8-24-17 Hickory Nut Falls and kicking around Lake Lure:

I decided to take pity on Ken today and not make him drive for hours on end.  Instead, we went into the town of Lake Lure and had breakfast, then went up to Chimney Rock Park to hike to Hickory Nut Falls.
The main street of Lake Lure. 

 There was a $13/person fee to enter Chimney Rock Park.  We read that the hike to the falls was an easy walk about 1.5 miles round trip.  I believe the trail has an elevation of about 324'.  For most people, that is an easy walk.  For us, hard enough!  At least there was plenty for me to stop and take pictures of.  Like this wildflower.

 A view of Chimney Rock as we were heading to the trail to the falls.

More wildflowers.

 and.....

 Ken charging ahead.

 a passion flower????

 I was impressed with the variety of flora.

 For the most part, it was a really nice trail. 

 a few rocky areas, but not bad.

 more pretty wildflowers.

 Several people did pass us by.

 But we persevered and made it.

 Close up of one of the wider areas.

 Ken wanted a picture to prove he made it.  With his bad ankle, knees, and hip, it was quite an achievement. 

 the wildflowers will grow anywhere.

love the way these burst out like fireworks

 The 404' waterfall wasn't flowing too much today.  But the wildflowers were looking good.

 starting back down.

 We were done at the falls just in the nick of time!  2 large groups of loud energetic kids showed up as we were leaving the falls.

 the 2nd group waiting their turn.

 The way the trail look much of the time.

 a mushroom along the way.

 another type of wildflower.

 interesting pattern to this plant.

 another different flower.

 about 1/3 the way from the start of the trail. 

 For the heartier hikers there are other trails off this one, too.  I think this is part of the 4 season trail.

 even saw a couple butterflies.

 Back at the car, we drove up to the gift shop/start of the Chimney Rock trail. 

 the view of Lake Lure from in front of the gift shop.

 close up of Lake lure

 Watch out for Yetis there!

 By now we were ready for lunch.  So I suggested we go to the place the girls and I went to 3 times---Medina's.   Lunch was very good---salad for me and Cordon Blu sandwich for Ken.

 Just a few more pictures of the town.

 We found a road that went into a residential area so we decided to check it out.

 So Kauai-like!!!!  Minus the ocean!

 At least there is a river and a lake.

 and a putt-putt golf course.

 Lots of antique and gift shops, too.  Maybe next time I'll check some of them out.

 Since it was still early, I suggested we walk through the garden bridge.  

 Lots of colorful plants to take pictures of here!

 and garden art.

 so many interesting things.

 There's a rage going on around now---painted rocks and putting them out for people to find.  Sort of like the glass balls on the Oregon coast except that those were cooler.  Angie and Faith found rocks here at the garden in July.  Angie's was really pretty.  Ken found this one today.  Not nearly as fancy as the one Angie found---but Ken seemed tickled with it.

 back to flowers---like these insect eating ones.

Love the chair planters

 one area had a bunch of butterflies.  Monarch?

 swallowtail

 tiger swallowtail

 Ken thought this was a statue of Trump. 

 wider view of the garden.

 cute little blue bird

 cute little flamingo

 a fairy box bird house.

 design

 colors

 garden art

 a clever planter!

 choo choo

 interesting plant above the planter.

 pretty flower

 nearby mountain.

 door planter

 what big eyes you have!

 Bee happy

 Love the concept of a garden on a bridge!

 even had healthy cactus growing in it.

 The river that runs under the bridge.

 ????

 These remind me of the total solar eclipse.

 Ken actually found 2 more rocks, too.  I wouldn't let him keep them, too. So he moved nthem to another part of the garden.

 cute little green "flower"

 From here we headed back to Wyndham and got our swimsuits on and hit the pool for an hour or so.  We had planned to go to the Italian restaurant right by our condo, but after sitting there for 10 minutes and seeing no one getting food or service, we decided to head back to Lake Lure and get a pizza from La Strada.  It was very good!

 All was going great until we got back to the condo and were invaded by roaches!  Ken thinks it's because we had the drier on drying out swim stuff.  Not a fun night!