Tag Archives: Cherokee

Cherokee Travelogue 2012

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This summer, we traveled to Cherokee, NC, twice: on a long weekend with the kids and for five nights without them.

Wednesday, July 11

  • Left the house around 10 a.m.
  • Drove through 4+ thunderstorms and 2+ major traffic jams. One of these had our westbound I40 traffic at a standstill for at least 20 minutes. Evidently, a tree had fallen across both lanes, since we saw men with tools and pieces of cut wood on the inner median as we passed. Several cars were off the road in the median. One guy was walking down the middle of the interstate, much to the chagrin of a road worker.
  • Dinner at Cracker Barrel in Asheville. I had the chicken and dumplings!
  • Checked into the River’s Edge Motel in Cherokee around 7:30 p.m.
  • Drove all through the mountains looking for the Food Lion. We were following Google Navigation’s directions and drove about 25 miles out of the way. The FL ended up being a pretty clear shot from our motel.
  • Took Waffle House takeout back to the motel and watched Netflix on the laptop.

Thursday, July 12

  • Had brunch at Paul’s Restaurant. I had an Indian taco, which is basically chili with beans, salsa, lettuce, onions, and cheese on a thick sweetbread.
  • Drove down to the Welcome Center, hoping to find a brochure of all the painted bears like the one described in ????’s post several years ago. They didn’t have one, but the lady there pointed out where most of them are on the map.
  • Medicine Man
  • Qualla Arts and Crafts. Read about and saw Fred Wilnoty’s work (especially his masks) and got brochures.
  • Kevin researched booger masks.
  • Drove across bridge and up to the left at the Little Princess Diner.
  • Stopped at the Native American shop.
  • Walked across to the stream and saw groundhogs playing and a painted bear.

Friday, July 13

  • Walked from the motel south, along ????.
  • Stopped in shop on left to look at backpacks. Tree carving with bark.
  • Stopped at Artists Row. Met Dean Reed’s ex-husband and grandchildren, though we didn’t know it at the time.
  • Talking Leaves bookstore. Dictionary and language CD.
  • Lunch at KFC. Sat out the rain.
  • Hung out with the ducks at the park.
  • Took pictures of the painted bears along the street.
  • Veterans Park.
  • Transformation Through Forgiveness statue
  • Medicine Man. Bought booger mask pendant, which I wore.
  • Qualla Arts. We met Dan Townsend and his wife, Vicki, and bought one of his pinshell pieces. And read about John and Fred Wilnoty.
  • Motel. Shower. Kevin wore mask.
  • Played guitar on the balcony over the river.
  • Casino. Johnny Rockets. $10 on machines.

Saturday, July 14

  • Breakfast at Peter’s Pancakes.
  • Went back to the room and played music.
  • Stopped by Qualla Arts to show Dan Townsend our turquoise Seminole ring.
  • Walked down to the fairgrounds where the Festival of Native Peoples was going on. We got a discount on admission with our Food Lion MVP card!
  • Met artist Antonio Grant, who was selling his shell carvings. He noticed my Townsend piece and told us that he had taken a class with Townsend three years ago.
  • Met artist Lola Swimmer. She shared with us the story of why she lets her hair grow long and stay gray. I boguht one of her feather paintings.
  • Met artist Dean Reed. bowls, shakers, turtles. She told me about how she presses her pottery and showed me some of the paddles she uses.
  • Met artist Christy Long of Nativeology.
  • Talked to tepee lady from Minnesota. She told us that all the poles in the tepee structure represent a positive quality like kindness and respect. When you tie them all together at the top, she said, “That’s family.”
  • Funnel cakes under the tent.
  • Hearts of Polynesia dancers.
  • World Champion dancers. Chicken Dancer, Fancy Dancer, Buckskin Dancer, Fancy Shawl Dancer.
  • Pole Flyers!
  • Alligator wrestling and snake handling.
  • Bonfire with marshmallows and storytelling. One older Cherokee told us about how the other kids made fun of him when he was in school because he had long hair. He said he got sent to the principal’s office for arguing with his history teacher about something related to the Cherokee. His father came and talked to the principal in their own language, which that teacher didn’t even know. The kids had marshmallows; then, a younger Cherokee we’d seen when we took the kids to the Indian Village told a ghost story.
  • Kevin stepped in the mud on the way out of the parking lot. 🙁
  • Walked back to the room and ate sandwiches and watched TV.

Sunday, July 15

  • Walked to Mass at 9 a.m.
  • Walked back to the car at the motel and drove to Granny’s Kitchen for the breakfast buffet.
  • Walked in one shop on the strip. Regretted it. 🙁
  • Back to Medicine Man. Bought another Wilnoty piece. Talking to the ladies who work there, we learned about the shop’s founder, Tom Underwood, who came to Cherokee with his family in 1910 when he was five and grew up with the Cherokee. Medicine Man, which opened in 1953, is the oldest in town.
  • Back to the motel to change.
  • Drove out to Mingo Falls.
  • Hiked to the Falls. 250 steps? 120 feet tall.
  • Stopped in River Valley Store and the owner told us the legend of the Falls, that a Cherokee boy and girl, who were in love but couldn’t be together because their parents didn’t approve, jumped off the Falls years ago. (Sounds like Lover’s Leap!)
  • Takeout from Waffle House again.

