Hiking to and past Winding Stair Falls

Last Sunday we took our first major hike with Shadow.  We decided to go some place remote yet familiar, so he had room to roam, learn and explore.  We hiked this trail last June, so it was good to see how things were changing for the fall.  I took a number of pictures with my camera and thought I’d share a few.  What’s amazing is that we got so caught up in the pictures and Shadow that we missed the side trail to the falls and added about an hour to the hike.  We came home tired, but I also know that many of the pictures would not have been made since they came from the trail beyond the falls. 

Enjoy the leaves…

the fungus…

the nuts….

and the water!

Shadow did great on the hike – especially at the rest areas!

Happy Day!

This weekend my husband and I were celebrating. Friday was my birthday AND our anniversary. We have a tradition of traveling somewhere for a weekend or a week as a mini-vacation. Each year we come back with a tree ornanment to mark the day. This year we headed to Highlands, North Carolina mostly because I had committed to perform with the Carolina Bronze at the Reserve on Lake Keowee.

Highlands is just an hour away. There are many waterfalls and great galleries. That makes for a popular destination for the summer and the colors in the fall. It is also quite beautiful in Decemember, but I do recommend dressing warmly. Today we went to see the Bridal Veil and the Callasaja Falls in the Natahala National Forest. There also was rain earlier this week so the falls were "roaring".

The Bridal Veil Falls are right on US 64 and there is even a portion of the road that passes underneath. With the cold the water was creating wonderful ice formations on the side of the rocks. I had taken a few pictures and James decided to make the drive under the falls. Any other time of year that would likely be a great idea. The falls always get the road wet. This time of year that can mean ice - black ice. So the Vibe started sliding and James put the breaks on. With a couple of attempts to get out, it only got worse. We are obviously too too citified! So, we started calling for help. Saturday was hard to find anyone. Finally a few people stopped to see the falls and wonderfully had a shovel so the ice around the tires could broken. With that, the Vibe came out beautifully. No harm, no foul!

Oh and before I forget - my present was an great encouragement for my tapestry weaving. James made 4 bobbins from his CNC class. He made the first out of polycarbonate from a rapid protoyper then the others out of Delrin from the CNC machine. His colleagues at Greenville Tech did not think the bobbins could be made on the CNC machine. He very proudly proved them wrong! I'm looking forward to using them over the holidays!