WGJ Travels: North Carolina Recap Part 2

We are back with the second part of our trip! If you missed the first part, find it HERE. I truly enjoyed reliving this trip and I am SO glad I took such good notes to remember all these fun little tidbits. As we left off on day 2, we had our first full day in North Carolina and Sunday, day 3 was going to be our biggest adventure day. We were both super excited. Here we go…..

Day 3

At dinner the night before, we decided to add an additional stop on our adventure day tomorrow(today)- Mount Mitchell. Mount Mitchell is the highest peak East of the Mississippi and it was about an hour North from us. I’ve never experienced a real mountain so I was super excited! We wanted to do that before our other planned activities so we got up extra early, at 5:30 AM to get ready. We picked up our to go breakfasts and we were out the door by 6 AM. We drove our Ranger North on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The road was windy and it was just about sunrise as we started out. The views on my side of the car were breathtaking. I’ve never seen the mountains this way nor have I been above the clouds besides being in an airplane. 

We came upon this one overlook, Tankback Bridge Overlook and I am SO glad we stopped. The views were beautiful and it was lovely to see this unique sight. I couldn’t believe my eyes, how the clouds were winding around the mountains and how many different shades of green I saw. I took a few photos here and one of them ended up being my absolutely favorite from the whole trip. 

We continued our way to the entrance of Mount Mitchell. We got there shortly after it opened at 7 AM. We drove through to the parking lot and parked. When we got out of the car, it was a little chilly! I was surprised by this and I wasn’t expecting it. So happy I had a long sleeve pullover with me. We set out to the path and the sign at the beginning of the path said it was 300 yard walk to the Summit. I got really excited about this. On our way up, Kyle pointed out a snail, slowly scooting across down the path. I got SO excited. I can’t remember the last time I saw a snail and never one this LARGE! We continued on our walk to the summit and when we got there, I got even more excited, skipping up the path to find the Summit.

The Summit was 6,684 feet high. I couldn’t wait to see the views and when we got to the tippy top to look out all we saw was CLOUDS. Yup! It was cloudy. We couldn’t see anything. We laughed about this because when Kyle was in Norway in June, all the mountains he went to were also cloudy views. It was still a fun experience because that was my very first Summit! YAY! It gave us a good great story to tell at least!

On our way back down the path to our car, we encountered ANOTHER snail! (Perhaps after studying the two snail photos closely, it was the same snail BUT! I was excited nonetheless) I was giddy with excitement seeing him scoot along. I tried to get really close to him to take a look and he probably saw me and thought “Girl! Haven’t you ever seen a snail before? You look kinda old!” HAHA

We got back to our car and we made our way back down the mountain to head to Sliding Rock, which was about an hour South of Asheville. Somehow our trip from Mount Mitchell to Sliding Rock was really quick. My guess is that Google Maps, took us around Asheville and not back through it. It was a total, unexpected win! A $5 per person entry fee was paid once we got to Sliding rock and we parked and jumped out of the car ready for the unique experience. 

Sliding rock is a natural water slide in the Pisgah State Park. We first observed the people doing it on the observation deck  and then we made our way to the bottom of the slide. I went first and I had no idea what to expect. Crossing the stream to get to the line for the slide was a little challenging- it probably would have been beneficial if I had water shoes. (adding water shoes to my vacation list!) Once I got to the line, which was short, I made my way to the top, looked the instructions and then scooted my way across the top and then slide my way down the rock and BOY! It was quick and then I landed in the water and it was COLD but super refreshing. As I got my bearings, I didn’t realize that there were big rocks in front of me. Just think about a pinball bouncing around a pinball machine, that was me trying to get out of the water. When I finally emerged from the water, I had scraps and bumps and bruises. HAHA! Kyle’s turn was next. He was much more graceful on the slide then I was. 

Kyle and I slid down Sliding Rock twice. It was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend it! I was not as good as Kyle was taking photos, hence the one photo of Kyle and the many of me.  OOPS! I think I was a little shaken up after my run on Sliding Rock BUT to my defense Kyle’s photo shows the greatness of Sliding Rock and how naturally beautiful it is. 

After I changed back into real clothes and we went looking for Looking Glass Falls. Judging by the amount of cars parked on the side of the road, we found it pretty easily. We found a spot and grabbed Penelope and made our way to the falls. Looking Glass Falls were just as impressive as they looked on line as they did in person. I was really neat to see- and to be so close to something so Mammoth. We waded down to get close to the falls. It was so much cooler and the most coming off of the falls was crazy. Penelope wanted to go swimming. It was still earlyish when we got to Looking Glass Falls and that morning light was just beautiful!

