Moments.....

Happy Saturday evening everyone.  We got home a little after 10 a.m. this morning after an uneventful drive.  We had pretty much packed up everything last evening after supper so we had just a little left to do this morning.

We had a great week, hated to leave, but are glad to be home.  This past week was largely about "moments."  You know, moments of the enjoying beauty of nature, the enjoying the taste of great food, the enjoying of time spent with family, and the enjoying the peace of the place we happened to be at the moment.  

Thanks to all for following along with us this week, and we hope our stories helped to make your week better for you.  Enjoy a few more "moments" from our week.  

And as always....

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

Is it Friday Already?????

Happy Friday afternoon everyone.  This is the question of the day, "Is it Friday already?" followed closely by, "What have we done all week?"  You see it seems just like yesterday we arrived at Raccoon Holler to set up camp for five nights of camping.  Yes, you guessed it, tonight is our last night of camping, and tomorrow morning we head back down the mountain to home.  

Anywho, lets just see if we can figure out where on Earth this week went to so quickly.

We spent lots of time in Truck exploring the backroads of these parts of the mountains.  

We discovered you can rent a floatie just for your cooler to float down the river with you.

Saw lots and lots of road signs as we navigated our way around.

Stopped by lots of places that were indeed open and a couple we thought surely would be but weren't.

Sat in the back row of pews of a small country church, thankful we didn't have to sit there long because the pews we very hard.

 Took lots of pictures trying out all sorts of vantage points and ways to frame the shot.

Did we say we took lots of pictures?  Trying to find different ways to frame the shot? 

Took pictures of an awesome sticker thinking about projects for those long cold winter months.

Took pictures of each other taking pictures.

Stopped by places with names that just made you want to find out more.

Found our four favorite bottles of wine to take home with us.

Ate a picnic lunch at the drop of a hat.

Had a wonderful basecamp for all of our daily adventures.

Once again lived by the mantra, "The Dome is Home."

Even our cooking each day was an adventure.

And not only did the sun provide a spectacular sunset each day, but the moon put on a show of it's very own.

We had time to find the beautiful, often overlooked, views of nature.

Did I say already we took lots of pictures, and even took pictures of each other taking pictures?

We even went to one of our favorite stores in West Jefferson to shop for t-shirts and stickers (and Rob did buy several stickers this week!)

But best of all, we got to see early morning,  middle of the day, and late evening views of the surrounding beauty of these mountains.

I guess we can happily say, we've had a wonderful week in which time seemed to both stand still and fly-by at the same time.  Funny how time can do that to us.  

Thanks for checking buy today.  We'll be leaving for home in the morning, and take a few days off from blogging.  Not to worry, we'll be back later next week with more tales of our adventures.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

A Lost Lunch and Other Road Hazards.....

Happy Thursday afternoon all.  We sure hope everyone has had a great day.  Our morning started with a gentle rain shower about daylight to wake us up.  Believe it or not, this little shower was to set the tone for the day.  

Before going any farther though, Rob wants everyone to indulge him with looking at just a couple more Blue Ridge Parkway pictures from a drive last evening.

Now y'all know this is just about his most favorite road to drive on, and one reason is he always finds something new to photograph.

Now let's move on with today's adventures.   Cousin Sharon walked over to our campsite about nine this morning.  Rob had already formulated a plan for the day's adventure.  The plan included a BRP drive, checking out a new campground, lunch at Todd General Store (we were all looking forward to that), a stop by Wal-Mart, a fuel stop for Truck, and finally a grocery store stop.  Quite an ambitious plan, but we were up for the challenge.  

The first parts of the plan went off without a hitch.  We drove about 40 miles south on the BRP, turned off on a mountain backroad drove about 10 more miles, turned onto another mountain backroad were we found Honey Bear Campground.

Now we're camping there over Labor Day weekend and wanted to see our campsite.  The lady in the office was tickled we had dropped by, gave us a map, and told us to explore away.  Now the campground was pretty full, but our site happened to be empty.  

It was a nice site, a little oddly shaped, but just perfectly pod-sized.

Next we drove through Boone, NC (just a few miles on down the road) on the way to the Todd General Store for lunch.  This part of the trip required some city driving as well as much more country driving.  We arrived at the general store only to find it was up for sale.  So we went down the street to Todd Mercantile.  While we didn't find our lost lunch there, we did find a bakery with ginger cookies, macadamia white chocolate cookies, and double chocolate chip cookies.  

Now Rob having spent years in the Boy Scouts was as usual prepared.   Seems Truck had paper towels and Big Yeti.  That meant we had cold drinks, and the left over taco pie we had carefully wrapped into individual portions after supper last night.  That's gotta be Camping Karma in action!!

So we sat on the porch of Todd Mercantile and had cold Taco Pie (which was yummy) and homemade cookies for lunch.  Of course, J-Doggie had to wait in Truck which was parked close by in the shade, with the windows down.

After our lunch, we headed along the backroad once again making our stops by Wal-Mart, fuel, and grocery store then back to The Holler for some afternoon chilling in the pleasant mountain afternoon.

Thanks for checking by today.  We've already got our day planned out for tomorrow, so you'll have to drop by tomorrow evening to read all about it.  Oh, by the way, there's going to be more CDO cooking this evening.  That makes three evenings in a row we've enjoyed CDO yumminess.  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

A Mountain Quiet Day.....

Happy Wednesday evening everyone.  It's been a mountain quiet kind of day here today.  We all loaded up in Truck mid-morning and set off in search of adventure.  We had a grand time, saw amazing views, and even had a picnic to boot!  

So you may ask, what is a mountain quiet day?  Well lets just see if we can find out.

1.  Is it a swing waiting for someone to sit and have a quiet swing?

2.  Is it a picnic table waiting for some family to enjoy the day with a quiet picnic in the mountains?

3.  Is it a "Life is Good" banner hanging quietly in the morning stillness?

4.  Is it the U.S. and State Flags flying quietly from their flagpoles watching over the morning?

5.  Is it a sign quietly waiting for it's owners to return to enjoy the peaceful mountain solitude?

6.  Perhaps it is highway signs, quietly giving directions while people decide where to go with their lives?

7.  Maybe it's the park entrance sign, quietly guarding the turn off into that particular park?

8.  Or could it be a quiet little mountain spring, running quietly down the hill?

9.  Could it be a park bench, patiently waiting for someone to quietly sit and enjoy the cool mountain day?

10.  Is it a butterfly garden waiting for all the butterflies to quietly enjoy it's treats?

11.  Could it be an exhibit of life in the quieter days of yesteryear?

12.  Or a quiet picnic lunch enjoyed with family?

13.  Or a butterfly having a quiet lunch on a wildflower?

14.  The view from an observation deck of the quiet valley below?

 15.  Is it a little white church nestled in the quiet valley below?

16.  Or is it a majestic hawk soaring quietly on the thermals?

17.  Maybe it is a quiet lane of moss covered rock leading to somewhere even more quiet?

18.  Could it possibly be the quiet struggle of a small mountain laurel to survive growing out of a fissure in the mountain rock?

19.  Is it a quiet mountain stream?

20.  Or maybe an old very quiet Methodist Church on a peaceful country lane?

We think a mountain quiet day is all these things and even more.  It's just one of those special days when life is a little slower, spent with special people, and chock full of great times.  

Thanks for checking by today.  We're not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, but rumor is, a Wal-Mart is involved just for Trisha.  

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.