derek didn’t have as much time off during our time in the lenoir and linville area, so i took a few solo trips with the kiddos. one such adventure was to linville falls. this is also a pretty heavily trafficked area, but we went on a weekday and took a more difficult trail than most […]
hiking
fall at crabtree falls.

after our trip to the outer banks, we had a one day layover at home, doing laundry and switching out wardrobes, before heading to lenoir for a few days in the mountains. it was peak leaf season, so we wanted to see some beautiful fall color, but we also wanted to balance that with other […]
three waterfalls hike.gsmnp.

for our final adventure on this trip to the smokies, we drove out and around to the bryson city entrance, for a nature and waterfall themed hike that derek found in a kid friendly hiking book he picked up at the visitor center. the three waterfalls hike is a loop made up of several other […]
the chimney tops. (almost).great smoky mountain national park.

once we moved to the north carolina side of the park, to smokemont campground, we had a long deliberation about what hikes we wanted to do. we had to take into account the length, elevation, danger, our kids level of motivation, weather. all the things. eventually we decided on the chimneys hike. it’s not super […]
abrams falls hike.great smoky mountain national park.

originally, we had planned to lay low on our first day, a sunday, in the smokies. even though we were still in the midst of a pandemic, great smoky mountain national park is the most visited park in the us, especially on a weekend at the more heavily trafficked spots. but then. the weather was […]
great smokies. camping, travel day, clingmans dome, and miscellany.

well. it appears i’ve gotten incredibly behind with my blogging again. the truth is, i’m not very motivated these days. but, we have some rv trips coming up, and i know we will have lots of adventures, and if i fall much further behind, i’m not sure i’ll ever blog again. so without further ado, […]
waterfalls with snp and max.

it’s been like 900° for the last few weeks, here in north carolina. so when i was making plans to hang with my high school bff sarah powers and her kiddo max, and the option to meet at the lower cascade falls at hanging rock came up, it was a no brainer. i mean, this […]
social distancing at stone mountain.

back back back, before we went on the road, when isaac was in school, and we found out he got into the HAG (nerd) program and would be changing schools, we became friends with another family who were in the same boat. j and isaac were in the same class that next year, and her […]
big lost cove cliffs hike.(linville gorge wilderness)

our fourth and final adventure during our lenoir stay was a return to the linville gorge wilderness and the big lost cove cliffs trail. it was close to the weekend, so we were looking for a “lightly trafficked” trail, and the kids voted for a scenic hike over a waterfall hike, so after some research […]
the chimneys(linville gorge wilderness)

our second cool adventure in the linville gorge wilderness took us to the chimneys trail. i *think* it’s part of the mountain to sea trail in north carolina, but now i might be mixing that up. we chose it, because it offers pretty great views on both sides, as you’re hiking along a ridge, with […]