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a first

This year seems to hold a lot of firsts for us (and some of them I hope are also lasts!). I was reminded this weekend that the only difference between an adventure and a disaster is the attitude of the person experiencing it. So Saturday became an adventure for us. :)
Mountain miles are not the same as city miles. Our place of residence was "thirty miles" from Linville Caverns, which is mostly wheelchair accessible. We didn't have to attend any of the wedding party events during the day, so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do a little vacationing while there. Somewhere in a book we read it would take us about an hour and a half to get there. So leaving at 10ish would give us plenty of time to eat brunch, get there, do the 30 minute tour, and get back with plenty of time to get ready for the wedding, especially if we use the fast route on the gps to get there (which would save us all of five minutes).
Did I mention that mountain miles are not the same as city miles?  Did I mention that we lost the cord to the gps device? We got halfway there when the battery died. I'm thankful to be married to a man who can fluently read maps. :) Otherwise we might still be in the mountains.
the bottomless mud pit, one of the 2 areas not accessible

I'd only been in a cave once before as a child, and I don't remember getting this wet. My hair was totally flattened by the time we left.




the bat (center left, about the size of a frog)

We enjoyed the caverns. The staff was helpful and friendly. Bobby actually laughed at the tour guide's jokes. We ignored all the evolution references, and didn't discuss any of the discrepancies in the stories until we got home last night.  Did I mention that mountain miles are not the same as city miles?
We ate lunch at one of the only three places we saw. A delicious meal (especially considering we're eating brunch at 2pm!), of country cooking, though way out of the price range we normally pay, and at 2:30pm we're racing back the thirty miles (that takes 2 hours to drive), enjoying the scenery along the way but also desperately looking for a gas station (did find one and used the necessary but they had no gas!) and arrived back just in the nick of time to change clothes and get back down the mountain for the 5pm wedding.
Robert & Kelly's reception area
And the wedding was another first for us. But that story deserves a post all of its own. :)
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Comments

Jennifer said…
where exactly are these caves? looks cool. can't wait to hear about the wedding
May 9, 2011 at 3:38 PM
Monica said…
Marion, NC (we were in Wilkesboro...) Here's their website: http://www.linvillecaverns.com/
May 9, 2011 at 5:07 PM
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