Thanksgiving 2016

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to go to Norton, Virginia to visit Stephanie and family.  We left Birmingham Saturday morning with stops planned in Auburn, Atlanta, and North Carolina before arriving in Virginia on Wednesday. 

It was the first Auburn experience for the girls, so we did the whole experience, including Tiger Walk, the pre-game pep rally, the eagle flight, and somehow, despite the cold, we even made it to half-time. 

From there it was on to Atlanta, where we spent Sunday morning at LegoLand.  The kids had a great time playing with Legos and riding the rides.

We spent the next 3 days in Flat Rock, North Carolina, which is in the mountains just south of Asheville.  On Monday, we started off the day with a trip to Sky Top Orchard.  It was VERY cold, but the kids enjoyed exploring the orchard and picking their own apples - it was slim-picking this late in the season but the kids didn’t notice.

We spent the afternoon mining for fine gems at the Elijah Mountain Gem Mines.  This may have been the highlight of the trip for the kids.  We purchased 2 buckets of dirt (a bargain at $12!) and sifted through the dirt in search of gems.  Each of them left with a bag of assorted rocks and gems, then spent most of the night washing and cleaning them with a toothbrush.

Unfortunately, due the dry conditions in the southeast, there were many wildfires around western North Carolina.  There was dense smoke all over the state by Tuesday and they cautioned people against going outside.  To escape the smoke, we drove to Greenville, SC (about 40 minutes away) and spent the day at the Greenville Zoo.  

The following day we visited the Biltmore, which was interesting but would not recommend the house tour for kids. It turns out our kids are not all that impressed by antiques. We made it through without breaking anything (barely) so it was a success.

Once we arrived in Norton, Stephanie took us to see one of the highlights of the town: the Woodbooger, a bigfoot type creature discovered a few years ago when a Tracking Bigfoot television show investigated possible bigfoot sightings in the area.  Their results were inconclusive, but a legend was born.

We also visited Flat Rock, High Knob lookout, and even did a little hiking.  We capped it off with a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, which included maybe the best apple pie ever made.

On Friday, we planned on a straight shot back to Birmingham.  Less than 3 hours into our 6 hour drive, we realized this was a bad idea.  It just so happens the Lost Sea Adventure is located about halfway between Birmingham and Norton, so we stopped there to tour the caves, which included an underground boat ride on the Lost Sea!    

We had a great time and a great visit to Norton.  The kids really enjoyed it and have asked several times when we are going back to Aunt Stephanie’s.

• Prev
• Next