We hopped back into the car to go find the Looking Glass Falls trail.  This was slightly tricky because A. we were in the mountains and that means little reception meaning Google maps was not working the greatest and B. we made a few wrong turns, took the scenic way and then eventually got to the trailhead. This was a great uphill hike, with lots of switchbacks. At one point, we heard rustling in the woods around us, Kyle said we probably should make some noise to keep any furry friends away. Cue Kyle singing Ke$ha and me giggling.  An hour later we were back to the car, heading to the welcome center so I can get changed again. We were heading back for our second part (third part? fourth part?) of our adventure day and I wanted clean dry clothes. LOL

We made our way back to Asheville for our appointment at the Asheville Salt Cave. There are a bunch of Salt Caves in Asheville, but I choose this one because it came recommended.  Its about noon at this point and we have done so much already.  Mount Mitchell, Sliding Rock, Looking Glass Falls and Looking Glass Falls Trail. 

At some point of our adventure this morning, Kyle taught me how to pump my own gas. It’s surprisingly simple and I was SO excited to try it. We had to also document it. 

I was starving BUT I was worried to eat. Earlier in the day, I ate a banana and my stomach was hurting and I had NO idea why. I didn’t tell Kyle this because I thought it was pre-period cramps or just a fluke. These pains stuck around all morning but I was hungry. I said out of the blue, Let’s find a Wendy’s. 

Kyle looked at me a little weird- “Wendy’s? Okay.” For some reason, all I wanted was a grilled chicken sandwich. This should have been clue number 1 for me. I rarely want fast food. My mind went to something plain to eat thinking it would help. It did not help at all. I was so disappointed. I was sad and pawned off the rest of my meal to Kyle. At this point, I still didn’t say anything, hoping this would pass because we still have a full afternoon full of things to do. 

After our pit stop to Wendy’s, we were sitting in traffic and I saw an unusual license plate. It was a couple of cars away and the only thing I could make out was a rainbow. “A Rainbow!” Kyle looked at me and I said, “I think that is a Hawaii license plate!” Cue Kyle to change lanes and we FOLLOW this car so we could get a better look at it. The suspected Hawaii license plate car had to think we were weirdos if they looked in the rear view mirror, we were hunched over and pointing and trying to catch up to the car. Well one thing led to another and we ended up following the car to the wrong exit. (I can’t make this up!) We had such a great laugh and I was able to cross off another state in  my license plate game.

Found outside the Salt Cave

I had no idea what to expect at the Salt Cave. There was a group of 3 friends and a person by themselves. As we walked into the room, our shoeless feet felt salt and we noticed it was a lot cooler in there. They gave us blankets and let us choose either an anti-gravity chair or a mat on the floor. We all choose chairs and I started to look around, there was Himalyan salt everywhere- in the ceiling, on the floor, on the walls. There were two salt water fountains in the room that provided a nice babbling water sound.  It was very calming and peaceful. I forgot the specific number of tons of Himalayan sea salt we were surrounded by but I do remember our guide said it was sourced from Pakistan and Poland.  The guide led us through a guided meditation for a few minutes then she left the room and 45 minutes later, we were awaken and feeling relaxed mostly. I had a super hard time turning my mind off  because my stomach was hurting so bad. I felt like I had a lot of thoughts running through my mind about why this was happening. I was so disappointed but Kyle said I looked like I was sleeping so I must have drifted off at some point. 

After our salt cave adventure, we had some time to kill before out last adventure so we headed to Wicked Weed Brewery. We walked a little bit through downtown Asheville and we stumbled upon a march for women’s rights and found the Asheville Art Museum (adding to my list)

I wasn’t exactly feeling the greatest- what started with some random cramps in the morning on the drive, continued and started getting more intense through out the day. I tried to ignore it, which is probably not the best idea but I did. I didn’t really eat lunch, my appetite was waning and at the brewery I said to Kyle “I’m not sure I’m going to want to eat anything at the Vault Bar tonight” In my mind I thought it would be easier for me to not eat because if I didn’t eat, my stomach won’t hurt. ((This should have been a BIG clue to myself because this is what happens when I have a flare. 

We sat at the bar at the Wicked Weed Brewery and it was a really neat vibe and Kyle enjoyed his beers he got there. I tried to drink the Cider that they had but my poor stomach would not have it. I noticed the couple next to us, had this stuffed bear and  they were taking photos of it. After hearing bits and pieces of their conversation, I realized that that bear was their Penelope. I whispered that to Kyle and he took a look and smiled. If I was feeling better, I would have told them about Penelope and maybe the bear and Penelope would have become friends! We hung out there for a bit until it was time to go on our last adventure of the day. 

