The Camping Adventure!

Well James and I have had an awesome week so far this week. We are fortunate enough to work at a year round school and even though we taught intersession the first week, I really feel like we have taken advantage of the break this second week. We left Saturday morning to head up to the mountains for our first camping adventure with our new tent that we got as a wedding present. We also borrowed some sleeping bags and a grill from my friend Robin and her family and thought we were all set for our first camp out.

A picture by one of our first stops, Julian Price Park where the lake was absolutely beautiful!

To begin our trip we headed up to Boone and got on the blue ridge parkway to make our way towards the campground. We passed some amazing sights and the higher we got into the mountains, the better the leaves looked with the colors of fall. Oh and did I mention that this was our first trip out with our new camera equiptment? So needless to say we stopped at EVERY opportunity there was to get some great pictures of the leaves and scenery! Anyways the campground that we wanted to stay at was booked up for the night so we went to the campground where Robin and her family were staying and set up camp there. After finally get our tent and everything set up (which I have to say we did a pretty good job with it being our first time!) we took our first trip to Wal-mart. I say that it was our first trip because before the weekend was over I think we ended up there about four times for one thing or another and spent a lot more then we had planned to spend at Wal-mart while camping, but hey it's all good!

Hooray, we got the tent set up and ready to go!

The next morning we got up and went to Wal-mart again (I had a cold and needed some medicine) and then met up with Robin and her family and followed them to Mt. Mitchell which was absolutely beautiful. The only downfall was that it was about 45 degrees with 20+ mph winds so it made for a chilly afternoon! While we were there we got to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant that was near the top of the mountain and get some good home cooking which was fun and the view was beautiful of course!

A picture that Robin took of us at one of the overlooks on the parkway

Robin & her family at one of the stops along the parkway

A.J. and I at the top of Mt. Mitchell!

After leaving Mt. Mitchell James and I made a few stops for scenery pictures and then we wanted to head to "Little Switzerland" which was another stop along the Parkway. I'm not sure if we missed out on the whole Little Switzerland thing but the only thing we could find was one building of some pretty run down country stores and we were not thrilled by anything that was there. We are thinking that we had to have missed out on what Little Switzerland was all about because people were talking about it like it was something not to miss out on. After that it was back to Wal-mart for gas this time...which by the way we got gas for $2.79 so that was pretty great!

We then went on to our campground to set up camp for the next two nights. The only problem was that we realized there were TWO campgrounds by the same name and the major difference between the two was that one had showers and one did not...we definitely needed showers! So after almost setting up camp we realized that we were at the wrong campground so we packed up once again to head to the right place. Once we got there it was a great place and we set up camp and then James cooked us up some dinner and we settled in for the night. On Monday we got up and went to Wiseman's View and Linville Falls which were both very pretty hikes. The road to Wiseman's view was amazing it was one of those little tiny dirt roads where it gets a little scary at times that you can't see what is coming around the corner or at the top of the hill.

A.J. and James at Wiseman's View

Here we are at the waterfall!

We also took a hike that afternoon (after a nice nap back at the campsite) to the Viaduct which was really cool...it is where the road is built off the side of Grandfather mountain because they were trying not to damage the mountain. You could hike up by the road and watch the cars go by...I kind of felt like a spy because no one knew we were there!

One of the pictures of the Viaduct

A.J. and I hanging out on the hike under the Viaduct

Then Tuesday morning we got up early and packed up camp so that we could head out to Boone. We stopped at the outlet mall in Blowing Rock and spent some time in downtown Boone at the Mast General Store and of course we found a little local pizza shop to eat at also! Well to finish off this nice LONG post I figured I would end things by adding a few of our favorite pictures of the trip and the scenery!

A.J. has become quite the mountain dog...he has given up on finding sticks and decided to find logs instead!

The lake at Julian Price Park