Vale of the Cross

This weekend I went to visit my sister in Valle Crucis, NC. This is right next to Boone, and is one of my favorite places to go. Going to her house is kind of like vacation. Not only is their house in a beautiful location, it is back off of the road in the woods and they have a hot tub. Kristi went to a women's conference, and Karen wanted to watch Addy...so off I went. This first picture was taken out the front door of my sister's house with my Sigma Lens.

Lucy came along for the trip...she gets a little nervous about the cats at my sister's house, but she enjoys it for the most part...especially the hiking. Friday I just ate dinner with Jenny, Pat, and their friend Brad. I guess I should have taken a picture, but I never got the camera out. Saturday they actually left for Greenville and Lucy and I drove up to Sloan Mountain, TN (or right next to it) and hiked a few balds at Carver's Gap. I'm not sure how many miles we went, but I would guess around 5 total. Lucy's legs are short so she gets tired climbing over large boulders. All of these pictures were taken with my Sigma Lens.

This next picture is probably the most epic of Lucy I have ever taken...and probably one of my favorite pictures that I have ever seen.

Since Lucy got pretty worn out, I decided to take her home and go out by myself for the afternoon. On our way back I stopped at a restaurant I had picked out that looked like a place for locals. The BBQ was delicious, and there were some very mountain looking folks inside.

I drove up to a trail off of the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike in the afternoon. It wasn't that great of a trail, and it wasn't much of a hike, but it was still nice to walk around - even though I had to dodge a good bit of horse poop from all the horseback riders.

That night I went to visit some good friends who live in Blowing Rock, a few miles away. Caleb and I have been friends for several years, and he holds the distinct honor of having put the largest dent I have in my acoustic guitar with a gobstopper...you'd have to ask me in person how that happened. The following pictures are all from my Canon 50mm.

I finished up the last morning by heading out to the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the sunrise. My pictures didn't turn out that well, but it was really cold so I wasn't very motivated.

What better way to follow up than by eating here?

I made the mistake of eating at a table that I guess locals usually eat at, so some local old mountain guy came and sat with me. He said he'd been eating at that table every morning for the past 7 years. He was very nice and told me if I ever wanted to move up there he knows of land that is going up for sale...I told him I know where to find him.

All in all it was a great weekend...very relaxing and I had alot of time to think about my life. I told Kristi I just don't really enjoy typical things like shopping and movies, so I think getting out of suburbia is good for me. Who knows, maybe we will move there one day.

Here's a few more pictures of stuff at my sister's house in closing...