As we traveled to our last adventure of the day, I was feeling terrible. I really thought this would go away and I started thinking maybe I need Tylenol, only. I didn’t let Kyle know the extent of how bad this was really hurting, I didn’t want to ruin the trip nor did I want to miss out on anything. I had been so excited for this trip. I figured, I can get through this and then we can relax. 

Our last adventure of the day was a 4 mile Stand Up Paddle adventure on the French Broad River. Our guide was at the assigned meeting spot waiting for us, and was excited to see us. We were given some instructions and then we hopped in the van to be driven to the starting point. Our guide Jordan, was awesome, he saw we were active and gave us a bit more distance to go on our boards. He set us up, gave us a mini lesson and then Kyle and I hopped onto the boards and away we went. 

We had the whole river to ourselves. We passed a brewery which a huge outdoor area and it was so fun to see that. We chatted, got a smidge wet and really enjoyed ourselves. At one point, we heard what we hoped was fireworks being set up off early. We passed under four bridges and the views were awesome. We met Jordan in the river, he was paddling around waiting for us and we disembarked really easily and Jordan loaded our board up and we were on our way. Wai Mauna SUP was really awesome. I found them along with a lot of the things we did on an Asheville Guide on Instagram! 

As we were paddling, so many things were running though my mind about what to do about these pains in my stomach. I originally thought getting the strongest otc pain medicine and call it a night, would be the best. There were a few points of our paddle that the pain got really bad and I had to use the paddle to steady myself to be able to lean on it and breath through it. As we got closer to the end, I started thinking the dread H word- the hospital. This has happened to me previously (5+ times) I know this is a flare and I warned my doctor this was going to happen. But it fit all the signs of a flare. I waited too long and I was miserable at this point. I am not in Jersey and its a holiday weekend and in my heart I know the hospital would be the best thing. I dreaded telling Kyle this. 

We said goodbye to Jordan and as we got back to the rental truck, Kyle said “Okay! Let’s get you some pain medicine and lets go to the Vault” (Where we were supposed to eat that night) I looked at Kyle super serious and told him the OTC medicine is not going to cut it. I need to go to the hospital.  That was a HUGE decision for me to make. When I say I need to go to the hospital, it means ITS SERIOUS.  He jumped into action, making sure I was okay and together we came up with a game plan. We would go back to the Inn, pack me up(just in case, things were more serious), get changed and freshened up and head to the emergency room.

The hospital- Mission Hospital- was right down the street from our Inn. How convenient. We got a little lost trying to find the emergency room. We arrived around 8 and I checked in. I was angry and frustrated; I knew a flare was on the horizon and I told my doctor that and I felt like they didn’t take it seriously this time. I was so disappointed.  After an almost 2 hour wait, I was called back to a results waiting area. I had the sweetest nurse, Emily and after speaking with Dr. JAMES (so sweet!) we came up with a plan of action together.  I really respected her for listening to me and knowing that I know my body the best. She was so fun and she couldn’t believe how much we fit in in just two days.   

We had to document the time in the emergency room

Kyle was such a rock for me in the ER. That was probably one of the first times I needed to lean on someone other than my parents and Kyle was perfect. He remembered important details that I didn’t and he provided me a sense of calmness. We passed the time by listening to podcasts, him telling me silly jokes and discussing the cast of characters we saw in the waiting room. We chatted with the providers who came to see me and somehow always ended up laughing; Everyone had a connection to New Jersey. I was really thankful he was there for me. 

I was released after midnight and I was starving. I hadn’t eaten anything since 1 PM due to the pains. The only thing nearby and open at 1 AM  was……. Waffle House. I was SO excited to go to Waffle House. Melissa and Michael sure made my first waffle house experience a delight. My chocolate chip waffle and apple juice tasted extremely good. Kyle had a cheesesteak bowl with hash browns and jalapeno peppers and mushrooms. For a while it was just us, then 3 more couples arrived and a few others. It looked like a party when we left. We left with full stomachs and lots of giggles. 

For the life of me, I could not figure out how to get but us and the sign in the photo. With a little help from Kyle and him giggling, this is one  of my favorite photos of us.

