Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Blowing Rock, North Carolina

Town motto: "Giving kids old-fashioned nightmares for two hundred years!"

Seriously, take a look at this logo:
     

That's a mother willingly - and even gleefully - tossing her daughter into the air above a very long, scary dropoff.

The real Blowng Rock is even more frightening to contemplate:



The delight of Blowing Rock , you see, is that the altitude and shape of the outcropping drives the wind up, often with enough force to blow lightweight objects back upwards to the person standing there. Much fun, I'm sure, with comic books, local cave brochures, empty McDonald's sacks, and any number of spare inanimate objects underfoot in the ol' minivan.

But the child in that logo is dang near the same size as her mother! Did they really toss their kids in the air over that cliff years ago? Do they still? What happens when the kid isn't as buoyant as Mom thinks and s/he plummets 3,000 feet down the mountainside? If I were the logo bearer, I don't think I'd give anyone ideas about what might or might not survive the "whee!". 

Gives me the willies just thinking about it.

Thank God we didn't visit here when I was a child.

3 comments:

  1. The eagle's body language seems to say, "Christ woman what are you doing?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Who you kidding I could see you chucking a couple of your sibs over the side after the ride from Syr. ;)

    ReplyDelete

Please include your name or initials so I'll know who you are!