For this Fourth of July, I traveled to the great state of North Carolina. When I told people I was going on vacation there, they said "Oh going to the beach, right?" Nope the complete opposite! I left the brown mountains of Colorado and replaced it with beautiful greener ones. My parents and I drove only 6 and half hours to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
One of the most scenic road trips because my parents prefer a no highway route on our trips. We drove in small cities of Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. It was hard to tell when we actually got out of Tennessee and into North Carolina. We drove on the winding roads on the side of the mountains and it's was nothing but beautiful views and an elevation of over 3,000. Nothing that I couldn't handle!
Blowing Rock Downtown was an adorable town filled with unique shops and restaurants. One spot in particular grabbed my heart out of the entire strip. A little wine spot with an open porch and a sign reading "Tasting" became our go-to spot to enjoy the beautiful weather (and even a little bit of rain). Though the place isn't filled with much locals, the people that we met knew where to go and what to see/try. It made me miss southern hospitality so much (I promise it's a real thing). Not only did we check out the town, but we also went on some adventures in the mountains.
When you think mountains, you think hiking with amazing views. The views we found, but sadly the rain put a damper on our hiking plans. It didn't stop us from shooting clay pigeons though. I might of been a little too cocky before we made our way to the course. I haven't gone shooting for about four year and I thought I did pretty good the last time. No one told me some courses are harder than others and I was in for it. To get to this special shooting club, we drove on the side of the mountains and into the forest paths. The club was a beautiful log cabin with multiple different courses. The clay pigeon course was meant for hunting and it was extremely hard. I managed to hit several, but I definitely did better four years ago. I took pride when I hit certain targets and my dad didn't- my dad (for the most part) never misses, so it's a big deal for me. My opponent had National Guard training, so of course I'm going to celebrate a hit. Also, did I forget to mention the club had dogs!đ¶
North Carolina is a beautiful state in my eyes. I was so close to becoming a North Carolina resident because I so badly wanted to attend college there. North Carolina is more than just a beach state. Its mountains have so much to offer as well. Who knows, maybe my next state will be North Carolina. Only 2 hours from the beach and 1 hour from the mountains. Doesn't sound too bad to me.