Archive for the ‘kids’ Category
Off the Blue Ridge Parkway, behind the Arboretum, is a great locally known forest called Bent Creek. Locals love to walk the trails, jump in the creeks or gathered pools of water, and walk their dogs with comfort. We love it there. It’s a little known secret to visitors of the area I am pleased to share with you in hushed tones. There are miles and miles of walking trails, also dirt bike trails. Just about any outdoor sport can be exercised there. It’s originally created as an experimental forest, the first one in the southeast actually, so it’s quite reverred and protected.
It’s only just minutes from the Asheville pet friendly cabin you will be staying in. From the cabin take 240 to I-26 going towards Spartanburg. Get off at the first exit and turn left on Brevard road. Follow the signs to the Arboretum. When you get to the front, go left onto the parkway and follow it til you are exactly behind the Arboretum. You’ll see lots of cars parked there.
There are a couple of Bowling Alleys in Asheville. If you like to bowl, you’ll want to try some new lanes on your vacation, ones you’ve not tried before. It’s always fun to go on a vacation and try out the local lanes in the town you’re in when you’re an avid bowler. Bring your ball! Both are not far from the Asheville vacation cabin you’ll be staying in.
One is the Star Lanes bowling center on Kenilworth. The other is the Sky-Lanes on Patton Ave. What’s nice about bowling alleys are they can be so much a part of the community. They hold events there regularly to aid some organization or another to raise money.
North Carolina’s newest state park, Chimney Rock, is only 25 miles southeast of Asheville, or about a 40 minute drive from the Asheville Pet Friendly Cabin you will be staying at. The pups will love walking the trails with you. They are not allowed at the top of the rock.
I’m not sure which is more fun to do; the trails around various places within the park, the elevator to the top of Chimney Rock, guided rock climbing, children’s programs or just the spectacular view from the top of the rock. There are all kinds of fun shops to visit up and down the road to the entrance to the park. Don’t forget to stop for an ice cream cone on the way in or out. Oh, go ahead, treat yourselves, do both!
My neighbor takes her horses out to ride at Dupont State Forest. Another hikes there on a regular basis. There are so many activities one can do there, including mountain biking. There are miles of multiuse trails, waterfalls and lakes straddling Henderson and Transylvania counties. DuPont’s trails are used by hikers, bikers, horseback riders, fishermen. The scenery is spectacular and if you ever wanted to feel you were in the frontier, this is it. You can go for miles and not see another person, still have that all alone in nature appeal.
From your Asheville Pet Friendly Rental Cabin it’s about 30 minutes away. Take your pups with you and hike til you all drop. Prepare your picnic at the cabin and take off for the day. You can set it up anywhere. Just be sure to walk out with your garbage. Take poop bags with you too. You’d want to keep it pristine.
Paved, well lighted walkways wind through the vaulted chambers and along the banks of the ancient Underground River that carved these remarkable caverns from the hard core of the earth 200 to 400 million years ago. In the frontier days, Indians used the Underground River as an attack and escape route in their raids on settlers. Stealing into the area by way of the Underground River and the caverns, they swooped down on unsuspecting families, then disappeared as if swallowed up by the earth.
I know, I know, why would I go to Bristol TN when I’m visiting Asheville NC. I’ll tell you why. As long as you are here and you are so close, just driving distance, and you want to see everything around, you will want to check out the many caverns in the area. There were no state lines when they were created. Stay at your Asheville Pet Friendly Cabin and leave for a day trip to explore both of the Tennessee caverns mentioned in this blog, this one and the Appalachian one. You won’t be sorry.
If you’re looking for something fast, fun and skill-free to do this weekend, try snow tubing. Wear warm clothes that are waterrepellent or bring clothes to change into. It’s suitable for any age, small med or large size, And oh my gosh is it fun!!!!! Do you like to tube a river? Well, it’s nothing like that. LOL Your feet stay over the tube, you just go down hill at a good speed, it’s probably more like sledding but even more! After sliding down the snow-covered hill, a magic carpet takes visitors and their giant inner tubes back up the hill.
You can eat at the ski area or have snacks at the tube run. I personally like to pack a lunch and head out from the Asheville Vacation Rental Cabin. That way you don’t have to stop tubing too long. A big thermos with lots of hot chocolate is in order for this sport. There are a number of places that you can tube at here in the mountains, the closest one to your rental cabin is Wolf Ridge.
For many years, the cavern lay in silence broken only by the sound of the water, the animals that called it home, and the occasional human who made their way into it. It was home to many wild animals, used by local people as a home, celebrated by the Native Americans as a place to hold special meetings, a weekend hangout for local kids, and had many other varied uses down through the years. In 1991, it was opened to the public as a show cave for the first time in its’ long and varied history. Since that time, the caverns have had many visitors through its magnificent chambers. It is a bat sanctuary for the endangered gray bats, as well as home to 6 other species, and is a testament to the beauty not only in the world above, but also in the world underneath that many have forgotten exists.
Going to these caves would be a little bit more than an hour and a half trip each way from your Asheville vacation cabin. It would be a day trip, but an interesting and fun one. A stop in Johnson city to put together a picnic basket for a picnic once you get to the caverns would be a really nice idea.
Health Discovery has a great traveling exhibit guaranteed to entertain your kids. The new exhibit is called Alice’s Wonderland…A Most Curious Adventure. Children and agile adults are invited to “fall” through the rabbit hole and begin a whimsical journey to a place where things aren’t as they seem and the bizarre becomes ordinary. A lot like living in Asheville. :O)
Stay at an Asheville pet friendly cabin and bring the kids and the pets and have a blast. The cabin is not far from the Health Center.
All the National Parks across the country are honoring the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend by waiving admission fees Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Now amongst all the great places that you can go to for free, you will want to check out Carl Sandburg’s home. The home tour itself is usually $5 at other times than this. But there is never a charge to enter the grounds, hike the more than five miles of trail or visit the dairy goats at Mrs. Sandburg’s farm operation. Additional free dates are: April 16-24, June 21, September 24, November 11-13.
From your Asheville pet friendly cabin it is aproximately 35 minutes.
There are so many really really neat things to see in the Smokies. All the great lookouts along the side of the road allow you to pull off the road to feast your eyes on the views without running off the side of a mountain while looking. :O)) The views are absolutely breathtaking, even with the smokey haze that rests amongst the mountains.
From your Asheville vacation cabin, take I-40 heading West. As you drive along the road, notice when you get past Waynesville you can actually see the shift from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Smokies. The drive West is gorgeous, the vegetation lush and the ascending and the descending and the twists in the road increasing in frequency. The road runs through the Smokies. Get off anywhere and you are standing in Smoky the Bear country.