We arrived back at the Inn and almost immediately fell asleep in a bed we both agreed the bed was so comfortable. I jokingly said, ‘ think we can get this through airport security?’ LOL 

I went to bed with a sense of relief, I had a plan and the doctors understood where I was coming from and trusted me knowing my own body. Thank you Mission Hospital,  you were so kind! 

Day 4  

We were up bright and early today for our next adventure. Kyle and I had a conversation in the hospital the night before about our next adventure and if I was going to be up for it.  I said ‘let’s see how I feel in the morning and go from there.’ When we woke up, I felt actually great. Maybe it was the pain medicine still in me or it was those yummy chocolate chip waffles a few hours before but I was excited. I didn’t have pains! 

We checked out of the Cedar Crest Inn- it was such a cute b&b. We hit the road about 7:15 and we made pretty good time to Charlotte that included a pit stop to a 24 hour pharmacy to pick up my medicine prescribed from the ER the night before. 

I called my parents on the drive back to Charlotte, to let them in on what happened the night before; I truly did not want to worry them and knowing them, they would have been on the first flight to Asheville, within 10 minutes of finding out I wasn’t feeling well. They were really proud of me to make that decision to go to the hospital last night before it got even more worse. They loved it even more that Kyle was such a rock for me too. They were relieved I had a plan and I definitely will be calling my doctor on Tuesday morning. 

Today’s adventure was Carowinds. We got to Carowinds by 9:45 AM (they open at 10 AM) and we were able to park, get our stuff together and then get inside the park and to the front of the rope drop line so we could be one of the first people to ride Fury 325, the biggest roller coaster in the park. It was the one roller coaster I agreed to ride with Kyle. I am not a fan of things that go really fast and dip and twist and turn.  Thank goodness we were able to basically walk right on because if I had a moment to think about it, I would have chickened out.  WOOOOOOOOWEEEE! That was a tall and quick roller coaster. It went 95 miles per hour and it was 325 feet tall. WHAT A RUSH! The first drop really got you into in and the rest of the ride was crazy! The first time we rode it we were towards the front, then we rode it a SECOND time right after and sat towards the back. I was so proud that I conquered a fear of mine and not only rode one roller coaster, I rode MANY ! I ended up really loving the feeling of flying and getting my adrenaline pumping. 

Look at all those coasters!

Waiting for the rope drop.  another favorite photo of mine

Baby’s first coaster

I did not think I would like these roller coasters as much as I did. Kyle was great, keeping me in the dark about the Fury 325 really helped (no lie!) and then because I couldn’t wear my glasses on these coasters, he was my seeing eye human. There were only a few mishaps where I wandered away from him HAHA! On the coasters, especially the first couple, he would tell me lean right, lean left etc.  so I knew what to expect because I had my eyes closed the whole time. 

In no particular order, here are all the rides we rode on at Carowinds: 

Fury 325 | Carolina Cyclone | Carolina Goldrusher | Intimidator | Kiddy Hawk | Vortex | Riochet | Copperhead Strike | Afterburn | Flying Cobras | Boo Blasters in Boo Hill | Lazy River | Hurricane Falls

YUP! I rode TEN roller coasters in a day! Color me shocked! I couldn’t believe it. I seriously think it was the pain medicine making me loopy, for real. HA! Boo Blasters was an adorable air conditioned ride that were had these little blasters to catch all the ghosts with. The Lazy River and Hurricane Falls were the two things we did in the water park. I quickly realized that even though I rode a big old roller coaster, I still don’t like water rides. Give me the Lazy River and a drink and I will be happy.

We were sad that the Hurler and Night Hawk were not in operation the day we went.  We made the best out of this adventure.   

Carowinds was really neat! I actually enjoy the atomosphere and surpringly for it being the 4th of July, it wasn’t that crowded. I remember being in Disney World on 4th of July and it being a madhouse. I expected the same for Carowinds.  I would totally go back to Carowinds. 

By 3 PM, I was exhausted.  We had done roller coasters and the water park and I wanted a nap. After I got changed back into my clothes from my bathing suit, we started walking back to the car. It started raining and we were both glad that we were leaving.  

We checked into our last hotel in Charlotte and relaxed for a bit- I fixed my suitcase, Kyle took a nap after taking a shower. I was so excited that we had a real shower- that bathtub at the Inn  was not cutting it for me. We had tickets to the baseball game for the fireworks later that night. We originally wanted to go to a Greek place but when we got there we realized that it was closed. After a quick google search, we ended up at the Charlotte Beer Garden. It had a great atmosphere and it was so much fun. Great food, great drink, great company including a happy adorable pup at the next table. We were literally stuffed leaving there. 

