Friday

I will admit to not sleeping well because of the fear of today. Ever since we were told the left loop had a deadly fall area on the trail I have been nervous. I kept picturing in my mind the bridge from Indiana Jones were he throws pebbles to see the bridge that drops off on either side. I have agreed that I can always walk or turn around if need be but I needed to attempt every trail.  We set off on the left loop and it turned out to be not so bad. The twinge of anticipation gutted my stomach but I biked onward. We finally approached the cliff of despair and it was not too bad. A fall would have hurt, yes, but my imagination had definitely taken over. We continued and I soon found that I had nothing left. I bonked. I could hardly even bike forward. I fell over. It was past lunchtime, we had not eaten and my legs were toast. There was only one way to go so we continued. The last couple of miles of trail took way longer than need be. Pretty soon we started to feel rain. Luckily we were on the gravel road leading back to the parking lot. It then turned to a downpour. I was so exhausted but I tried to ride as quickly as I could. Drenched we made it back to the cabin and started to hatch a plan. We were so close to Dupont State Forest we had to see where the games were filmed. We began packing up our cabin, checking our gear for cockroaches, maggots, lizards and other things found in our cabin. Steven called and booked a night at the Princess Anne Bed and Breakfast in Asheville. We decided we would drive to Dupont and hike the 3 mile waterfall hike including, Hooker, Triple and High Falls then drive to Asheville, eat at Salsa (our favorite Cajun restaurant there), get desert at the French Broad Chocolate company and stay at the Princess Anne an awesome B & B. It rained heavily the entire drive to Dupont. The drive was awesome and wound through the Pisgah National Forest. We of course continued listening to the Hunger Games during the drive. As we approached the forest the rain ceased and we were able to hike the trail. Port-a-pots had been set up to accommodate the traffic of tween fans. The hike was beautiful and just as we set back down the trail the rain began again. It was perfect timing. We made it back to the car not too wet. An hour and a half later we were back in Asheville, had checked in, and found our restaurant. Our eyes bigger than our empty stomachs we ordered way too much food, including Steven’s bubbling volcano platter of Cajun veggies and chicken. Despite being stuffed we had to go to the famous French Broad Chocolate Lounge. Dessert included chocolate mousse and Belgian dark chocolate ice cream. As you all know Steven has a sweet tooth and this place is a dream to him. It was a perfect ending to our vacation.

Zzzzzzz,

Full Bellied Libby and Waterfall Loving Steven