Chimney Rock and Visiting Friends

I felt pretty good the next day, Thursday. No new aches or pains as a result of my tumble. And this day dawned bright and clear. I was going to stick close to town, visiting a few friends from nearly 50 years ago, and wandering about to see how things had changed.

My first trip to Asheville was in 1962 and, from my very first year in school there, I'd heard of Chimney Rock, southeast of Asheville and northeast of Hendersonville. I'd never been there, and decided this was probably the best chance I'd have. So, at 9 o'clock, my friend Debbie picked me up at the motel and we drove to Chimney Rock. The picture above doesn't give a very good idea of how high the observation deck is. You can see in the sign that there's an elevator to the gift shop and deck, and you can climb a flight of wooden stairs to get the grand view at the base of the flagpole. I wouldn't swear to it, but I believe going up in the elevator I heard one of the attendants say that it was 26 or 27 stories high. Yeah, I know. Right?

You'll probably note that there's not a lot of variety in the shots here. The picture above is the leftmost frame of the panorama below. While it's a great view, and I like both pictures, you really need something else to do if you're going to spend the whole morning there.

In this case, it was a good thing I had Debbie with me to visit. It turned out that, because Thursday was National Earthquake Day or some such, state inspectors were on hand to conduct an elevator emergency drill. For most of it, Debbie and I didn't even notice as we reminisced about four decades ago and brought each other up to date on mutual friends and acquaintances. Eventually, we realized everyone was outside on the deck. When someone asked to be allowed back inside to visit the restroom, we learned that drill was still going on. They piggybacked a fire drill on the elevator drill and were in the process of clearing smoke out of the building and resetting the controls for the elevator. Another 15 or 20 minutes and we were on our way down. We'd passed with flying colors.

Next up, Debbie and I headed to Hendersonville to meet Sallie for lunch. Sallie was my French II teacher in my senior year (1965-66). She also taught Debbie, who was three years behind me in school, so it was like old home week. It was good to break bread and get a chance to visit with them both.

After lunch I took my leave of Debbie and Sallie and headed to Arden, where I visited with one of my favorite people ever. Alice is the mother of one of my favorite high school classmates (Anne), former Dean of Women at the University of North Carolina, Asheville, and one of the classiest people I know. I spent the whole afternoon with her and enjoyed every minute. As an extra treat, I was able to visit with her son John and daughter Mary for a few minutes as well. An all around good day.