The Mountain House June 2010

My cousin Andrew and his lovely wife, Kim, invited Mark & I to their cabin in Boone, NC this weekend for a visit.

We left Cincinnati on Thursday after work and stopped in Corbin, KY to camp overnight at Cumberland Falls SP. Apparently the check-in closes at 5pm, so we set up camp in the spot I reserved on the internet. We left at 6:30am and the office was still closed so bascially we could have not reserved a spot and gotten it for free. FYI in case you need a place to camp for free in Corbin, KY.

We hit the road Friday AM and got to Boone, NC around noon to begin the relaxation. Immediately upon seeing the awesome porch & hearing the babbling brook behind the cabin the mountain feeling kicked in. We hit the grocery store and ate a delicious meal preparted by Kim and Andrew - including an appetizer of grilled bacon wrapped jalepenos stuffed with cream cheese - OMG!!! We will have to try this at home folks because it was awesome (and spicy.)

The next day we hit the Farmer's Market at Horn of the West (I think) and got supplies and breakfast. It was the coolest vibe. It seemed more like a family picnic than a market. You could tell the locals came every week to hang out and chat over coffee & a fruit pie. We got really good deals on veggies for dinner.

Then we headed to Downtown Boone to visit the Thrift Store and a really huge Antique Store. Then we went Gem Mining at Doc's Gem Mine just outside of town. We bought our $30 bucket-o-dirt and started panning it in the flume. I have to say my expectations were low. I was thinking that I was looking for flecks of gold or something and might possibly get a little piece of quartz, but boy was I wrong. Mark and I actually ended up finding huge rubies, sapphires, smokey quartz, emeralds, garnets, rose quartz, peridot, aquamarine, etc. It was AMAZING!!! We decided to get a few cut for jewelry - a big Smokey Quartz which we got a 4 carat oval & a 1.5 carat oval from and a Ruby which we got a 2 carat oval cut. AMAZING!! We are RICH!!! tee hee

Here are a few photos from the weekend. Check it out!!!



Kris