Nature is a Wonderful Thing

Thought I'd post a few more photos from my trip to the mountains. As you can see, there were many beautiful views to photograph. The first two are from our visit to Blowing Rock. It's funny because the rock actually looked much larger when we saw the photos on the brochure. We kept searching for it while standing on the observation deck...

Blowing Rock, NC

The view from the observation deck was lovely, as evidenced by this photo. What we didn't realize, however, was that while we were walking towards the deck...

Blowing Rock, NC

We actually walked passed the rock, which is in the photo above. It was small enough that we could have climbed it (even me with my limited climbing abilities).

Linville Falls, NC

We also hiked at Linville Falls, which has three trails of varying levels of difficulty. Last year I was here with Flamenco Dad and the kids, and it was lovely. It was also autumn, which meant it was cooler outside. This time, I looked like a drowned rat by the time I reached the end of the trail, that's how much I was sweating. Ick. But the reward for making it to the end was so worth it.

Linville Falls, NC

Even though I was a big old sweaty mess by the time we made it to the falls, I was pretty proud of myself for not giving up. After being sick and not able to breathe this past winter, it was good to feel like I was able to push myself to get to the end.

We spent lots of time enjoying just being in the outdoors, in the company of people we love and respect. I've known my friends for almost half my life now, and I really look at these women as sisters, as well as close friends. The girls and I spent tons of time gabbing away about everything. In fact, on Saturday morning we had plans to visit another mountain, but those plans got sidetracked due to the gabfest. We sat down to breakfast and started talking, but before we realized what had happened it was already 3 p.m.! And the three of us ended up looking like prunes after more than one lengthy chat in the hot tub. Did I mention this cabin had a hot tub?