July 3, 2016 (Sunday)
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| Whiteside Mountain View |
Another early morning – this time we went to Whiteside Mountain to take a hike. The hike was quite nice and offered great views. We opted to start the hike going up the stairs, which turned out to be the right choice. The return trip was a nice downward slope. When we arrived the parking lot was quite full, but when we left there were National Forest Staff turning people away. There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass.
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| Whitewater Falls |
Next we were off to a waterfall – Whitewater Falls. The waterfall is 411 feet high, making it the tallest in the eastern part of the US. There was plenty of parking available. There is a $2 fee, or you can display the National Park pass. The falls were a short walk from the parking lot.
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| Mice on Main |
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| Falls Park on the Reedy |
After leaving the waterfall, we headed to Greenville, SC to meet up with our SC friends! We met at the Falls Park on the Reedy. After walking around the gardens and falls we headed to Main Street. The city has a cute installment called “Mice on Main” (located between the Westin Poinsettia Hotel and Hyatt Regency). We found five of the nine mice that are hidden about (we did not walk all the way to the end, if we had we probably would have found all of the mice). Per recommendation, we had dinner at Tupelo Honey. Dinner service was slow. We arrived at 4:15 and did not get out of there until 5:45. They messed up two of the orders, but they did remove one of the two from the bill.
After dinner we headed back to Sapphire for the night.
July 4, 2016 (Monday)
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| Glen Falls |
We headed out early for our last day of vacation – destinations near Highlands. Our first stop was Glen Falls. There are three different viewing levels, each with an 80 foot falls. The trail is 1.4 miles one way; the first falls is about 15 minutes into the hike. The trail was moderate. The parking area was not overly full during our visit.
Nearby we visited Bridal Veil Falls. These falls were 150 feet tall, but overall the falls were not very impressive during our visit.
Just down the road from Bridal Veil Falls is Dry Falls. Dry Falls was quite pretty and definitely worth a visit. There is a large parking area.
Heading back towards Sapphire, we searched for the Hurricane Falls. We were not able to find the spot along the road to view the falls, but were able to find the approximate location of the fall. The road was recently reconstructed – possibly the pull off area was eliminated.
Before our last stop for the trip, we went to check out Toxaway Falls. You must park to see the falls. We drove by and determined even if we did stop the view would be less than stellar.
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| Dry Falls |
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| Rainbow Falls |
Our last stop for the trip – Gorges State Park. There was no fee for entering the park. The visitor center was very nice – lots of interesting displays. We hiked to Rainbow Falls (150 feet tall) – the parking area was a little crazy but the trail was not overly packed. The trail is considered strenuous and is 3 miles round trip (lots of ups and downs). Many people opt to swim around the falls area. Just past Ra
inbow Falls is Turtleback Falls. Turtleback falls is a great natural waterslide and very popular! Rainbow Falls is 125-feet high and is known as one of the most beautiful falls in North Carolina.
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| Turtleback Falls |
We stopped in Knoxville for dinner. We selected Stock & Barrel, which was ranked #3 of restaurants in Knoxville. There was a parking deck right around the corner from the restaurant. Burgers and Bourbon are their name to fame. The burger and bourbon choices are very numerous. We ordered the fried pickles, the steakhouse burger and the Elvis burger. The Elvis burger is what you expect - Peanut Butter, Fried Bananas and Bacon.
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