A Mini Blip Meet at the Waterfall.........

    Today I drove to Hendersonville, getting at the Best Western hotel around  10:30.  Mary joined me about  30 mins later.  Together, we threw her stuff in the room and left for Chimney Rock!
    Chimney Rock is a state park in North Carolina that was donated by a family that owned the land for 4 generations.  The mountain is rather tall at 1096'.  The falls over Chimney Rock are 440' tall.  The is a tunnel there that was dynamited to create a shaft for an elevator, 268' tall.  There is a viewing deck on top of the chimney that has an American flag on top that waves in the terrific breeze.  (Extra 1)
    Mary and I rode the shuttle to the parking lot and the elevator to the top.  We loved the view overlooking Lake Lure!  Breath taking!  Extra 2
      Extra 3: We had to walk down 199 steps to get the Hickory Out trail to walk up to the Hickory Nut Falls.  I spied them through the trees before we even got 1/2 way up.  We kept going....   up, up and away.  We came to the bottom of the falls where we could look up and see.  Extra 4.  It was something to behold.  It made all the walking, all the sweat dripping in your face, the aching muscles to just look up and take in the grandeur!   One felt incredible small and insignificant in the world, a powerful moment of humility,  awesome magnitude,  a mere moment in time,  the age of the mountain.
     When I got over all that emotional stuff I realized my legs were trembling and if I sat down on the rock I would probably, not ever, get up again!
And EeeeGads......  I have to walk down that  hill, all that way, to walk up 199 steps!!!!!  This Floridian never walks up a hill higher than 2' which usually has flowers growing on it!    I know I wasn't hearing things, but I swear, I could hear Mary chuckling up front as I said some naughty words under my breath!
    All 's well that ends well......   A great hot shower, good food and here we are planning tomorrows adventure  (After my morning tea and 2 tylenol)