Fun in Bryson City, NC

Growing up, we spent a lot of time in the mountains of Western NC, in Franklin, Bryson City and beyond. It was full of adventures like Sliding Rock, tubing down Deep Creek, and browsing the touristy gem shops all over the region. Some of my fondest memories are of going with my family up to the mountains and escaping the heat of Atlanta during the summer months. It was at least 10 degrees cooler up there. My mother’s relatives were numerous in Florida and they all came up during various times over the summer so we always ran into family when we were up there and had all sorts of day trips that we enjoyed. Those were the sweet and simple days of childhood! Not costly vacations, but sweet times spent with extended family.

Lauren grew up going up there too and spent a lot of time with my parents when they built their mountain house in Murphy back in the 80’s and also camping on Deep Creek, enjoying tubing and those mountain streams that are so prolific in NC. She wants her girls to experience some of the same things she did as a child and so this year she took them to Deep Creek and they rented a cabin by the creek with lots of tubing and other adventures happening all week. My sister and brother-in-law, Renee and Bruce, went up for 4 nights and Mark and I joined them for 2 nights. It was so enjoyable all over again to experience Deep Creek for the first time in years. I’m 63, but not too old for tubing apparently and there were 6 of us in the water this hot July afternoon. Me, Lauren, Philip, Bruce, Parker and Iris all tubed together and it was so much fun! Took me right back to my childhood. The tubes have improved a lot. Back then, it was black truck innertubes with plywood seats strapped on with rope if you wanted to upgrade to a seat for an extra $2!. Worth it to keep your hiney from hitting those mountain creek rocks.

Let me give you a little history of our family’s connection to NC and this area in particular. I think I’ve shared it before but it’s worth a revisit. My grandaddy Blount, my mama’s daddy, had 4 siblings and they all grew up in Florida near Plant City, Durant to be exact. They all discovered the mountains of NC in their retirement years and so when one of them found mountain property in Franklin, NC and decided to build a cabin, the siblings all built cabins and our extended family all came up to visit during the summer months all during the 70’s and beyond. It was so fun to hang out with our 2nd, 3rd and probably 4th cousins who we barely knew, but we were all family. Going on day trips was the highlight and once we found Deep Creek in Bryson City, NC, we spent many summer days floating down that creek in innertubes, cooling off and having lots of fun. Picnics were plentiful and there was an abundance of food to feed the hungry kids coming off the creek. So many great memories!

{mom, Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Roland, who is blind and was a missionary and pastor for many years (one of two brothers left) and Uncle Eugene in front}

I have to pause here and let you know that we lost our Uncle Eugene (my mom’s younger brother) two weeks ago. We took mom down to visit him in January when this pic was taken and knew that his days were numbered, we just didn’t know how many were left. I’m so glad we got in that last visit. He will be greatly missed, him and his wife, our sweet Aunt Mary who passed away from cancer 4 years ago. It’s so hard to lose these seniors in our family. Mom has outlived 4 of 6 siblings now.

Back to NC, let me share a few pics from the 60’s and 70’s for your enjoyment. The cameras were not great back then, but the memories are still intact.

My Grandaddy Blount and his 4 siblings {Clarence, Eva, Lovic, Myra, and Lenora} I love this picture with the women in their dresses and sensible shoes. 

My grandaddy had a Brownie camera, remember those shaped like a box, that he carried around all the time taking pics so all of these pics are probably his. This is all of them in the mountains of NC. They all fell in love with those mountains and escaped Florida during the summer months.

Three Blounts married 3 Porters (the 3 on the right) and let me tell you that made for some confusing family tree history. I never figured it all out and when you throw in the Hinsons that married into the family, it really got confusing. I used to ask my mama all the time, how are we related to them?

Here’s one of those day trips we took on one of the Smoky Mountain parkways. My sister on the left, me, mom’s Aunt Eva, and my mama. Not sure where daddy was, but I’m sure he was there. I think I was about 12 in this picture and it looks like I’m eating something. We were lanky kids back then and I’m right back in those Bermuda shorts now.

Grandaddy Blount added this caption “The Slides” on this picture. We all loved Sliding Rock, it’s still there and I’m sure it’s a bit fancier than it was back then. We wore our old cut off jeans and sometimes slid right on the rock, although this looks like an innertube was involved. That might be me in this pic, not sure.

Moving on to Deep Creek, we don’t have a lot of pictures of us tubing on Deep Creek because we didn’t have a lot of cameras handy back then, but here are a couple. Pretty sure that’s me in the front with some of my cousins.

And that’s me to the right in this pic. We wore old tennis shoes and old shorts and t-shirts in the creek. Deep Creek hasn’t changed much at all except more and more people have discovered it and now it’s a big destination for camping and tubing. It was pretty packed last week with lots of people there for the 4th of July. Great place to cool off and enjoy a summer day beating the heat. I always liked it when it was really hot and not cloudy since that water was so cold. I didn’t get cold at all this time either since we had a nice hot day.

My cousin, Howard, the Backroad Planet travel blogger just shared more pics with me of Deep Creek and these are circa late 80’s. Lauren is about the same age as Parker in these pics. I don’t remember ever seeing these pics before, so it’s been fun to reminisce.

On the left is a family we grew up in church with, Tony and Sue Brown and their kids. That’s me, my sister, Renee, Howard and Lauren on the right. I can tell by the hairstyles about what year this was too. There’s a good shot of those black truck innertubes we had back then complete with plywood seats and ropes.

Me watching Lauren and making sure she didn’t fall in the creek. She loved this creek too.

Me, Howard, Renee and Lauren. Lauren definitely reminds me of Parker in these pics. They both had a great time at Deep Creek.

Floating down the river, it was crowded that day. You can see Lauren with me in my tube on the left side of the pic.

