It's Always Sunny in Asheville

We were awoken this morning to the beautiful sound of our doorbell followed by pounding on the front door. Yet our moods quickly changed to excitement when we received a package addressed to:


It was a package of goodies from Kyle! There was a sweet little note inside that brought "Daddy" to tears.


I was super excited to discover a hand altered Florida photo album!


The Boys were so excited about their new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia DVD that Patapouf's head blurred into combustible excitement.


YESSSS!!! S'MORES STICKS!!! I had left mine at home!!


Patapouf was hoping for a treat, but all he got was this B.O.B cd.


It's perfect timing in the end since we will see Kyle in only 3 days!! We love all of our goodies! Now we're gonna go break dance in the living room to B.O.B.

More Photos...

We did the Blue Ridge Parkway again today to go up to the Craggy Gardens Trail. On the way there we came to a halt due to roadwork...




Storm's A Comin'



Find the Fruitcake!


Tom: "I'm the King of the World!"



Pensive.


Rebels

Cernuda & Josh are in town!

Cernuda and Josh are in for a visit so we decided to go to sliding rock today!


Josh!


Thomas...


And the fall...


Already freezing...


Let me just tell you...Once I fell into that pool. My lungs were in such shock from the cold that I couldn't breathe. It was scary. And did I mention the pool had a decent fish population in it? Luckily I handled that part pretty well which was quite surprising.


Cernuda looks like a straight up business man sliding down this thing. Look at that pose.


Josh looking holy!


Then we hiked up to Moore Cove Falls (I think?)


The view towards the top



Then we climbed to the top of it. This is Tom's worry face as I might be the clumsiest person on Earth. He was terrified I'd stub my toe or something and fall off the waterfall.




Cernuda the Hulk!


Slight rainbow down at the bottom


Next stop was Looking Glass Falls. This seemed to be where everyone went after sliding rock. The power of the water created the coldest wind that was enough to scare me away from getting any closer.


On a random note, these are the HUGE mushrooms in our yard. The picture really doesn't reflect their size. They are at least the size of my hand.


Walking to the mushrooms to take a picture, I almost stepped on the critter in this photo. Can you find him?

Blue Ridge Parkway

We went for a ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway today. Doubting Tom as to where we were going (as usual), we rode up on a gravel road with sharp turns and barely room for 2 lanes for what felt like forever...

This is before we hit that wonderful gravel road


Now I've never experienced a fear of heights in my entire life, but once I started looking down as we kept driving up and up I must admit I was starting to freak out.


Did the creators of the Blue Ridge Parkway know I fear tunnels!?



Up and up...
I believe we saw one of two wild turkeys around this point


A ridiculous picture of us in the car. Poof looking like an explorer


When we got to this viewing point, a very big and tough but very sweet biker dude offered to take our picture. He said we'd have to look like we actually liked each other. Here's our best attempt


Obnoxious


Another lovely tunnel


Our highest point of travel.


Tennessee side


And lastly, Poof the Explorer at around 5,600 ft

Marshall & Biltmore

Yesterday we attempted to drive around and steal some flowers for the yard so we headed towards Marshall (my favorite tiny town). We discovered some sweet parks/picnic spots along the French Broad River on the way there.


We made it all the way there with hardly any flowers in site.


Tom conquering the French Broad. Lookin' manly.

Today we planned on hiking on the Biltmore property but we've already grown accustomed to the beautiful 80 degree weather and found it too hot to go on after visiting the gardens. And to think not that long ago I was hiking Everglades National Park in nearly 90+ degree weather with 100% humidity. Oh, how spoiled we are here in Asheville.

Here are some of the gorgeous flowers in the gardens. Note to Mom: I laughed at myself once I realized I was obsessively taking pictures of the flowers because I always make fun of you for doing that every time we go on trips.