Holiday Inn Express Boone, Nc

... Hampton store to get takeout bbq for dinner. When we got back to the cabin, we all rested.

Caroline stayed out with Grandmama & Grandaddy at the park a little longer and then they visited a craft fair that was going on in downtown Banner Elk.

We had a really lazy evening and didn't eat dinner until almost 8 pm. The kids got a bath and a bit of a late bedtime - but we'll be in the car most of the day tomorrow and maybe they'll sleep.

This morning I was sitting at the computer and, since it was mid-morning, was surprised to smell a skunk. The scent was fairly strong too. About a half hour later I saw our neighbor washing down her dog in tomato juice. Oh, oh. I guess it was second-hand skunk smell. Poor dog. It doesn't understand why it's been banished to the outdoors.

It's a cool day and looks like it may rain later. The creek is high from all the recent rains we've had.

... we went out to dinner. We must do simple things because of the kids so we went to Mellow Mushroom - a favorite for everyone. The kids enjoyed watching the guys throw the pizza dough in the air.

It was good to get out for a little while, but we headed back after dinner for ice cream cones at the cabin and a semi early bedtime.

Today was rainy as predicted (we had hoped the weatherman would be wrong). We sat inside all morning but by lunchtime it was not raining anymore, just cloudy. So we drove down the Mountain to the Old Hampton Store for a bbq lunch. It was really good and we got banana pudding ...

Today was the day to go to Price Park. This is a place we seem to visit every year we come up to North Carolina. We started at Price Lake where we rented two canoes. One canoe was for David, Jennifer and David Andrew. The other was Grandmama, Grandaddy and Caroline. We paddled around the lake for about an hour. It's was pretty quiet on the lake since it was a weekday ...

... them up and putting them on the hook all by herself. David Andrew was doing well on his own, but was having trouble casting very far into the pond - so I tried to help him. That's when he fell in the pond! Bad mommy! After about 30 minutes of trying, Caroline caught her first fish and it was a big one. We were there at least another 45 minutes. Caroline caught 5 fish total, David Andrew caught 1 and Jennifer caught 1 too ...

... so this was all new. There are tons of Christmas tree farms up that way. We got to the cheese factory round 11 and went straight to the viewing room. I was a little surprised that all it was was a big window overlooking the cheesemaking equipment. No tour guide, nowhere to walk around to see more things. When we got there, there was one large vat mixing curds and whey. They ...

... out too - I immediately calmed down (David Andrew was asleep through it all). I was able to calm Caroline down and start a movie for her in the car DVD player. David drove the car up a little ways close to an exit and then ran back to make sure everything was ok. Through all of this, David's parents were driving behind us and watched it all happen too. It was scary for them because there was ...

... 10pm ~Late Night Pastry Party with Carla Lyons Hall~ Crippen's Restaurant $40 Saturday, April 18: All Day ~Downtown Fun Scavenger Hunt~ 11am ~Fire on the Rock Chef Challenge Heat 1~ $5 ($10 for pass to all Saturday heats) 12pm-4pm ~Grand Tasting~ Maple Street and Main $35 advance / $45 at door 2pm ~Fire on the Rock Chef Challenge Heat 2~ $5 ($10 for pass to all Saturday heats) 5pm ...

... chatting to them in the sun. It was nice to speak to some people. It takes forever to drive the parkway as it is very "wine-dee" road and it was now 4.30pm so we left them and drove onto to Boone named after Daniel where we stayed in Comfort Inn Suites where we have a fantastic road with a lounge area. News is all about OJ Simpson being arrested over armed robbery in Las Vegas plus UK building society Northern Rock financial woes.