Vacation Part 5- Grandfather Mountain

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

We arrived at Grandfather Mountain around 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Mom and Dad came here here on their honeymoon over 20 years ago.
Anthony- the stick- carrying the rather heavy baby on his back.
Posing with Mildred the Bear

Looking through the gift shop

Andrew taking a snooze on a $150 rocking chair

Bald Eagle- Outside they had some animals that live on the mountain.

Black bear

watching the otters

the otters

deer

Fudge Shop- They had really good fudge!

waiting for Dad who was taking gobs of pictures

Anthony found carrying the baby to be quite exhausting and did not want to get up. ;)

walking up the trail to the top of Grandfather Mountain

taking a break-The trail was almost straight uphill and was mostly composed of rocks.

our first glimpse of the swinging bridge

the view of the bridge from the bottom

the sign at the top of the mountain

It was extremely windy on the top of Grandfather Mountain! When I say extremely, I mean EXTREMELY!!!! It was in the 50s. Alec did not like the wind at all. He kept trying to cover his face up with his hands.

This is what we did while Anthony and Dad went across the bridge. Austin went across the bridge once, but I think Anthony dragged him on with him without Austin knowing that he was going across because once he came back over, he wouldn't go near the bridge. Aaron went about 1/4 the way across, but he clung to the railing and turned around and came back. Anthony went across the bridge at least five times! Andrew and I refused to go across the bridge. Speaking for myself, there was no way I was going to go on a bridge across a mountain that swings when it was so windy out. The railings on that bridge were not that high! Mom went halfway across, and Dad went across a couple of times.

view from the bridge

the swinging bridge

Dad took this pic as he was going across.

The marker where the bridge was a mile up from the ground.

Anthony on the other side of the bridge.

Dad went on the cliff where the guy is standing to take a bunch of pictures. There is no way I would have gone near the edge like he did!

the view of the bridge from the cliff

some views from the cliff

posing in front of the bridge- I don't know if you can tell, but I was clinging to Aaron! ;) I was way to close to the edge for my comfort especially when there weren't any railings up!

Mom on the bridge

Mom on the bridge

the very windy road down the mountain

eating lunch at a picnic area on the mountain

the boys playing "king of the rock"

Anthony was very sneaky! He let Aaron do all the work of getting Andrew off, and then just gave Andrew a little shove that was needed to get him off.

He jumped on the rock and posed as the king while Aaron( the legitimate winner!) held Andrew at bay.

The king is a little too high and mighty! He didn't even do any of the work!

In the next few seconds, Anthony was kicked in the bottom by Andrew.

Austin loved playing with the pocket knife he had gotten as a souvenir.

Isn't Alec so cute? Ya gotta love his thin wisps of hair! ;)

Andrew kept putting pieces of bark down my shirt. Look at his rotten face!

buddies

leaving Grandfather Mountain- It was a lot of fun!

back on the parkway

We decided to stop at this overlook which really ended up being a 2 mile trail up a mountain.

the trail- this pic doesn't even do justice to how rugged the trail was.

a high rock that we posed on going back down

Finally we reached the top! Now we are resting!!!!

some scenery

posing on the rock on the way back down

It is so hard to get everybody to look at the camera at the same time and smile.

The Linn Cove viaduct

relaxing at the bottom

Tuesday seemed like a long day, but it was very fun.

~Amber~

Tree Farms

I forgot to put this picture on my last post. There were a lot of these farms in North Carolina.

~Amber~

Vacation Part 4- Traveling to the Blue Ridge Parkway

Monday, June 29, 2009

Our campsite in Falls Lake, NC

On Monday morning, we packed up our tents and everything else, and then we went to Andrew's apartment to get all of his stuff.
Alec playing with the trash can in Andrew's apartment.
Austin and Andrew in front of the apartment

Downtown Wake Forest, NC

There is a story behind this pic. We finished packing up Andrew's stuff and headed back to the campground. Once back, Andrew realized he had left something behind. You have to realize that he had already left his key in the apartment, so Andrew and I went back to Wake Forest. Andrew climbed up these pipes so he could crawl in through window to go get his stuff. The interns had to do this a couple of times before because they had left their keys, so he climbed up it pretty quickly.

Mission accomplished

Coming out with what he had left

The coffee shop in Wake Forest where I posted on the blog and where Andrew sometimes went while down there. He found out after he actually tried coffee that he liked it. Now as for me, I'm not much for the coffee shops unless they have smoothies or hot chocalote. No coffee for me!

The seminary where Andrew took his Jonathon Edwards class.

the building where his class was at

Finally, we are off for the Blue Ridge Parkway around noon. Unfortunately, this trip was not the most pleasant. Now that we added another person, it was a little more cramped, so was some arguing going on not to mention Alec decided to start screaming and not stop. We managed to survive it though. ;)

Entering the Blue Ridge Parkway

Along the way, we stopped at a picnic area for a much needed stretch and to eat lunch.

the brotherhood ;)

eating lunch

It is so cute when Alec tries to talk. He really is not screaming in this pic! He is just talking. I love his expression!

Andrew decided to try on my sweater. Ummm....I think it is a bit too small for him.

so precious

some of our views out the window on the parkway

We've arrived at our campground along the parkway! This is the one that did not have showers. We did take baths in a bucket. It wasn't too bad. At least the bathrooms were pretty nice besides all the daddy longlegs.

Unpacking the trailer- This was bear country so we had to keep all of our food locked up in the trailor overnight. You couldn't even have food on the ground or a candy wrapper in your tent or you might have a visitor in the middle of the night! There had just been a couple bear attacks within 1/4 mile of the campground, so some of us(not me!) didn't sleep well the first night. ;)

Setting up the tents

This is where Alec was while the campsite was getting set up so he would stay out of mischief.

being goofy

the big dipper

That is the end of our first day on the parkway. The next day would be very full of things to do.

~Amber~

Vacation Part 3- Picking up Andrew

On Sunday, we went to the services at Hope Baptist where Andrew has been attending for the last five months. After the morning service, we stayed for a potluck and then for supper with the Browns. It was a nice time of fellowship. The Browns really appreciated Andrew and all the work he did for NCFIC and other things. In the evening service, the interns shared what they had learned and then all the men in the church prayed for them. I think Andrew was really sad to go, but I know he will keep in touch with all of them.

~Amber~

Vacation Part 2- Arriving in North Carolina

We arrived in Lake Falls, NC around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday. The campground was about twenty minutes away from Andrew.setting up the tent

Alec liked to chew on the sawhorses for the chuck box.
unloading the chuck box

all of our stuff

The tent is finally set up. ;)

~Amber~