planning family vacation with 7 year old and would like suggestions for a week stay in or around the Asheville area.

There are lots of interesting things for a seven year-old. Biltmore Estate is the most obvious. To the south, mostly in Transylvania County, you will find many waterfalls, many of which are either on the road or near it. To the west, you can visit the Cherokee Indian Reservation and Ghost Town (Maggie Valley), a replica Old West Town. To the north, you could visit Linville Falls and Tweetsie Railroad (at Blowing Rock).

We met my Mom in Blowing Rock for a long July 4th weekend a few years back. It is a neat town and the area is gorgeous. Be sure your brakes are in good order. In fact, you may want to rent a car for the trip -- the mountain driving can be really hard on brakes.

If the weather's warm you might enjoy going to Sliding Rock just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway a little way south of Asheville. I think it's a state park. It has a mountain stream that runs down a smooth rock face with a pool at the bottom of the hill, folks slide down the rock in the water. It's a lot of fun, but the water's cold! They have lifeguards, changing rooms, and viewing decks for those who want to watch the fun but don't want to get wet. Your daughter would probably enjoy it, my kids loved it!

Yes, and just up the road from Sliding Rock is Looking Glass Falls. You can get in the water almost at the falls itself, and it is one of the most beautiful in the state. If you want to see a few mountain photos I took, take a look at a site I just recently started setting up at www.tarheelphotos.homestead.com. I have several waterfalls on there. I will be adding one of Whitewater Falls soon, which is the highest in the eastern U.S.

We spend the better part our summer in the Blowing Rock area. There is so much to do in that region. There's Grandfather Mountain, Linville Caverns, the Appalachian music festival at ASU in Boone, and lots of wonderful family hikes. My parents have a place in Cashiers and we like that area also, however, it caters a little more to adults. As a previous poster mentioned, nearby Transylvania Co. has beautiful water falls and hikes. There is Cashiers Sliding Rock which is smaller than Sliding Rock in the Pisgah NF, but much better for a 7-year old.