A night at Highland Lake Inn

Our room, 7, at Higland Lake Inn in Flat Rock

We found ourselves running about an hour late getting to Flat Rock and the Highland Lake Inn, so we didn't have as much time to relax and sightsee as originally planned, but it was fine. Highland Lake Inn was ready for us and I believe we were all housed in the Lodge building which must have streamlined things. We walked or rode golf carts up to the Lodge building where they were ready at the bar to hand out keycards and have us sign our registration forms. Check in was that easy. We were assigned room 7, which was 2 doors down the hall from the bar and the last room, so a corner room. Very easy and convenient.

Bob Garner's personal pig cooker!

We wandered around the lobby area and where we would be eating our pig pickin' indoors since it was in the 30's that night. We found some maps and took a short outdoor walk to get oriented and stretch our legs before the evening's activities. We found the pig cooker outside behind the Lodge. I took a turn on the swings, then we got back in before it got too dark. The bear warning signs had us a little freaked out about being out after dark!

Beautiful tree. The view from the swings.

Debbie trying to scare Clay

Debbie and Andrea, with Cami speaking behind us

As it was getting dark out, we went inside to get ready to hear about the Highland Lake Inn. Cami (sorry, didn't get a last name or title) gave an optional presentation in the Lodge lobby at 6:00 p.m. on the fascinating, 100-year history of the Inn, which has been a military academy, a camp and a school over the decades. http://www.hlinn.com/  While we were waiting for the talk to start, Andrea Weigl from the News & Observer interviewed us. Corey, the N&O photographer with her, told her she was going to get some room photos before the 2 of them had to go spend the night and the Holiday Inn. Andrea told her she needed to finish with us, so we offered to show her our room before dinner as she interviewed us. That worked out just right timewise.

The main event, Bob's BBQ pork

Time for the big event. This was to be Bob Garner's pig pickin' recipes, served indoors. It was advertised as a dinner event only for $50pp for local residents that were not part of the road trip. As far as we could tell, there were no people at the dinner who were not part of our bus group or the band. Because of the expected chilly temperatures, the pig picking was served inside in a large, rustic room behind the lobby of The Lodge at 6:30 p.m. There was bluegrass music by “Appalachian Fire” before, during and after dinner. While the dinner event was fine, it was a bit of a disappointment. The sides were hot, but the pork was not. It was very coarsely chopped and lightly sauced, but there was no BBQ sauce on the side to season to taste. So, the meal consisted of BBQ pork, BBQ beans, BBQ potatoes, Ruthie's cole slaw, Bob's hush puppies and for dessert Bob's peach cobbler. Now on the way up here on the bus Bob Garner had shown a DVD of one of his PBS specials about pig pickings and had shown his recipes being prepared that would be the same as those served tonight. Peach cobbler was our only dessert choice (no ice cream) and it was most definitely not Bob's recipe! So, while it was a good evening with bluegrass and old time spirituals played by a live band, it was a bit of a letdown. Bob's beans were very similar to my triple bean bake. The hush puppies were huge crispy balls and had no onions in them, excellent.

Bob's BBQ beans and BBQ potatoes



Ruthie's recipe cole slaw



Not Bob's peach cobbler!



“Appalachian Fire” performing during dinner

After dinner, we went back to the room to add some clothing layers before heading out to the optional lakeside campfire at 9pm where Bob Garner would talk about NC BBQ. Cami and the Highland Lake Inn staff handed out flashlights for the walk or offered golf cart rides. We walked down. It was very dark out there! It was just about cloudless all day and so it was a very clear and starry night as well. One of the other guests was a Canadian mariner and he pointed out Jupiter in the sky and said it would not be that clear for another 12 years. He said with binoculars you could see at least one of Jupiter's moons. So sad to be without binoculars! We packed light for this trip and honestly, if I had packed binoculars, I would not have carried them to a campfire in the dead of night! Oh well... place that one in the missed opportunities category. While there was plenty of talk of roasting marshmallows, there weren't actually any, so we sat around the fire for about an hour while Bob told stories about BBQ and we enjoyed the warmth from the fire and reflected on the day and BBQ history.



Sorry so blurry, but it sets the mood without flash