We were traveling from Pennsylvania to the Charlotte area to meet our oldest daughter who was flying into Douglas Airport from Rome after 6 weeks of studying abroad, so we decided to turn the trip into a week-long family vacation. We are so glad we chose Steve and Michelle's beautiful lake house for our home-base as it served as a perfect place for an awesome family vacation. The farmhouse is both cozy and spacious, and was much more than adequate to accomodate mom, dad, and 7 of our 8 children (ages 6 to 21). We really appreciated the stylishly renovated kitchen and updated bathroom.

While the interior of the home was most comfortable and the kids took adavantage of the many inside ameneties in the great room such as DVDs and board games (and Dad used the TV to tune in the dramatic Game 7 of the NBA Finals to see Lebron James and the Cavaliers snatch the crown from Davidson's own Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors), the 5 acres of the exterior grounds kicked this vacation over from "great" to "Awesome!" Our busy schedule had us arriving early Sunday morning in time to witness a spectacular sunrise over the lake, and the location provided gorgeous views throughout the stay. While the brochure from Moss Lake informed us that the average depth of the water is 50' which provides for all varieties of water recreation from water skiing, jet skiing, fishing, etc., the gradual slope from the shoreline was great for swimming, especially with our 6 year olds and 9 year old. There are excellent facilities if you have your own power boat, but as the high-light of many summers for me was canoeing the rivers of Northern Michigan, I was quite satisfied using the canoe that comes with the property.

We used the central location of the home to make severarl side trips, such as the hike up Crowders Mountain with reward of the incredible view at th summit, lunch at King's Mountain State Park in nearby South Carolina, the Schiele Museum in Gastonia, lunch at OMB Brewery in Charlotte before picking up our daughter at the airport, Belmont Abbey College, the North Carolina Arboretum near Asheville, downtown Asheville, and the nearby town of Shelby itself. With so much to do we left much undone and we look forward to coming back again, but the best part was probably doing "nothing", relaxing inside the house, on the back porch at night with the Tiki torches lit, and especially kicking back in the lounge chairs on the dock. A great time was had by all!