Over the weekend I had the opportunity to drive up to the NC mountains and hit several of my favorite spots under the pretense of taking my son to his summer job in Montreat, NC.
First stop on the way back was
Lake Lure, NC. Lake Lure is a manmade lake not too far from Asheville, NC. When I was a child growing up in NC, my family would always stop in this area for lunch on our trips to visit our relatives in KY. This is before I-40 and I-75 bypassed all these locations for travelers. A shame as far as I'm concerned.
Nearly all of you have seen the Lake. It was used for filming "Dirty Dancing", "Last of the Mohicans" and several other movies. "Dirty Dancing" was filmed at an old boys camp that has since burned down. When they filmed the movie it was late Fall, early Winter and they had to glue/paint leaves on some of the trees. Also, the water was near freezing.
Anyway, if you are ever zipping up I-40, its well worth the 1 hour detour to check it out, and the nearby Chimney Rock Village (see below).