above: fireworks over Brevard downtown
Adventure Village Camping July 4th WeekendBlue Ridge Daylilies and Fire Works!
Thursday July 3-Sunday July 6, 2025
Kenny & Dana Koogler
Photos are here for Adventure Village
and here for Pisgah Forest
We had this trip planned for weeks. We had a rain check from October 2024 thanks to Hurricane Helene. We opted to avoid Western NC until things settled down. I had couple unsettling days Tuesday and Wednesday. Our tiny kitty Happy is only a few months old and she got sick. She was so small and pitiful. It was 50/50 whether she was going to make it. I had a cough for two months. I was short of breath and fatigued. I had been in and out of the doctors office. I insisted on a chest x-ray and bloodwork to help determine the cause. The bloodwork came back normal, but the chest x-ray showed my heart is enlarged. It got my attention like nothing else.
Below: Happy isn't so happy anymore and neither were we. She is sick and weak in this photo. I was having to syringe feed her which she hated, but it helped. I was also having to bathe her little butt like a baby.
Below is a video of kitty after she was mending and feeling frisky again. She was chewing, fighting and sniffing one of Gabe's socks. She loves him like no other. He's her "dad".
I changed medications to help calm my lungs down, and got an appointment to have an echocardiogram to help figure what is happening with my heart. We wondered if we should even go on this trip? We prayed it over and thankfully Happy the Kitten turned a corner. We decided to go, but take the baby kitty along. She needed close care. I did not trust anyone to look after her the way I would. She turned out to have a gut infection. Metronidazole is the drug they gave her that cleared it up. Her nausea and dehydration went away. She began eating like a horse again and running around playing. I never thought I'd be so glad to go back to attack mode with a pet. I told her if she'd just get well I'd let her bite me and not fuss. I'd gladly put up with sneak attacks. Kenny said she reminds him of Cato on the Pink Panther movies. Always attacking Clouseau.
We couldn't check in until noon on Thursday so we took our time heading over. The trip through the gorge on I-40 East was not bad at all. It went well. The damage to the road and the work to repair it is significant, but it is moving along. We got to Adventure Village and ate a quick lunch and got set up. We got Happy situated and rode back to Brevard to get groceries. Once we had returned and our chores over we headed to the pool. We spent the afternoon swimming and visiting with other campers.
Before the fireworks at dark I fixed dinner for us. Kenny caught some striper on a fishing trip to Smith Mountain Lake, VA. with his brother Chris. Chris and Louise sent Kenny home with instructions for cooking and a packet of beer batter mix. I had never done this before. I admit I wasn't keen on eating striper. I fixed beer battered shrimp and the fish. It was so good! It was very messy to prepare, and very rich to eat. We loved it! It turned out great. I had never successfully prepared battered shrimp before. I always overcooked it. Tonight I nailed it! I even tried the fish and loved it and will fix it again. Both were good, but very, very filling.
Below: beer battered chunks of striped bass. What was left of it! The kitty ate the left overs all weekend long and it was exactly what she needed to get her strength back.
Below is a photo of Happy after she got to feeling better and eating good. She is playing with Kenny trying to get his fingers.
Thursday night the campground put on a fire works display that was very nice. The moon was waxing and lightning bugs were out. We saw little kids running around trying to catch them. The nights here in Western North Carolina's mountains were cooler. It was perfect.
Above: Just look at that cotton candy sunset across the campground.
Below: The crowd is gathering for fireworks.
Below are two shots of the fireworks display. I am not good at night photos so I didn't get many that were worth sharing.
Below is a video of the fireworks display at Adventure Village. It better shows the scene and isn't too long. I edited it down to around 4 minutes just hitting the highlights. This was the second time we've been here for July 4th and these folks know how to throw a party!
Friday
Blue Ridge Daylilies
Friday morning we got up and Kenny fixed breakfast. I prepared steaks for the grill placing them in marinade for that night. We headed toward Weaverville afterwards to visit Blue Ridge Daylilies. I had wanted to visit this place for two or three years. I made up my mind this was going to be the year. I had double checked with them to see if they'd be open July 4th and they were.
Blue Ridge Daylilies is about fifteen minutes north of Asheville. We found it easily. It is well signed, but the parking situation is not ideal. Despite that we found a parking place safely out of the road. It was busy, but not crowded. They have restrooms available on site near the entrance.
They sell daylilies as well. I saw a sign with the rules one of which was no walking through the garden. I had a chance to speak to a nice man and clear that up. There are paths among the plants that ARE okay to walk on to get a closer look at most of the lilies. They just want visitors to stick to those and don't go tiptoeing through there making your own way. They also do NOT allow deadheading (picking off spent blooms). I have been guilty of that in the past at other places to remove one or two dead, wilted blooms from what would otherwise be a perfect photo.
I used an editing tool at home to do a tiny bit of pruning out dead blooms instead. I didn't break the rules though it drove me crazy to keep my hands off. I dead head my plants at home. The nice man named Chris also pointed out to me an area that was lilies with a T or D designation. Those are new cultivars still under investigation. I listened to the conversation between him and another fellow. I learned that some of the things they look for are:
- bloom duration
- color fading or leaching
- wilting during heat
Consequently I came to understand that dead heading blooms could potentially damage the plants and interfere with their studies of them.
Kenny and I were blown away at this magnificent place! It is quite large and very beautiful.
