north carolina

at the end of august, chase and i took a quick getaway to highlands, north carolina.  it was a beautiful, small, welcoming little town with a really neat downtown area.  and it was the perfect time of year to go.  70 degrees during the day and shorts and pullover weather at night!

we drove through chattanooga on the way there to get the scenic route.  the last 9 or so miles was super curvy with no shoulder.  i'm sure it was very pretty on the side of that mountain, but i was driving.  therefore, i saw the lines on the road and that was it!  but i did have some cool sound effects with the windows rolled down listening to the river below!!

we stopped at dry falls on the way in to take a break.

our main reason for going was to hike and to play golf.  so we hit the ground running and took on whiteside mountain.  when we started out, i was a little disappointed for the first mile because it seemed just like a gravel road.  (and, i had to listen to chase tell me how spoiled i was because i was comparing it to hiking out west.)  but then it turned out to be a real trail...and very pretty!

hot chocolate and a fire pit at night...the good life!

we got up bright and early one morning to play golf at the old edwards club.  i have been frustrated by mountain courses before, but this one was very much in favor of women golfers (much to chase's chagrin)!  :)  and the views and the drops were really, really cool!

 good morning, north carolina!

this was taken from the 18th green.  that's the tee box way up there at the top of that hill!  we don't have elevation changes like that in tupelo!

 we walked out of downtown one afternoon and ended up on a serious hike without meaning to!!  it went up, and up, and up, and up some more!  but eventually we got to the satulah mountain summit.  we found a neat little trail with some cool overlooks, but what i learned on this hike was that going up is actually easier than coming down....at least when it's straight up and straight down!!  lesson learned!

 we also went to the whitewater falls overlook one morning.  it is the highest waterfall in the US east of the mississippi.

because we are suckers for a good hike, and our legs weren't tired enough, we decided to hike to the bottom.  it was only about one mile there and one mile back, but it was a fun hike!

at the bottom, there were some huge rocks!  here i found the disadvantage of not being 6'7" like my hiking partner.  it took me a minute to figure out how to get over this one without ending up in the water!

but i made it!

our last hike was in gorges state park.  we have seen moose, bears, elk, and other big animals, but on this hike we saw our first snake.  i can't remember what kind it was, but we looked him up and determined that we were pretty safe.  afterwards!  the trail was very uphill at times, but we made it to rainbow falls.

then we continued upriver a little ways to get to turtleback falls.  the water there is pretty shallow.  people play in it and slide down over that waterfall.  there were a few people playing and hanging out in the water, but it was pretty chilly.  we decided to just sit and take in the view!

it was a fun, quick trip, and i hope it won't be the last time that we visit.  there are probably a few more trails in the area.  but, i know that i saw about 9 more golf courses that i need to conquer!!  see ya next time, north carolina!

lake weekend

at the beginning of august, some friends invited us to come hang out at the lake.  as much time as i spent at the lake in my younger years, this was something that the little people here had never done before.  it didn't take long, however, for them to decide that they loved it!

ready to go!

if they didn't have to eat, i promise you that they could have lived on and around the boat!  every single time the boat stopped, six kids were jumping off and swimming!

the tube was by far the favorite (well, it was for everybody except james!), and they even loved getting thrown off!!  they all put up a good fight, but the tube was always the winner!!

it was fun to watch and listen them to cheer each other on while they were skiing!

they even cheered for mama, who still remembers how to slalom after a 13 year hiatus!

one of our gracious hosts!  very thankful for sweet miss becky!

these boys got every drop of sunshine out of the day, and they had the exhaustion afterwards to prove it!

my kids wrote miss becky and mr. gary thank you notes, and each one of them said something along the lines of "thank you for letting us come to your lake.  i can't wait to do it again."  or, "i can't wait to come back next year."  they better watch out, or they may have 6 new grandsons to add to their brood!!  :)