April 2012
With UNC being as generous as usual in their allowance of
days off for Easter (that’s one day off for the Easter weekend compared to the
four weeks at home…) I was desperate to get out of Chapel Hill and spend three
days somewhere. The initial plan was to go to either Asheville or the beach
with Lexi and Emma, but unfortunately that fell through, and as such a last
minute off from Jessie to stay at hers led me to pile into the back of
Mary-Ellis’ car for a three and a bit hour journey to Boone.
We left late in the evening, as Mary-Ellis and Jessie wanted
to see a ballet show on campus earlier in the evening (which was described erotic
and scary. For snow white…), and the adrenaline levels were kept moderate to
high by Mary-Ellis’ driving skills (meaning they were perfect Mary-Ellis of
course!). Stopping off at Steak and Shake for food (well, just a shake for me
as I ate earlier) lead us to run into an interesting character manning the
till. After me having to repeat my order 15 times to the amusement of the till
staff (damn rednecks) and getting ripped for being a Tar Heel (by a Dookie
working in steak and shake. In Greensboro. I mean come on!), we continued on
the road, with me having some old man wise words for the other two “That is why
you need a degree people. So you don’t end up working at 11pm on Thursday night
in Steak and Shake at the age of 30, supporting a college team you have no hope
in hell of attending.” Harsh I know but incredibly true if you ask me
(obviously being a Tar Heel and all now…). We also witnessed the act of pure stupidity
and recklessness, with a lady pulling up to a gas station and casually lighting
a cigar whilst filling her car. And we were in on the station forecourt at the
time. To say my heart was in my mouth thinking I was gonna be blown up in a
shit-town in the middle of nowhere is a bit of an understatement. I was
astounded at the pure disregard for safety! The rest of the journey passed
without issue, with all three of us blasting out sing-along tunes in
competition to see who broke the windows with their voice first. Pretty sure
Jessie came close...
The next morning Jessie and I spent a lazy morning bumming
round her house watching TV and in the afternoon we headed into downtown Boone.
Not seeing Boone in the dark on the way in the previous night made me
appreciate the beauty of the place. Set right up in the mountains of NC the
place had the feel of a French or Swiss ski resort in the summer, with many
wooden buildings designed similar to the chalets and places seen in ski resorts
in Europe, along with the mountains dominating the skyline. The town itself is named after
Daniel Boone, who wandered the mountains way back when and "Kilt a Bar" in 1803 (He actually killed a bear, but I'm guessing his spelling wasn't all that good...) We had a good
wander around, seeing Appalachian (pronounced Appa-latch-ian) State University,
the main downtown strip with its huge sweet shop (yes, the 4 year old in me
came back out!) and on a whim I dragged Jessie into a proper redneck type place
which offered enactments from the Civil War and trying on props some Southern
film (I can’t remember what one). The place was interesting to say the least,
with tonnes of southern stuff such as costumes, maps, weapons, and a proper
southern boy who was incredibly keen to explain the history of Boone, the
building, the weapons. Pretty much anything you laid eyes on her was there
telling some story about it! I have to admit it was incredibly interesting to
go in and listen to him talk away, although it did make one wonder about the
authenticity of the place when you saw the Star Trek models and various other
items of ‘interest’ not directly related to the South at all!
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| Daniel Boone himself. He killed a bear you know... |
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| Some graffiti tunnel |
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| Feeling a bit rocky... |
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| Wandering around Downtown |
The evening was spent in a bar called ‘The Town Tavern’
which was quite a cool place, and a Jessie’s parents local place. The whole of
Jessie’s family were there, as well as some family friends and a really good
time was had, with many a laughs been had, with the bar man joking around with
me being British, and getting me to wind up his mate by quoting the “Charlie
bit my finger” YouTube video down the phone to him to raucous laughter.
Although there were times I had no idea what was going on, with language
barriers and loud music being playing. Typical me… Also, the food was really
nice, and I would say cheapish, but I have no idea as Jessie’s parents paid for
everything despite my protests (very grateful to them indeed). Definitely a
place to head to if you ever end up in Boone!
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| Ain't that the truth! |
The next day was hiking day. Well, hiking afternoon by the
time we got up and out! Grandfather Mountain is a state part (with a mountain
in it. Obviously…) just outside of Boone, which used to be privately owned
(imagine casually having a full blown mountain in your back garden?!) until
sold to be state managed. Having to live the American lifestyle (of course) we
went for breakfast in an incredibly shiny diner; stereotypical like in the
movies. Which was pretty awesome, and having an rather filling omelet meant I
was well and truly ready to climb some rugged mountains!
