The Grove Park Inn was the last stop on our reunion tour of Western North Carolina.  We decided that since we were going out and about for the week of Thanksgiving we should eat dinner at the world famous inn and see the National Gingerbread House Competition.  It was an awesome dinner and as impressive as you think eating at the Grove Park should be – ice sculptures and all.

It was an awesome way to end the vacation.  We left with a full belly as we watched the snow clouds start to roll in over the mountains.  It was great to go back and see how much had changed and how much hadn’t in the long time that we’ve been gone.  It was nice to see that some things are completely timeless and others – well – they haven’t changed enough to make me want to go back for any longer than a couple of days.   It was a great trip and I probably have a few more blogs hidden in the bigger picture sets.  Enjoy the pictures after the jump.

The Biltmore House.  Odds are you have either been or already have a good deal of information on the largest private residence in the United States so I won’t elaborate with a lot of details here.  We stopped in for the wine tasting got a little turned around and ended up taking a few pictures after dark of the outside of the building.  The estate is beautiful and was great to try and take some shots with the new Nikon camera.  We also went on the wine tasting – it wasn’t bad even after the beer tour.

After a morning of driving and hiking the first thing we did when we got back to Asheville was look for a nice cold infusion of barely and hops or as people back home like to call it – BEER. We stopped for lunch and asked the waiter about local breweries and found out we were within walking distance of the French Broad Brewery.  The place is very similar to the Big Boss in design with the brewery and tasting room (code word: bar) being immediately adjacent.  We sampled a couple of beers – decided on a full beer to try and say and watched the guys work on their craft.  Not a bad way to spend a little time in the afternoon.  The beer was good and is sold in a couple of locations in Raleigh – I think we’ve seen it at the Pit and Busy Bee as seasonals.  I liked the Wee Heavy-er Scotch Ale that I tried and would likely order it again.

On our way back to Asheville we decided to look for a waterfall and after a short detour at a Mingus Mill we found what we were looking for in Mingo Falls. On the guide map we purchased at the ranger station for $1 it listed the hike as around a quarter mile round trip and moderate in nature. Moderate being secret range code for straight up.

After a short but relatively exhausting hike the falls are pretty awesome.  Estimates on the height of the falls range from 120-180 feet depending on which you like better the guide map or the sign at the bottom of the hill.

These falls are on the reservation and the trail head is relatively easy to find.  It isn’t far from the main area at all.  Definitely worth driving the 5-10 minutes out of your way to see.

Leaving Cherokee we opted to drive through Maggie Valley to get back to Asheville.  On the way we saw a small sign for Soco Falls and a small place to turn in.  We did and when we got out we could hear the falls.  (This rarely means the falls are close or even something you want to try and find.)  The trail head was poorly marked with the exception of a small note to stay on the trail.  Solid advice but useless if you want to know what kind of trail, how far, etc.  The $1 map – also useless – this waterfall obviously didn’t make the cut.  We thought about not risking it.  I mean – so far we’d seen one small sign and one small warning not a lot to go on.  So we started on the trail – what’s the worst that can happen? (Cue Deliverance music.)

The hike was short, relatively easy and the waterfall was really nice.  Worth the effort to climb down what couldn’t have been more than 100-150 feet.  Overall it wasn’t bad and really should have better signage.  To the right is Mingo Falls and after the jump is a gallery of both falls.

Coming back from Gatlinburg to Cherokee through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park we saw a sign for Mingus Mill.  We were looking for Mingo Falls and decided to stop.  It wasn’t what we were looking for exactly but was a turn of the century mill powered by a turbine (not a water wheel as is typically thought of when you say “old mill”).  Built in 1886 and still operational this was a pretty cool find.  It is not at all near the waterfall we were looking for but wasn’t a bad stop.  More pictures after the jump.