{Renee, mom and dad on the left, me with Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Roland on the right}. They are Howard’s parents and the same people in that very first pic up top}

Mom and dad had an old camper and they took it to Deep Creek for years. I was in my early 30’s here and we would go up and hang out with them. We had such fun and yum at the food my mom could cook in that camper. So good! This might have been a fish fry not sure. They would always have plenty of vegetables to cook up from the garden too.

I’m so glad he dug out these old pics!

And here we are after tubing, Lauren, Parker and me. We got in and posed on our innertubes after we finished floating down the creek that day, since no one would risk taking their phone. That’s why it’s hard to get photos, but it sure is fun to do! See how fancy those innertubes are now? Even headrests and handles to carry them. I’ll share a little video too of us tubing in some rapids at the very end. This creek is not that deep in spite of its name and has plenty of rapids but nothing too scary. I ended up losing one of my Croc shoes I was wearing that last time getting out. Oh well, they were mainly my garden shoes and I should have known better than wearing them in the creek since they were slip ons. Parker kept say, Rhody I’m sorry you lost your shoe.

Here we are in a little video:

Renee and Mark didn’t tube so they drove cars up and dropped us off at the top of the creek with our tubes and we floated down, about an hour on the water. So much fun!

Lauren was sharing pics with us before we got up there, so here are a few from her of their tubing adventures. In spite of Iris’s big smile here, she wasn’t exactly a fan of tubing. Parker loved it but after tubing one day, when Lauren asked Iris again about going tubing, she said “I never want to tube again”. But we talked her into going with us when we all went that day.

Parker is the more adventurous of the two girls. I was always the adventurous one with me and my sister. Aren’t they cute (ages 6 and 4)? They will soon have a new baby sister in early September and we can’t wait to meet her!

Lauren and the girls. Even being pregnant didn’t stop Lauren from tubing.

Philip and the girls.See how pretty Deep Creek is, those woods haven’t changed a bit in all these years.

Iris gets tired of walking, so she had help from dad one day. They were probably going to look at a waterfall this day.

Lauren and Parker.

They even went horseback riding one day. Of course, Parker loved that.

There were even goats nearby for petting.

Parker and me on the water. My hair was in vacation mode after tubing the day before, but that’s OK. We don’t worry about being glamorous in the mountains.

Took these pics right outside their cabin on the creek. We tubed all the way down to their cabin that day.

See how pretty it is? The rapids are so much fun.

I forgot to take a picture of their cabin, but it’s right above the creek and there are lots of cabins to rent there. You can check out the Deep Creek Campground site for all the information on camping here and the cabins. They stayed in Mountain Goat cabin and it was perfect for them, with a bedroom and bunkbeds for the girls.

Coming back from tubing that day, you can see how fancy these new tubes are, they were very comfy with solid seats in the bottom.

Iris on the porch.

Fun with sparklers, what childhood dreams are made of! I loved them as a child too.

We stayed in town at a little motel, the Relax Inn. It was fine for a couple of nights, nothing fancy but clean and we could walk to downtown.

That man of mine!

Mark and I walked downtown one afternoon and I took lots of pics so enjoy these. Bryson City is a quaint and cute little town and they have plenty of water activities and train rides going on all year long. We did the Polar Express out of here a couple of years ago.

I shared the High Test Deli in that post when we ate there last time, but we stopped and picked up food again this year and it was good. We took it to their cabin and ate on the porch. Their homemade ice cream sandwiches are delicious!

The flowers blooming around town were just gorgeous! Picture perfect summer day.

We always liked going in the hardware store when we were in town. Mom used to buy these big speckled melamine mixing bowls in there years ago, but they aren’t there any longer. I think she still has them.

Mark and I were going back to the High Test deli for another ice cream sandwich, but we didn’t get there before they closed, so we went in Soda Pop’s ice cream shop for treats.

So cute and retro!

Mark got a peach milkshake and I got a root beer float.

One day we drove over to Highlands, NC, a popular getaway town for tolks in Atlanta. I didn’t grow up going there a lot, but I know it’s a cute town with lots of shops and restaurants and expensive real estate. There and Cashiers are both cute towns that get a lot of visitors from Atlanta.

We drove across the mountain and it was such a pretty scenic drive, those winding roads hugging the edge of the cliff with sheer drops straight down the mountain can feel scary.

Lauren had told us to stop at Dry Falls and we found it just in time before we passed the entrance. Definitely worth a stop to see. You park and then walk down stairs to a nice walkway and you can walk all the way under the falls.

Had to take a pic here too.

Isn’t that pretty?!

You can see how tiny those people look down there.

We also drove by Bridal Veil falls but didn’t stop. We remembered driving under those falls when we were kids, but they had it blocked off so it was only pedestrians now. It wasn’t nearly as big as we remembered! But Dry Falls was gorgeous to see in person again!

A shot of hydrangeas driving through Highlands.

We only drove through Highlands and then on to Cashiers in the car. We did stop and pick up food to eat at picnic tables, but decided the town of Highlands was just too crowded to get out and walk. All the parking lots looked full and there were a lot of people on the streets. Masks are required in NC now to go inside any shops or restaurants. Some people were wearing their masks on the streets, but we only wore them inside when we went in.

Being on Deep Creek almost made us forget there is still a pandemic going on. It sure was a nice respite from all that’s going on in the world right now and I’m so glad we took a couple of days to enjoy being there again and remember those days of youth. It was fun to see Parker and Iris experience it all for the first time. They loved it!

I hope you enjoyed my recap of our family adventures, past and present! Thanks as always for stopping by to see me and I hope you all are enjoying your 4th of July holiday this year.

Here’s another family post about Franklin, NC that you might enjoy too, I wrote it a couple of years ago.

 

 

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