Today we spent with niece Christin and her roommate Sydney at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, where they are freshmen. First they gave us a tour of their dorm and the campus, which is in a beautiful mountain setting. It's one of the highest universities east of the Mississippi in elevation, at 3333'. Here's their dorm room, tiny but cute. We now understand why Christin has such well-developed calves--from trudging up and down all the hills!
 

 

Here's an overview of part of the campus. It has a very nice feel to it, scenic and friendly. Feels like a small college, but is actually a large state university (17,000 students).
We then drove to the nearby town of Blowing Rock and had a tasty lunch (followed by ice cream--we're deviating from our diet somewhat on these first two days!). 

The town is named for a nearby geological formation, The Blowing Rock, which is known for a native American legend of a brave jumping off the cliff when he is torn between his heart and his duty. But he is blown back into the arms of the tribal princess and all is well. There's actually a sort of wind flume effect from the formation and small objects thrown off the rock are supposed to be blown back to you. Sadly, it wasn't in evidence today as no breeze at all was stirring. But the view was fantastic! (Photo: Jack tries to keep me from jumping off the rock to test the theory.)

Next we went to a crazy place called Mystery Hill. It's been here for many years and Christin and her family have visited it numerous times. The premise is that the place is on the site of a "vortex" that causes gravity to be distorted. But it's actually a very effective optical illusion created by walls and floors constructed at crazy angles. It causes a lot of dizziness and weird feelings, but is very funny and entertaining.
We finished up the evening at a barbecue joint, one of my (Carol's) food weaknesses. Great company, lots of laughter and storytelling. A wonderful day. Tomorrow we'll meet Christin and Sydney for breakfast, and then it's on to some trout fishing....