Grandfather Mountain

It's only the middle of August, but the temperature in Butner was a chilly 58 degrees this morning. The skies are blue, there's little humidity - it feels like a perfect fall day. The weather made me want to continue west rather than turn east towards work this morning. On the drive in I daydreamed about spending the day in the mountains, Grandfather Mountain to be specific.

At 9:30 in the morning, it's a bit cooler at Grandfather than here: 49 degrees, with a stiff breeze making it feel much cooler. Its shorts and sweatshirt weather on top of the Old Man.

The Mile High Swinging Bridge was constructed the year after I was born. It was originally made of wood and, true to its name, would sway back and forth as people walked from one cliff to the other side. In 1999 the wooden bridge was replaced with a steel bridge. It still sways a little, but the big difference is the sound of the wind passing between the metal slats and cables. It sounds as though the bridge is singing. The truth is, the bridge is just nature's vocal chords; the song is in the wind.

As a child I remember visiting Grandfather and still recall my mother's nagging to my father about how close he was to the edge of the narrow road that leads to the top of the mountain. Even now the road twists and turns back on itself and you need good brakes if you're going to come back down safely. But it's a beautiful place and one feels closer to God on that mountain. On one trip, my parents brought along my nephew Rudy. Rudy was always a handful, kind of like my daughter Jennifer. Mama wouldn't walk across the swinging bridge, but my father guided us boys over. After awhile we came back over and Mama asked "Where is Rudy?" We assumed he'd crossed back over before us, but Mama was at the end watching for us and assured us he'd not come across that bridge. My brother and I ran back across the bridge, pausing just long enough to see how far out we could spit. We found Rudy sitting on the edge of a rock, his feet hanging out into space. The nearest treetops were hundreds of feet below him. Where my parents would have used words to coax him back from the edge, my brother and I simply grabbed him and drug him back, then proceeded to hit and stomp him for scaring us so badly. Didn't he realize that if he'd fallen to his death that our vacation would be over and we'd have to go back home? How stupid could he be?

Nowdays there's a wildlife habitat at the base of the mountain for visitors to enjoy. One can watch otters, deer, eagles, and even black bears in their natural habitats. The black bear is the mascot of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. There's one lucky male bear at Grandfather. His name is Kodak. The rest are females: Gerry, Dakota, Flower and Smoky in the large habitat and Elizabeth, Carolina and Punkin in the small habitat. Punkin is the oldest at 25 years. Some bears in captivity can live as old as 30, but the life expectancy for bears in the wild is only 3-5 years because they are a hunting species.

We've enjoyed the Highland Games in July where grown men wearing plaid skirts see how far they can toss telephone polls and boulders. http://www.gmhg.org/ Nearby is Linville Caverns and a couple of gem mining places where you can 'pan' for gold, rubies and emeralds. A little bit down the road is Valle Crucis, home of the original Mast General Store. http://www.mastgeneralstore.com/history.cfm.

The last time I visited Grandfather was on Father's Day in 2006. I arrived around 9:30 in the morning. In the summer you want to arrive before 10 or after 3 because of the crowd. I had lunch at the restaurant next to the wildlife habitat and left at 1 PM. When I exited the gates, there was a line backed down the road trying to get in.

Next summer my wife will be able to experience Tanawha, as the Cherokees used to call the mountain. We're dreaming about opening a bed and breakfast in the mountains. The Linville area sounds like a perfect place.

Maybe I should get a job as a travel agent.