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| Breakfast. Diner style! |
Being the Easter weekend and a glorious day, it seemed that
half the state and their dogs were heading up to the mountain, causing massive
queues to get into the park. Patience won out here though and eventually we got
in, with me pretending to be a Boone resident to get the discounted rate – with
an impeccable accent if I may say so myself! Out first stop up the mountain was
the Hanging Bridge which, if you hadn’t guessed, was hanging between two high
points on the mountain side. The bridge was cool, and wobbled in the wind (much
to Jessie’s non-amusement!), but the sheer number of people there took away
from the serenity I like to find on a mountain top (or side in this case)
unfortunately. But then I'm a bit of a hiking snob like that. And I guess seeing
two fat Americans waddle their way across the bridge huffing and puffing really
doesn’t help that snobbery… The next leg involved hiking to the top of the
mountain, which included scaling a fair few ladders (at some dodgy angles in
some cases!) and clinging onto cables. Me being me loved this, and had a great
time sweating like a pig clambering up the sides. I think Jessie and Brad did
too, although at times Jessie was swearing her head off like a sailor! The view
at the top was pretty darn incredible, being able to see into neighbouring
states Kentucky and Tennessee (not that you would know unless it was pointed
out to you!), and rather breezy too. Was pretty cool being on top of the world
too (well, I liked to think so at least!). After we had got back down to the (relative)
bottom, it was time for an ice cream (yummy!) and had a good look at the bear
kept in the zoo down there. Which was pretty cool. But I’m glad that I didn’t
come across one for real! That evening was spent chilling out at Jessie’s
house, painting eggs (an American Easter tradition) and watching TV which was
nice after the days walking!
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| Obligatory explorer pose |
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| Climbing |
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| More climbing |
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| Oh yeah, we saw a bear... |
Sunday was a lazy morning, hanging out doing the Nash family
Easter tradition of watching 'Jesus Christ Superstar' (Jessie’s dad, Brad, joking
about it being his fill of religion for the year) and having an incredibly nice
breakfast and lunch (although shamefully I cant remember what it was). Jessie’s
mum also put what seemed like the worlds supply of chocolate eggs out for both
Jessie and I, as well as Jessie’s brother and his girlfriend. To say that the
chocolate kept me going for a while is an understatement-I still had stuff left
over at the end of the semester! That afternoon we were going over to
Mary-Ellis’ farm on the other side of Boone to undertake an activity I had been
wanting to do for a while in the States – Horse riding. American style.
Mary-Ellis’ farm was pretty sweet – set into the hilly rural
part away from Boone, and literally in the middle of bloody nowhere. With
horses, a donkey, pigs and chickens and dogs running around I fell in love with
the place immediately. Mary-Ellis step-dad was a horse guru and so was taking
both me and Jessie out on two of the horses for both of our’s first time ever
riding. Now I had seen horses, stroked horses etc etc but never actually gotten
on a horse. And was pretty nervous about it – they do look fairly big animals
when you're faced with getting on one! Not wanting to be shown up by Jessie
however I stuck my foot in the stirrup and went for it. To my surprise first
time I managed to plant myself fairly securely onto the horse and attempt a
look at knowing what I was doing. That image disappeared pretty quickly…
Now apparently British and Americans ride horses differently
(no idea having never ridden at home!) with the Yanks riding with the reins in
one hand, pulling your hand to the left and right to move the horse that way
(if that makes sense). Anyways, this seemed all well and good and pretty
simple, moving the horse around the paddock. Except the horse had other ideas.
Typical… so what was a supposed to be a little easy beginners riding lesson
turned into a battle of the man and beast to move round the paddock in a bloody
circle (think it would be easy right?!) whilst trying to avoid Jessie on the
other horse and the chickens that had seemed to come over to laugh at my
uselessness. Needless to say though I thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of
horse riding and being a step nearer to becoming a cowboy (just need a horse of
my own, a ranch, some cattle, boots, hat…), and I'm incredibly grateful to
Mary-Ellis and Walter for letting me come and make a fool of myself on their
horses.
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| Just getting warmed up... |
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| Ready for the Rodeo |
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| The two of them. With the horse. |
From there it was a few hours journey back to Chapel Hill
for the end of the weekend and back to classes on Monday. Ugh. Having said that
I really enjoyed my time in Boone and loved being there – very different place
to Chapel Hill or anywhere I had been to in North Carolina previously. I am
incredibly grateful to Jessie and her family for taking me in (at short notice
at that!) and being great hosts to me, and to Mary-Ellis and Walter for showing
me how hard it is to become a cowboy! Despite the outrageously short length of
holiday Easter was, it was a great weekend. Just getting back to class sucked
massively after…
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| The literal middle of no-where! |
