The Slide God Made

At the very beginning of summer, I struggled through making a list of summer activities. It's our summer to do list. This is one of the areas where I'm trying to be very intentional this summer. I didn't want the summer to slip away and wonder where it went so quickly. And I didn't want us to be lazy, stir crazy and completely bored. I knew a list like this one could give us something to aim for this summer. When I constructed the list, I did so with little intention of actually completing all 50 items on it. However, I must say that we've already put a pretty sizable dent in it. I'll be utterly amazed if we check all the boxes; but I can say that we will have had an amazing summer full of awesome memories if we accomplish even half of our list.

Today we knocked out #8 (have a picnic) and #37 (go to Sliding Rock).

We got a much later start than I'd envisioned. I'd hoped to be on the road by 9:00 this morning. It was 9:40 before we got it all together, packed the car and pulled out of the driveway.

A few days ago, I printed out directions to Sliding Rock (in Brevard, NC). Yes...I printed out directions. I honestly can't recall the last time I took paper directions with me on a road trip. Since Sliding Rock doesn't have an address (that I could find), I figured it'd be best to have concrete directions in hand when we left. In this day and age of information overload, it's amazing that we had the navigation issues we did.

I have a pretty keen sense of direction (one of the fine qualities my father passed on to me). A few minutes and one potty break after getting off of I-26, I felt kind of like we'd done a U-turn. Shortly thereafter, we crossed back over I-26. This time we were four more miles down the interstate. It was at this point that we confirmed what I already knew: our directions were sketchy. (Thanks for nothing, Google Maps.) Thankfully, we didn't have any problems from that point forward. The silver lining was realizing that we had a shorter, more direct route home. Score!

 Our late start, detour through town and unexpected potty break (at Ingles, no less) meant that we didn't get to Pisgah Highway until after 11:00. As we made our way deeper into the Pisgah National Forest, I spotted a picnic spot off to the left. Jason and I made a quick decision to go ahead and stop for lunch. We parked, grabbed the cooler and took our pick of picnic tables. We chose a nice spot by the river. I can't say our lunch was exciting...just whatever we had in the fridge this morning. Our secluded lunch spot soon became the scene of a family reunion (at least that's what I imagined it to be). As their family poured in, ours slipped out. We changed the kids into their bathing suits and hopped back into the car for the remaining few miles to Sliding Rock.

We paid the park guard our $2 per person. It actually only cost us a whopping $4 to take our entire family, since kids under six get in free. You can't beat that. We found a perfect parking spot that was close and in the shade. We shed the clothes we didn't need (making sure to keep our shorts on) and buckled the kids into their life jackets. Off we went.

We stopped off on the top observation deck to show the kids what we were there to do. We explained that it was a slide God made, not like a water park slide. Much to my relief, they both looked excited for the adventure. I was also giddy with excitement. I haven't been to Sliding Rock since I was a kid!

We made our way down the stairs, down the bank and to the water. I picked B up to carry her across the water and to the queue. My heart might have stopped for a second or two when my toes hit that water for the first time. It was frigid. It actually made me recall the scene in Titanic when Jack tells Rose how cold the water below would be if she jumped off the boat...like "a thousand knives." Okay, so it wasn't actually that cold, but it got my attention.

The line moved quickly, and we took our first run of the day. B sat in my lap, and R rode with Jason. I know B enjoyed the ride, but she wasn't terribly fond of the super cold water at the bottom. We took about half a dozen turns down the rock before we decided to take a break to let the kids warm up. B's lips were blue, and both kids shook with shivers.

Jason and I each took a turn sans kids. We eventually headed back to the car for a snack and my phone (to take a few pictures/videos from the observation deck). We continued to take turns after that, so that someone could always babysit my phone. It worked out well, because R wasn't the biggest fan of the cold water. B took as many turns as she could beg off of each of us. There were a few times I set out with the intention of taking a faster, bumpier trip into the deeper side of the pool, but B insisted on joining me. I eventually decided that she was daring enough to enjoy the faster side of the slide, and we rocked it! She's a little daredevil for sure!

By 2:30 we were waterlogged and weary. We dried off, changed and hopped back into the car.

On the way out of town, we stopped by Looking Glass Falls. We walked down the 397 stairs (it's not really that many, but that's what it felt like) to view the falls from the bottom. R desperately wanted to crawl out over the rocks and toward the falls. I was thankful that we'd already dried off and could use that as an excuse. Maybe next time, little buddy.

Despite all of our adventures today, the highlight of my day actually came when I was putting B to bed. As she prayed her bedtime prayers, she thanked God for the mountains and the waterfall. Right on, baby girl! It doesn't get much cuter than that.

My top tips for visiting Sliding Rock:
1. Wear shoes. In the places you can touch, the bottom is rocky.
2. Wear some sort of old shorts over your bathing suit. Denim or thick fabric is best, because you're sliding on rocks, not smooth slides.
3. If you have little kids or kids who aren't strong swimmers, make sure you take life jackets for them. 
4. If you have a waterproof camera, take it. (I'm currently missing the battery charger for ours.)
5. Leave everything you can in your car. People do stash their towels in the observation area, though.
6. Bring dry clothes to change into after you've had enough fun. The recreation area has bathrooms with changing areas.