Monday, July 16

  • Breakfast at Peter’s Pancakes. Waiting for a table, a man stopped on his way out
  • Looked in at Herb Store. Closed. 🙁

(To be continued)

Kevin and Atticus’ Camping Madlibs

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After dinner at Applebee’s Monday, I grabbed up Atticus’ kids’ meal activity sheet and asked him and Kevin to help me fill in the “madlibs” story.

I asked “adjective?” or “animal?” or “your favorite food?” and they answered “pretty” or “wolf” or “hot dogs.”

The words they filled in are bold.

Oh, and Kevin’s Indian name, Badger, is “Uguna” in Cherokee, and Atticus’ Indian name, Stalking Wolf, is “Waya” (at least the “wolf” part). 🙂

Here it is:

A Pretty Camping Adventure

One wet day, under the bright blue skies of the Virginia forest, Uguna and Waya decided to go on a hike. They put on their shirt and headed for the mountains. Before long, they saw a big wolf walking towards the picnic area. “Nanu,” said Waya. “He sure looks hungry. I bet he’d love a giant plate of hot dogs.” And with that they laughed and ran to Cherokee. THE END!

The Story of The Hawke

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The Hawke and Samaro spar in preparation of their next battle with the evil ones.

By Kevin R. Hawke

The Hawke is a superhero of epic proportions. He has seemingly unlimited powers. All of these powers derive from a special ring named Mr. Blue.

You see, this ring was made by a mysterious Navajo Indian in the year 2007. He was called by God to make a special ring for a special person. The Indian didn’t know who the ring was for; he just knew that he had to follow the will of God. He made the ring of sterling silver and turquoise. It was unlike any other ring ever made. Even the turquoise stone had silver strips running through it. He didn’t even quite know how he made it. He had never made anything so beautiful.

By God’s command, it was to be a size 16. The old Navajo thought, Who in the world would be able to wear such a big ring? But God assured him that the man would come along to retrieve it eventually.

The old Indian was told to give the ring to an 80-year-old lady in Greenwich Village. This would be the place that the mysterious owner of the ring would come.

Three years went by. The ring was kept on display for all to see. The lady had been told the story of how God led the Navajo to make the special ring. Even though she wondered if the Indian was crazy, she wanted to make sure that the rightful owner would see the ring if by some miracle he happened to wander into her little shop.

Finally, it was July 21, 2010; the man that would soon bear the ring happened to wander into the old lady’s store. He was there on vacation with his wife of almost five years. They perused the rings for some time and then he saw it.

The man’s last name was Hawke. He was a Cherokee Indian. He spotted the special ring and felt led to it. He asked the old lady if he could see the ring and she refused to show it to him. She had shown that ring to so many people over the years. It was the most beautiful man’s ring ever. Everyone wanted to see it. What would make this tattooed man any different?

Mr. Hawke was a tattooed man with a weird hat on called a trilby. He was a musician. We all know how strange and flamboyant they can be. Let’s face it; the old woman had given up on the dream of the Navajo she had met three years prior. Perhaps the Navajo was just crazy.

Mr. Hawke repeatedly begged her to show him the ring. She refused. She had become so hardened by the streets of New York City. She had lost all hope in God and life. There was so much crime and no one seemed to believe anymore.

The man called Hawke and his wife left and returned to the hotel. He couldn’t sleep that night. The thought of the ring wouldn’t leave his mind. He tossed and turned all night. Why would this ring be so important?

He decided to go back the next afternoon to confront the shop owner about the ring. He entered the store and the woman didn’t seem too happy about it. She was annoyed that Hawke kept asking about the ring. She told him that it was a size 16 and there was no way he could wear it. Hawke insisted that she let him try it.

Finally, she gave in. She searched for the key to open the jewelry case and opened it up. She pulled the ring out and slid it onto Hawke’s finger. Her mouth fell open in surprise. The ring fit perfectly! She couldn’t believe it. After all these years, the prophecy had been fulfilled, or at least part of it.

Mr. Hawke left with the ring that would remain with him forever.

The ring was a gift from God, through a Navajo, through an old woman, to a Cherokee.

What would it mean? Why did God want this man to have this ring?

Not long after leaving the shop, Mr. Hawke witnessed a woman getting beat up by her loser boyfriend.

Without even thinking, something came over Hawke. The ring he had just bought started to change. The silver of the ring started to spread from the ring, up his right arm and then the silver spread over his entire body. And then a strip of turquoise wrapped around his head at the level of his eyes and at the level of his mouth. Turquoise strips also wrapped around his elbows and his knees.

This ring was definitely not a normal ring. It possessed powers given by God for the protection of society.

At that moment, Mr. Hawke turned into The Hawke.

He immediately stopped the man from beating on the woman. He secured him to a pole to wait for the police and got the woman to a hospital.

The ring had made him into a superhero. The ring could do anything that The Hawke could imagine. Its only perceivable limit was The Hawke’s imagination.

When the situation was over, all of the silver and turquoise retracted back into the ring, and Mr. Hawke seemed to be normal again.

But the ring seemed to guide Hawke from then on. It would send him to where a superhero was needed and he would always go where the ring led.

God had made a soldier to fight for His people.

COMING SOON: The Story of Samaro