Linville Falls....

We went camping at Linville Falls on the Blue Ridge Parkway last weekend. We left early Thursday morning and were at our site by about noon - giving us lots of time to set up. Hannah had brought a friend with her - I will call her M - and they spent loads of time exploring the campground on their bikes and catching minnows in the river.


And time in the camper - I believe massages were in order.


We had a nice evening dinner with grilled chicken and campfire pies (M's choice) .

On Friday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we headed out for a hike. We did the moderate loop to the falls. One thing about Linville, there are plenty of visitors since it is a major stop on the parkway.


Then we hiked to another overlook for an additional view. See all the people in the top - that was our first overlook.


Later in the day we went to Linville Caverns and on down the Parkway to check out another campground (hated it) then on a hunt for another loaf of bread. The 5 pies that Chris, Hannah and M ate the night before used it all up! Tonight, homemade ice cream in the ice cream ball was our dessert choice. Boy did that cause a stir in the campground!

I did head down to the stream that afternoon trying to find the girls. No girls but it was pretty down there.


Saturday found us heading back to the falls. This time we did the harder loop that went around the falls and down to the bottom of them. Here's a couple of views...


Saturday afternoon was spent getting a new battery - long story - and more bacon. Once again these 2 thirteen year old girls had eaten a pound of bacon for breakfast on Friday and a pound of sausage on Saturday. I had to restock!

Sunday morning was a leisurely morning - letting everyone head out before us. We even made pies for breakfast - a real treat - after consuming all the bacon, biscuits and eggs that is.

World Photo Walk...

Saturday was Scott Kelby's World Photo Walk where photographers around the world (about 30,000 of them) gathered in their local cities and walked the city taking photos. My local walk was in Charlotte and booked up. So I decided to do my own walk.

Since little ol' Denver is not exactly walkable, I decided to go to Davidson - a college town on the other side of the lake with lots of character. Besides, I've been wanting to visit their farmer's market for a while and I could accomplish both! I arrived at 730 am and walked around town and the famer's market till 9:30 am. Then it was time to go pick up Hannah.

My collage of images from the walk....

sunset boat rides...

Chris and I went out for dinner Tuesday on the boat. While coming home, the sunset was gorgeous but I did not have my camera with me. Missed photo op.

Wednesday night, we went out just to see the sunset. It was quite a bit cloudier but there was a thin break in the clouds at the horizon so we were able to see some color.


After the sun went down then the clouds lit up quite a bit more.



Thursday night we went out again...this time south on the lake. We rounded a point and saw this...


We just thought it was pretty darn funny, this helicopter hanging out over the lake.

Note: all images have had an HDR filter run on them to make them looks pretty darn cool. :)

and she is off...

On Sunday Hannah left for a week long camp in the NC Mountains.

She was going with her cousin Rachel. The campers meet in Charlotte, board buses and head to Lake Lure - about 1.5 hrs away. When the buses arrive, the campers run off the buses to find a cabin and bed to claim as their own.

All packed and ready to head out. I love this shot, even if I did have to beg for the smile...

Rachel arrives....look, she has new braces...

And waiting to load the buses...it is getting pretty darn hot by now....

She'll be back on Saturday!

the birthday boy...

Chris' birthday was last Sunday. Since we were taking H to camp on Sunday, we spent Saturday down at the dock celebrating, swimming and doing not much else.

Chris' present - an ice cream ball

Multi-tasking...rolling and reading...

Hannah pulled out our old snorkels and spent most of the day trying to get the hang of it...

Happy Birthday Chris!

a walk, a race, a swim and a new moon...

Last Monday night (while I was still toiling away at Montana photos) I decided it was a nice evening and we would all take an after dinner walk.

Hannah decided to ride her bike.

I love this photo - out of focus but she was trying to zoom by me....

Then she and Chris started racing....

This was taken on the driveway - just as we were deciding it was too nice out and we were going to head down to the dock....

Then a swim....well, they swam...

And watching the full moon rising in the sky....

and finally...just some misc pics

J&K's house - hidden up in the trees

Jim and Kris - strategy session (planning the Yellowstone route)

J, K & H checking the river for...what? Fish? Bugs? Acutally, I think they were testing the water since it is quite warm.
Danger....
I just liked this picture of Jim....
Another mini group shot...at the grand prismatic spring..For some reason, this shot just cracks me up. The distortion, the family all in a line, the look on H's face, whatever.
Another shot - looking out over the falls in the canyon.

And I have to end with me - taking a picture of me in the large circle window. You always have to have a blurry, out of focus self-portrait!

back in the saddle again...

So we just recently returned from our trip to Montana. My family met at my brother's house in Bozeman Montana for the week - our every-other-year-get-together. Since we had never been to his house, it was very cool to check out their little spot in the world.

First, I must say IT WAS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL there. It was so green, green all up and down the valleys. The Bro lives outside of Bozeman up a canyon, then you turn off and head up another wide canyon then onto his street which has a few 10 acre ranchettes on it. The later houses are on 40 acres so needless to say - lots of open room. He is surrounded by horses, trees, canyons and views. Lots and lots of views. Can you tell I loved the views. Really made me miss the west...until I envisioned it with snow....

What did we do? Hung out and visited, cooked, hiked, shopped, went to Yellowstone, went horseback riding, Hannah had her 13th birthday and hung out some more. When you only see each other every 2 years, there is lots of catching up.

J&K (the bro and his wife) did a wonderful job sharing their home and state with us. We all had a wonderful time and fell in love with Montana.

So I am going to post some pictures of Montana over the next week and will keep this post at the top for a while - new posts on Montana will post below as I add them.

Montana - yellowstone part 2

Day 2 in Yellowstone. After a group photo at the Old Time Photo Studio, we were back on the road. Brother Jim at the drivers seat (of our car) and Chris and Kris on animal watch:
A better shot of the eagle's nest - the same nest as the day before:Our first sighting of buffalo - there were many more and we pulled over for most of them but this was our first real sighting.
Me shooting my family shooting 2 buffalo at the end of a long walkway above the dragon's mouth:
Hannah's creative photo:
And the bro found us a herd of Buffalo in the Hayden Valley:
And this very large fellow created quite a stir, hanging out by the side of the road:We also saw a den of coyote pups frolicking in the meadow - but my photo too blurry to post.

There were other things to see -not just animals.

Dragons Mouth:

Going down to view the lower falls of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon (that is Kris and Hannah waiving up at me)

At the brim of the falls

Looking down river:

Okay, there was so much more that we saw and did but I am dragging this out and it is getting old to the blog readers and I figure most people reading this were the ones with me on the trip anyway!

I will post some misc. photos from the trip tomorrow and call this recap complete!

Montana - yellowstone part 1

We headed out bright and early Monday morning for Yellowstone. Well, as bright and early as 8 adults and 1 teenager can do.

We arrived in West Yellowstone, where we'd return to spend the night, then headed into the Park. Just about immediately, Chris spotted this on the side of the road.


Lets look at little closer...



And across the road was their nest. Now, there were no stopping signs along the road (which we obeyed, it was an eagle nesting area and protected) so this is from the car....



We drove on in, saw the elk (see previous post) and drove along looking for an available place to eat lunch.

Luckily we found this:



Next up....Old Faithful and about 300 geyers....