When I complained about being bored as a child, my endlessly wise and often contrary mother would always tell me the same thing: “You’re too smart to be bored.” Those words infuriated me at eight (“No, mommy, I’m really dumb! I am bored!”), but at twenty-two, I play those words in my head like a mantra. Her negation of boredom didn’t just apply to me; as humans gifted with consciousness and opposable thumbs, she believed we were all too smart to be bored.
We talked a lot about time this semester, on timelines ranging from the geological time scale to day-to-day life. In the creative writing portion of our scientific communication class, we read an issue of Emergence Magazine devoted to the discussion of time, which introduced me to the idea of slow time. Slow time is the existence of time outside of the confines of the clock; the idea that time doesn’t always have to be money, or be devoted in some way to the production or expenditure thereof. Sometimes, time can be allowed to pass slowly, like honey dripping out of a little bear-shaped bottle instead of sand slipping infuriatingly quickly from the top half of an hourglass.
In Chapel Hill, I never had to come up with ways to pass the time. There was always a deadline looming or some engagement to rush off to. Highlands is the sort of town that makes Chapel Hill look like a booming metropolis in retrospect. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to do in Highlands, but since the town is a haven of second and third homes and the median age is 59, it can be hard to find ways to pass the time on a college student’s budget. After a couple of weekends in town, I began to doubt that I really possessed the innate human time-killing genius my mother was so convinced of.
Luckily, I lived with fourteen other students, all too smart to let themselves be bored. We’ve always kept ourselves busy some way or another this semester. I’m sure the next class of students will also have the smarts to uncover all that Highlands and Macon County have to offer. If they want any hints, however, here’s my (unranked) list of my favorite ways to spend weekends in Highlands.
Hiking!
This one’s obvious. I went on so many amazing hikes in Highlands and the surrounding areas this semester. Whiteside Mountain is a classic, and it’s a great place to take anyone visiting the area for the first time. I loved backpacking in Panthertown and hitting the Little Green Mountain trail. There are also plenty of short but beautiful hikes around the Station, which are great for bringing a field guide and practicing plant identification.
Bouldering!
I really learned to love bouldering this semester, especially when it started getting dark as soon as we wrapped up Microplastics Monday. We went on lots of trips to New Vision Training Center in Franklin with Jason, who is a bouldering master. We did share the gym with the ninja training classes and a lot of ninja students who were at least a decade younger than all of us, but it was just $10 a visit! We conquered lots of Everests at New Vision, and I hope to keep working on developing those bouldering calluses at the UNC climbing gyms next semester.
Playing pool!
I would like to think that I got a little better at playing pool this semester from all the hours I put in at the High Dive back table, but my record is still abysmal (Gen beats me every time). Regardless, I’d thoroughly recommend pulling up to High Dive when it’s totally empty on a Tuesday night (it’s 18+, so everyone can go) and claiming one of the (free!) tables for a couple hours. (Or, you could even go on a weekend when there are like … other people there. But then you might have to share the table, so I’m standing by Tuesdays.)
Going to town events!
We went to a free concert in our first weekend at Highlands, part of the town’s summer concert series, and then we followed it up with the Dazzling Dahlia festival the next weekend. Other fun events have included the Highlands Heritage Jamboree (also free!) and the FROG Festival in Franklin (a bit of a misnomer — no frogs, only FRiends Of the Greenway — but some cute stands to buy gifts and trinkets at). I’d highly recommend being a regular reader of the events column in The Highlander.
Skating!
I’ve loved both skateboarding and ice skating in Highlands. I had never skateboarded before coming to Highlands, but I bought a skateboard off Facebook marketplace and found the back streets of Highlands to be a judgement-free zone to practice. We also hit the skatepark behind the rec center, which is perfectly deserted and therefore also a great judgement-free place to fall down a lot. Ice skating starts around Thanksgiving, and it’s $8 with skate rental included. The Highlands pop-up ice skating rink in the town park is also the most judgement-free place I’ve ever skated. I strongly recommend skating in Highlands, especially if you’re no good.
Hanging out at home!
My very favorite nights here have been the times we’ve thrown little parties for the fifteen of us in our dining room. Indoor garden party, a couple poker nights, Friendsgiving — we’ve had some good times all crammed together around the dinner table. Even when we’re all rushing to finish a paper by the midnight deadline, when it’s like a dozen of us working together in the living room, those nights are somehow still (kinda) fun.
I’m glad to have been forced to slow down this semester. If I was already too smart to be bored, I’ve turned into a verified time-passing genius this semester. When I go back to Chapel Hill, I’m sure that time will pick up its pace again. I’ll no longer look for ways to pass my soon-to-be scarce time, but I’ll still treasure the slow weekends I spent in Highlands.
-Lucy Kraus
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