These were SOOO good!

Happy pup!

We decided to take Lime Scooters to the baseball game which was about a 15 minute walk/scooter walk. After downloading the app and finding two that were charged, we zipped off. They were so much fun!  Once I got a hang of it, I felt like princess Mia in the princess diaries, zipping through the streets. As we got closer to the baseball game, we finished our ride and of course documented it because it was soooo COOL and I was shocked I was able to do it. We left them on the side of the sidewalk and walked into the ballpark. 

The area around the baseball stadium was so crowded. People were everywhere. Like EVERYWHERE. We got into the game and found our seats. We got to the game at the bottom of the 8th and it was surreal to be surrounded by all those people. That was probably the first time that had happened in a long time for me since the pandemic. 

After the game, they had some of the local radio personalities on the field pumping up the crowd. Then the Army Band came out onto the field with some veterans who unfurled a HUGE American Flag. We got super excited for the fireworks. I haven’t seen fireworks on the 4th of July in almost 10 years. We realized that the overhang over us was blocking the high fireworks so we moved closer to home plate and let me tell you, I was so engrossed in them. (that meme of the baby looking at the fireworks for hte first time, yup, that’s what I looked like!) They were beautiful and bright and so joyful. 

During the fireworks, I got this terrible thought about how fireworks sound like gunshots. We were lucky that they WERE just fireworks.  After the grand finale, which was GRAND, SPARKLY and BEAUTIFUL, we made a bee line for the street. The police had blocked off the area around the stadium and the park across the street so there was hundreds of people everywhere. Trying to get where ever it is they were trying to go. Kyle held tight onto my hand and we weaved through the crowds back to our car.I got another terrible thought about how this is usually bad things happen. 

**Waking up on July 5th, we found out there were MANY incidents the day/night before, we felt very lucky we were safe and nothing happened in Charlotte this year. We are also praying for all of those who were affected during those terrible incidents on July 4th.**

We made our way back to our car, via a scenic tour of downtown Charlotte and then we had fun getting out of the city, with lots of streets closed and people everywhere. We were able to do it pretty seamlessly, I was impressed. 

We went to bed, with our hearts full, and smiles on our face after a whirlwind of a great long weekend in Charlotte.

Travel Day 5 

We slept in. We were tired. 

Kyle had to return the rental truck back at the airport while I took part in the free breakfast- banana bread waffles with sprinkles (!!) and eggs. We hung out until noon and then waited for the shuttle. It was a quick 20 minute drive to the airport. Security wasn’t that bad again. Kyle got picked for extra screening, again LOL  and we found 1895, a restaurant with some yummy eats. A paloma, a stout beer, some roasted brussel sprouts, a truffle chicken sandwich and a Cobb salad later we were full and ready to head back to New Jersey.

It’s like seeing a teacher outside of school!

We made it to our gate with some time to relax before boarding. We boarded and we settled into our seats. I found myself feeling really tired. After takeoff, I fell asleep; I slept for 90% of the short flight. The most exciting thing was a little baby was sitting in front of us and it slept the ENTIRE way. We didn’t hear one little peep out of this adorable baby the entire time.

We dashed off of the plane and made our way through Newark Liberty Airport to the Airtram to get to the train station. The Airtram was so much fun! I swear I must have matched the excitement Buddy the Elf had when discovering new things. I was amazed on this ride; I have taken the airtram in Orlando but this one was so much more fun.  We made it to the train station and took a seat to wait for the next train South. 

An hour later, we were on the train and on our way home. An hour after that, our feet were planted firmly in Middletown and back to our real lives. 

Our trip came to a close and I couldn’t be happier. While on paper, it seemed like a whirlwind, it was a really fun and exciting trip that had the perfect amount of downtown for me. (NOT including the ER visit) Before going to bed, Kyle and I talked about how well we worked together, how we did on our first trip together. We both agreed it was a really great trip. We made the best out of every situation and found joy everywhere we went.  We both wen to be that night dreaming of our next adventure. 

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If you missed any of my WGJ Travels posts, check them out here:

Planning | Destination Bucket List | Travel Must Haves | What’s In My Suitcase | Vacation Mode | 
 What I Packed vs. What I Used | Seasoned Traveler Tips and Tricks | North Carolina Recap Part 1 |
What and Where We Spent our Money in North Carolina

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WHEW! Are you tired from reading about our adventures? 

Have you visited Charlotte and Asheville before? What are your favorite spots?

[[Its always worth taking the scenic route.]]