Chimney Rock & Flat Rock

Today we headed off on a little adventure, just the three of us. We started out at Chimney Rock State Park where we climbed up to the to the top of the rock, and then up to a feature they call the "Opera Box". It would have been great to climb all the way up to Exclamation Point, but with 92+ degree weather, we decided to save some energy for part two of the park....

The hike to the bottom of Hickory Nut Falls. It's a 404 foot waterfall with a nice little wading pool at the bottom. This park was featured in the final scenes of the movie Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis and Madeline Stowe. I love that movie!

We made a brief stop in the village after leaving the park to eat ice cream  and wait out the sudden cloudburst at The Rocking Leprechan.

For the second half of our day, we headed to the village of Flat Rock. It's the site of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. We caught the last house tour of the day. It's kind of remarkable. When Mr. Sandburg died in 1967, his widow sold the property to the National Park Service. It literally looks like they just stepped out for a walk around the farm.