A Visit from Friends

Tyson and I were lucky to have two sets of visitor’s in October. Our first visitor’s are my best friends Jennifer and Emilee. We started off their visit with a trip to the U.S. National Whitewater Center. This was my first time at the Whitewater Center and I have to say that it is one of the coolest places I have ever been. The center is located on approximately 400 acres (mostly wooded) and includes activities such as whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking, rope courses, zip lines, and a mega jump. It features a man mad river which has 12 million gallons of well water, going through 680-horsepower pumps and over natural boulders cemented in place to make continuous rapids. It was beautiful and amazing and you should all go look at the website, usnwc.org.



We bought the AllSport Pass for $49 that allowed us to do all the activities. That is cheaper then Lagoon! We started off the day with some rock climbing and rafting. We had a great time rafting and no one fell out. This is good considering I almost fell out when we rafted the Snake River and I had to have the guide snag me mid-air. We did have to rescue a lady that fell out of another raft who seemed to have given up on rescuing herself. We also had to share our raft with three middle age women from LA who thought they were cougars and were trying to pick up on raft guide. They couldn’t figure out paddling and it was up to the three of us to handle things. Good thing Emilee and I were the winning canoeing team at girl’s camp. How great is it to go rafting in October and not freeze!

We spent the rest of the day trying out the zip lines, mega jump, and rope courses. We spent a good 3 hours in harnesses walking around in the trees. Just like this guy…but cooler:


Look how awesome we are in our gear.



The Whitewater Center would be the first place I would take the Steve Ballard family to if they came and visited us. This activity is PERFECT for them, hint hint…come and visit Steve Ballard family.

The next day was spent in a mountain town called Ashville, or like how they say it here in the south Ash-vull. While at Ashville we toured the Biltmore Mansion. This mansion is the largest privately-owned home in the United States. While there we toured the home, the gardens, the bass lake and the winery. Don’t worry we snuck out before they had us do any wine tasting. Fall is the peak season for Biltmore due to the beautiful fall leaves.



The day before Jen and Emilee left we spent some time touring the area closest to us. I drove them around the lake, through the posh neighborhoods, into an amazing park, through some small southern local towns, and to the Latta Plantation. The Latta Plantation is my favorite local place. It is a beautiful plantation that has been turned into a nature preserve. While at the plantation we took a tour of the home and went on a short hike. The views were amazing and the weather was great.



One thing I really love about North Carolina is how amazing the parks and outdoor areas are taken care of. Every park on our area has tennis courts, trails, beaches, and volleyball nets. Plus there are so many trees everywhere you always feel like you are in the woods. The area is also fantastic at doing a lot of family oriented activities that are free or very inexpensive. This area is wonderful and everyone should come on visit us.

Before Emilee and Jennifer left we did one last activity and painted our own pottery at a ‘paint your own pottery’ place. It was a fun and relaxing activity to end their visit.


Don’t worry; I also made sure they had some southern food and a tour of Charlotte.