We didn’t really go to Switzerland…

…we drove up to Little Switzerland, North Carolina.

And say hello to our view from the Alpine Inn.

We drove up and had some dinner and checked in to the Inn and was greeted with this moonrise/sunset.

We had dinner at the Little Switzerland Cafe: Complete with authentic North Carolina barbeque sandwiches, spinach salad, shrimp and grits (chef was from Charleston…so they were good) and Chocolate Explosion (see photo, and you’ll understand the name).

After a lovely night’s sleep in our room: No cell service. No computer. No television. Just ourselves, our books, and the peaceful sound of nature outside our window…and the sound of our heater. We woke up to this:We were served a delicious breakfast while the sun rose from under the mountain. Perfection.

Breakfast consisted of: Coffee, Fruit, Yogurt, Granola, Milk, Orange Juice, Cherry and Pumpkin Quick Bread…all homemade.

Afterwards, we drove down the road to the town of Little Switzerland. This is it…quaint, small and beautiful.

Then, we were off. Our day consisted of a lovely, Fall trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Absolutely beautiful. If you’ve never driven down the Parkway in the Fall, you must add it to your bucket list.

I have to say I’m pretty proud of this tunnel photo:We road down the Parkway until we reached Mt. Mitchell, the tallest point East of the Mississippi River.

And thus began our 5 mile roundtrip hike from the Ranger station to the top of Mt. Mitchell.The entire hike smelled like Christmas with all of the Balsam Fir trees. Skip Thanksgiving and get me Christmas! Mmmm!

After hiking about a half of a mile, we looked backwards and could see our red car. 🙂

In May 2009, the new observation deck at the top of Mt. Mitchell was completed. Isn’t the stone work beautiful??? But, nothing could compete with the 360° panoramic views.Stay tuned for Part II when we go apple picking and ziplining.