The Husband and I are on vacation this week. It’s mostly a stay-cation, we’re just enjoying not going to work (really, REALLY enjoying that part) and kayaking in the ponds near our house. But over the weekend we took a quick trip to the North Carolina mountains to go gem mining.
We were very, very close to where The Hunger Games movie is being filmed. I told The Husband we should sneak onto the set and be extras. He didn’t really go for it though since he hasn’t read the books.
Chloe went on her first ever trip to the mountains with us. She didn’t like the ride much, especially since we made her wear her seat belt. And she wasn’t too excited about staying in hotel for the first time either because we wouldn’t let her go wild and explore the place like she wanted. She cried while we were digging through our buckets of rocks in search of gems. Luckily, we were the only people there for about half the time we were at Emerald Village (which is the top of a mountain, up a very winding and scary and crazy road) and the one couple that showed up before we left didn’t seem to mind her crying too much. We were very appreciative of the people at Emerald Village for letting us bring Chloe with us (I had called ahead and asked if it was okay). She has a lot of separation anxiety and so there was no way we could have left her at the hotel while we went gem mining.
If you’re ever in the North Carolina mountains and want to do some gem mining, we definitely recommend Emerald Village. This was the second time we’ve been there, and we’re having them cut two of our gems into jewelry again. I have a purple sapphire ring they made for me two years ago during our first visit. Just be prepared for that crazy scary drive up a curvy mountain road–with no guard rails along the side in many places. I am most definitely a flatlander. Driving up and down mountain roads stresses me out and I am always so thankful once we get back to the valley.