocks.” If we come back this way again, we will definitely spend more time there to check it out.
We found a parking space right away in their parking lot (our luck was good) and it wasn’t too crowded.
We got seated right away at a table on the covered patio. We all had great meals and took home doggie bags.
We didn’t stay in town to look around after lunch, but made a quick exit, so that we could get going before a thunderstorm arrived. It was on the radar and would be raining soon. As we made the short drive back to the campground, it began to rain. The Meers stopped for a bathroom break at the bus and then headed out for their drive home. They were thinking they could get ahead of the storm and make it home before the storm came their way.
We had a great visit and hope to see them again before too long. Maybe a trip to Florida this winter would do them good. You never know. We’re hopeful! The rain continued by us until about 7:00 PM and when it stopped I was finally able to take Auggie out for his evening walk. We got about an inch of rain and there wasn’t any more rain on the radar, so I think we are done for the evening. Tomorrow if it’s clear enough, we’ll make a drive up to Chimney Rock.