We spent final week at Bear Lake Reserve in western North Carolina. Right here is the primary of three recaps of our journey together with the place we stayed, the lodge, and lake life.
Wait a second, this isn’t Bald Head Island?! We pivoted our household trip from the seashore to the mountains on the final minute when Hurricane Debby threatened exhausting rain and wind all through our time scheduled on Bald Head. We went as far south and west as we might that made driving affordable and to get out of the trail of the storm. Kudos to dad and my sister for pulling it collectively the day earlier than we left!
We made the appropriate selection although as a result of we had PERFECT climate for our week at Bear Lake Reserve! My sister’s associates really helpful it, and what a gem this place is. Right here’s the recap of our household journey.
Bear Lake Reserve
Bear Lake Reserve is a mountain resort about an hour west of Asheville, North Carolina. It’s fairly actually in the course of nowhere surrounding Bear Lake, which is a man-made reservoir. So far as lakes go, this one is on the small facet, however there was loads of area for boating, swimming, and fishing.
Bear Lake Reserve is a sprawling resort with properties, condos, and villas for each full-time owners and company who lease them out like us.
The Bears
There are apparently a lot of bears who dwell among the many reserve. We heard there was a household of them on our villa’s porch simply the week earlier than! I used to be a little bit scared to go working alone or out after darkish, however I sadly didn’t see any bears whereas we have been there! Thomas and Mazen noticed a household on the best way dwelling from golf.
Getting There
The drive from Charlottesville was about 7 hours with a number of stops, however all of us agreed the mountain views made the drive extra nice than the drive to the seashore.
There’s a greeter’s cottage if you enter the resort that offers you a pleasant property map proper if you start to lose cell service! We discovered the employees to all be so pleasant and useful throughout the entire resort.
It was a few 20 minute curvy drive from the greeter’s cottage to our villa, however the views on the prime have been value it!!
Our Villa
We rented Saddle Notch Villa #7 which had attractive views of the mountains and the even the lake. We LOVED the porches!! The villa had 4 bedrooms and a sofa/TV/household room that Mazen slept in, so it was the right measurement for us. It was fantastically adorned, stocked, and so good for our fam.
We had a hearth pit that was nice for s’mores at night time. It’s shared with different villa company/homeowners however we made associates with some good households on the market!
Groceries
Be aware you’ll need to pack your entire groceries as a result of there isn’t actually a retailer close by. We introduced virtually all the things we wanted for staples, and ended up doing an Instacart order from the Ingles within the subsequent city for dinner components one night time. We didn’t have a terrific expertise with our driver who left them on the cottage as an alternative of delivering them, however the good employees introduced them as much as us. The cottage and low store do have a number of issues like milk and snacks in the event you want some fast issues.
First Evening Dinner
Breakfast + Lunch with a view
Ready For The Cousins
My sister and her household didn’t arrive till Monday night time, so there was a lot anticipation for his or her arrival!
Taco Evening
We introduced taco components from dwelling and made them for dinner on night time 2.
Getting Round
We have been a little bit bummed to search out that the hike to the pool and seashore was the truth is a hike, nevertheless, many people did this 0.8 mile hike/stroll each day. There have been two wooded trails you could possibly take or you could possibly stroll on the highway. Happening wasn’t dangerous, however arising wasn’t for the faint of coronary heart. It wasn’t dangerous with a small backpack, however you’re not going to need to carry pool gear or coolers up and down, so we normally had 1-2 vehicles drive down with the gear and the people selected whether or not to go on foot or within the automobile.
The doorway to the decrease path
Or you could possibly stroll on the highway. We didn’t let the children go alone.
It was a hike again up!
The Lodge
A few mile down the mountain is the gorgeous lodge! The pool was wonderful, and the children cherished it! There was a waterslide and scorching tubs, and so they heated the pool on our one chilly day. There was additionally a poolside bar the place we loved tropical drinks and some lunches.
There was additionally a health middle I used a number of instances, a sauna and steam room, locker rooms and naturally a pleasant restaurant the place we ate twice. They’d a lot of little actions for youths, however most of them value additional so we didn’t find yourself doing any.
The Lake
The lake was completely beautiful! Mazen and Thomas rented some kayaks on the primary day and spent many of the day fishing. Sadly, they didn’t catch something. We didn’t see many fish swimming both (a lot to my delight!) so this should not be an enormous fishing lake. It was beautiful for swimming and tubing although.
Dinner on the Lodge
On Tuesday we did an enormous night time out on the lodge. The meals was fairly good!
Coming subsequent: Hive To Desk Dinner and Our Hike + Lake Day
