A Visit From Family

Our next visitor was Tyson’s mom, Kathy. She came the day after my friends left. Tyson started off the visit by bringing Kathy to Biltmore while Lilly and I spent the day at home. Lilly needed a little break to get back on her schedule. For more information about Biltmore see previous post.

The next day we went to Boone, North Carolina. This was a first time to Boone for all of us and it was a blast. The Town of Boone is a university town in Watauga County, atop the Appalachian Mountains. Boone acquires its name from the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone, who on several occasions camped at a site generally agreed to be within the present city limits.

We started our visit at the Mast General Store. The Mast General Store was opened in 1883 and has the reputation of carrying everything from “candles to caskets”. It was crazy how much stuff was in the store. They had clothing, candy, toys, kitchen supplies, home décor, etc. It was a lot of fun spending time in the store.

We then went to a local attraction called Tweetsie Railroad which is North Carolina’s oldest theme park. The theme of the park was Wild West. We found this amusing considering we just moved to the South from the West and we were visiting a Western theme park. The park had a coal-fired locomotive you could ride around the park. During your train ride they had actors that would perform a skit. The park also had old fashion carnival rides and a petting zoo. Lilly had her first ride on a carousel but was more interested in watching how everything worked then waving at her dad.

The drive to and from Boone was beautiful and we enjoyed the fall scenery. We even bought a hand-made birdhouse from an old man on the side of the road.
During the next week Tyson had to go to Raleigh on business so Kathy, Lilly and I headed down to Charleston, South Carolina, for a girls trip. Charleston was amazing!! I am so glad we decided to visit. While in Charleston we went on a guided carriage ride of the city. I learned a lot of information about Charleston that I had never known before, including facts about the many natural disasters that have occurred there. Lilly loved the horses. We spent some time shopping at City Market. Here is some information I found about the Market:

The land on which the market sits was donated by a wealthy Charleston family in the early 1800s to be used as a marketplace. The main building, Market Hall, was erected in 1841. Behind Market Hall, four open-air buildings span from Meeting Street to East Bay Street, near the waterfront. The market originally sold foodstuffs, including meat, fish and fresh produce grown locally.

Today, more than 100 vendors sell everything from local foods to souvenirs. The most celebrated residents are the ladies who weave and sell sweet-grass baskets. The craft of basket-weaving, passed down from West African slaves, is considered one of Charleston's most vibrant traditions.

I learned that you should carry cash when you are at the City Market. We also spent a short amount of time at a beach near Charleston called Isle of Palms. Kathy and I decided that we should have brought beach chairs and spent the whole day at the beach. It was a beautiful beach and there was hardly anyone there. The weather was perfect but everyone else thinks it is cold.

Kathy, Lilly and I also spent time at the Latta Plantation, Raptor Center, Discovery Place, and the Children’s Library in Charlotte. She got a full tour of the surrounding areas/towns, had a tour of the local parks and walking paths, went to church with us and celebrated Halloween by going to our wards Trunk or Treat. We loved having Grandma Kathy come and visit us, especially Lilly. I had to work most days so while I was working Kathy would take Lilly on walks or just play with her so she didn’t have to wait for boring mommy to play with her. Thanks for coming and visiting us!