Comfort Suites Boone

Yeah, we woke up to no rain and partly cloudy skies! Our plan was to head to Beacon Heights on the first sunny day - so today was it. There were more cars in the parking area than normal - I guess because it is Saturday and the first sunny day in a couple of days. It was actually chilly when we got up so we were pretty bundled up when we started our hike. It's such a nice little hike to the Beacon Heights look-out. Just rocky and hilly enough for the kids ...

This morning I was sitting at the computer and, since it was mid-morning, was surprised to smell a skunk. The scent was fairly strong too. About a half hour later I saw our neighbor washing down her dog in tomato juice. Oh, oh. I guess it was second-hand skunk smell. Poor dog. It doesn't understand why it's been banished to the outdoors.

It's a cool day and looks like it may rain later. The creek is high from all the recent rains we've had.

It was another rainy day today, so we stayed in. The kids played downstairs a lot. There are bunches of toys that are all new to them, so they really enjoyed it. After lunch, we put Star Wars 2 in to watch with Caroline. We popped some popcorn too. A great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Some work had to be done on the well pump ...

... the Thursday night concert at the Banner Elk park. We went to one last summer too and it was really nice. They have vendors with food for sale and the playground and stream and there too. We let the kids play first and then we had dinner and sat and listened to the music.

... Grandmama & Grandaddy bought while we were in NC last summer) for the kids to float in the water and have boat races. They had a great time and got pretty wet too!

The afternoon was spent relaxing at the cabin, we even got a couple of rain showers. We had leftover night for dinner and then roasted marshmallows for smores on a little grill we bought.

... kids their own fishing poles - Princess for Caroline and Lightning McQueen for David Andrew. The kids could hardly wait to start fishing. We had to remind them they needed bait first. We decided to fish in the pond with the smallest fish to make it easier for the kids. The ponds are really well stocked - once you get the hang of it, you WILL catch a fish. Caroline was scared of the worms at first but by the end she was ...

... was beautiful too. The trail was next to a little stream most of the way.

When we got back into Boone, we had to stop at Walmart for some things. We went to Lowe's food store to buy chicken breasts, barbeque sauce, peas and scalloped potatoes for dinner. We also had to buy some french bread to try out our butter we got at the Ashe County Cheese store. Dinner was great!

... which is nothing after our recent road trip to Albuquerque. We had to stop almost as soon as we started in Commerce GA to get lunch. Then we got back on the road. The trip was going well. Around Spartanburg SC, I felt David slow down on the highway and then I heard the screeching - then I saw the blue car spinning out in front of us. It was the scariest moment of my life, I was sure we were going ...

... As the road dropped down to a single lane, a narrow single lane at that (I could see Toad in the camera that watches him from the rear of Bree, filling the space between the centre double yellow line and the white line at the verge) there was barely enough room for Bree, who is 3' wider. All was well until an oncoming truck didn't keep as far to his own side as would have been mannerly and we momentarily went onto the minute ...