North Carolina Mountains

This was my second trip to Highlands, North Carolina, and all I can say is I love that place. Look at this view!

I wish I had a picture from the very top, but I somehow ran out of memory space. The last time I was climbing this exact same mountain, it was spring time and the leaves were just beginning to grow. Here is a picture of the very same view from then:

I remember thinking how beautiful it was the first time around. But the fall colors this time were absolutely breathtaking and somehow make the springtime moments seem drab.

But really, I love the mountains.

Good Old Friends

Fall Break just flew on by. But I did get to visit some of my old friends from my high school days, which is always fun. I got to love on their two cats cats and pretend they were mine (my daddy and husband are both allergic, which means that it's unlikely I'll ever be able to have some of my own).


I also got to see their kid again, who has grown so fast and can say quite a few words now, including "pimp pimp," which is the funniest thing ever. Yep, its great to just chill out their house for a few days like old times. Plus, they gave me this really beautiful candle they got us for our wedding but forgot about (haha, how many times have I also bought people things that are still laying around somewhere?).

Labor Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a good Labor Day Weekend. I know mine was certainly interesting. My aunt came down for the weekend, and her, my mom, and I all went up to Gatlinburg, TN. The drive was a gruesome 6 hours or so. Fortunately, I was not the one doing the driving.

So what did I do? We walked along a 2.7 mile long trail in the National Park/Forest, but only for an hour. We didn't even get to the half way point before we decided to turn around. Our goal was the Rainbow Waterfall, and everyone said it was worth the trek, but we only had one full day in the mountains, and it was time for us to move on. It was my joke of the day that we saw more wildlife in the parking lot than on the trail. For example, this small snake nearly slithered over my foot as I passed a large SUV on my way to the official trail starting place:



And upon our return, we were greeted by this medium sized black bear:

I'm not saying that this is all that nature had to offer that day, but these were definitely the highlights.



We also went swimming and ate dinner at Olive Garden. And, thanks to the long trip there and back, I finished the first ball of yarn on my pink cabled scarf. It is now 27 inches long and has 23 repeats. I got so sick of working on it during the endless hours in the car, but there was nothing else to do. I think I need to take a few days off from knitting.