It was eye candy for me in every direction. Chris said to me it was overload and he was right! It was sensory overload in a good way.
Below: people milling around near the entrance
Below: a planter mounted on the bridge railing. I liked the rooster peeping out. He looks like Heihei from Moana! (Boat Snack!)
above: impatiens pot with a fairy ornament. I had one of those, but it rusted.
Below: a test cultivar as yet un-named. I learned from studying the glossary of terms that this form is considered UF (Unusual Form) It is likely a cross between a more typical hemerocallis and a spider form. I like it alot!
Below: Dearest Mahogany is the name of this beautiful lily. You can see the dew drops on it.
Below: another test patch lily.
above: another test patch lily and below it is already up for a Junior Citation even before it is named!
Below is a short video of the garden that better illustrates the visit.
We headed back toward Brevard. They closed off some of the streets for a July 4th event called "Shindig on Main" . We stopped in Pisgah Forest to have lunch. We wanted to go to Pisgah Fish Camp only to find it was flooded by Helene and is closed. Probably for good. Instead we had lunch at Hawg Wild Barbecue across the street. It was good. We next went to the old car show in downtown which is part of the celebration. Kenny and I both enjoyed the old cars. Many sweet rides shown there. They had 177 entries which the MC said was a record number for them!
Below are two photos taken at Hawg Wild Barbecue
Brevard Car Show
Below: The entire gallery of car show photos is above if you prefer to just click through those.
But here is a sampling of what we saw. Below the first things that got my eye were the red belair and the old Fork truck!
Below: Kenny strolls past a showing of American muscle cars and one old pickup.
Below: a Detomaso Pantera! profile view
Below: rear view of the Pantera (Italian for panther) Toy Guy! license makes me wonder if it belongs to the owner of O.P. Taylor's Toy Store ? It is parked right outside the door.
Below: shining like a new penny is a 1958 Chevy Impala convertible. It is across the street from Rocky's Ice Cream and General Store. Better go in there while you can!
Below: a 1969 Shelby GT 350 with cowl induction. Kenny's Uncle Howard had one of these. The color shown is an aquamarine and it must be a little more rare. It is the only one I've ever seen this color.
Below: 1964 Ford Fairlane 4 door sedan. My friend's parents had one of these. We used to laugh at the "small toilet paper roll" seat belts in it. Her mom would get annoyed at us.
Below: I love me some old pickup trucks. This one is a Ford F 1 Series. I'm guessing late 40s to early 50s model. Sharp red paint job. I don't prefer white wall tires. I also hate seeing these things chopped like so many people do. My Grandaddy Skeeter had a black one with the old wooden slats in the bed. I can still smell the horse hair in the seats and the tobacco from his cigarettes.
Below is a few second video of the car show that really sets the tone. Feel good music playing... all American stuff right there. "Hold Back the Night" sung by The Trammps
We were at the camper considering what we should do the next day? Kenny wanted to go hiking or get outdoors. I was game. We discussed the Frying Pan Mountain Tower. That was part of the plan. I was concerned how we'd reach it with all the closures along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I posted a question on Facebook asking how to access it. Jason Horton filled me in on how. Our friend Wally Storey saw the query and let me know he and Kathy would be at Pisgah Inn the next day! I called him at once to line that up as part of our daily plan! I hadn't seen him in a year and a half. They were to go camping with us October 2024 when Helene hit. We made plans to join up with them the next day for an early lunch and a drive on the parkway. Wally has had some serious health concerns and his doctors for now say NO HIKING! We were allowed to do short jaunts off the parkway. So that's what we did!
Friday night we had burgers for dinner and drove back to Brevard for the fireworks display. They are put off at Brevard College so we were able to sit with other families on a hill in downtown. Finding parking was a breeze and finding a spot was easy. It was very mellow. The night was moonlit, seventy five degrees and clear. We had a grassy bank to sit on with lots of other folks. Kids were running around catching lightning bugs wearing glow jewelry like a Blue Ridge Mountain Rave!
Below is a video that is a little over 8 minutes long of the Brevard Fireworks Show 2025. The finale is around 5:40 on the video if you want to skip ahead to the best part. I edited out as much as I could, but it was a good one and I didn't want to eliminate anymore.
We Wally & Kathy on Saturday around 11:30 at Brevard Diner and had a fabulous lunch. We were all gabbing with one another catching up on the news. It was the best feeling to be able to spend time with them.
It scared me that our friend has been through what he has. Grateful to God for the watch care.
Our trip was not the usual hard charger stuff, but none of us needed that. Kenny has been working his butt off . Many of our recreational activities worry me that it is not fun for him, but hard on him.
Taking out the camper, boat, or side by side are all work of another form. Having the kitty along helped us slow down a bit. My own and Wally's health concerns slowed us down in a good way for now.
We had a great time and a restful time. We enjoyed the parkway and all the views and scenery.
I got to see a number of beautiful Summer wildflowers. We had a steak dinner Saturday night afterwards. Sunday we got up and I cooked breakfast. We packed up and headed home. The drive back through the gorge was filled with delays and made us an extra hour and a half on the road. It was still worth it!
Below is a view from the Blue Ridge Parkway from a pull of near Graveyard Fields
Below is a play list of more feel good car show type music from the 1970s and earlier.
I enjoyed listening to these tunes while writing. I like all kinds of music.
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