All work and no play?

Having grandkids along on a boat work trip is a good thing, it turns out. By the end of the previous half dozen trips to the boat for Work Week we've been so tired that passing things like Pilot Mountain State Park on the drive home elicited a vague "We really need to stop there sometime and see what it's like." With the help of the boys on this trip (see Tj's previous post) we finished a day early and had time to go visit the maritime museum in Beaufort, NC and an amazingly cool wooden boat shop there. After leaving there and a night spent in a hotel with a wonderful outdoor pool, we happened to be passing Pilot Mountain State Park with a few extra hours to spare so we all voted to stop.

Pilot Mountain is a geological wonder of quartzite monadnock formed millions of years ago. The surrounding mountains eroded over the years and left the knobby formation intact. While you're not allowed to climb the knob itself, there is an easy .8 mile hike around the base of it that yields very rewarding views along the way. We have plans to return again with more time to explore. 

This is the parking lot at the visitor's center, but you can drive up to the parking lot near the top which we did. There were actually people walking all the way up the road and a few bicyclists tackling the climb on their road bikes. My grandson assures me that his dad could do it "in about 20 minutes." (The gauntlet has been thrown Dad...) There's also shuttles that go up to the parking lot if you don't want to take your car.

 

 

The elevation here is about 2400 feet.

The Blue Ridge Mountains are visible along the horizon.

Later that evening after arriving at the hotel we found this amazing park, Legacy Grove Park in Wincester, KY. The boys had a blast climbing on everything and land surfing on the artificial turf hill. They even provided cardboard box bits to surf on.

 

 

 

 

There was a running water feature with a play area that was a creek as well as several water tables with pots, pans, pitchers, collanders, and a pumping well to get more water to play with. Another part of the park had a music feature with all sorts of drums and bells. It was an incredibly well thought out park and I wish we had one in St. Louis. The boys agreed it was the most awesome park they'd ever been to. And it was a great nudge for me to remember to balance out the work/play ratio to something just a bit more reasonable. Thanks boys!

You have to appreciate beauty no matter where you find it. This was the sunset from the hotel window last night.