Tubing & Gem Mining

We went on a couple more adventures before we left the high country.  First we went tubing on the New River in Todd, NC which is just a few miles north of Boone.  

Landon pulled over on the river a few times to pick some black berries.  They seemed especially sweet.  

On the three hour tour, we passed a few bridges.  One was a pretty tight fit to go under.  

And we saw some beautiful sites.  

This is a view of this house from the river. Can you imagine having this as your backyard?  

This is a small "sugar shack" we passed along the way.

Tubing was relaxing and fun!  We loved floating down the river for what seemed like forever!  After floating we stopped over in Boone for dinner at the Black Cat Burrito.  We didn't love it, but it was okay.  

When we got back to our campgrounds it was time to start getting ready to head back to South Carolina.  We all did some light packing that night in preparation for the next morning. We would need to be out by 11:00 am and breaking camp, organizing gear and loading the car takes some time.  

The next morning we were all glad we made the necessary preparations as it rained durning the night and breaking camp was extra messy.  We had an awesome stay at Bear Den and would definitely recommend it!  

Side note- the driving around here was terrible!  The blue ridge parkway was treacherous at times, but not nearly as bad as the winding NC state roads.  We got lost everyday except the last.  A lack of cell signal made the navigation impossible and the incorrectly labeled roads added insult to injury.  This combination made getting lost frequently a sure thing.  Plus, we didn't even know what some of the road signs meant!  Suffice it to say this sign means certain death is around the next circle/corner.

On our way out of the mountains we stopped off to do some gem mining. 

We found some rubies, sapphires, amethyst, garnet, aquamarine, moonstone, quartz, and emerald.  We can get some of the bigger ones cut and polished into jewelry.  We may do this as Christmas gifts!

Overall, we had an awesome time in the high country exploring the mountains in our own backyard.  For now, we're headed home to the lake for the weekend then on a short local camping trip with the little kids.