Sliding Rock

Cherokee is pretty crowded, the streets are lined with store after store selling all kinds of Native American crafts and art. There are people dressed in traditional Native American wear dancing on the sidewalks. We saw a large statue of the chief who created the Native American alphabet.

We went into the ticket center to find out where the visitor center was and found out it was just two doors down. We went to the visitor center to get maps and information about the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We got gas for $2.07 before getting on the Parkway, which seems exorbitantly high to us.

Then we got on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the southern entrance. We stopped at the highest point on the Parkway (6047 ft) and some of the other lookouts. The views are incredible and the drive is quite challenging.

At milepost 408 we left the parkway and went to Pisgah National Park. We found Sliding Rock Park where we parked for the night.

We took a walk around the park to check it out. The place is beautiful and the water was very, very cold.

We went back to Bella where Bernie made a fire and we had hot dogs on the grill for dinner. Then Bernie decided to take a bath in the river, even though it was cold, and afterwards she painted for a while.

There is no phone or internet access here and Mar is very happy to be able to catch up on her reading.

The weather is very nice tonight and we can hear the rushing sounds of the river next to us.