Since both Kris and I had July 3rd off from work we decided to take a little road trip to a place called Highlands about 70+ miles south of Asheville. We had been told it was pretty so after a bit of research we decided it would be a great place for some hiking. It took about 4 hours for us to drive there. We originally thought we might try to stay over night but when we arrived and saw how busy it was we decided that we'd probably just drive home in the evening. This first waterfall we stopped at is called Bridal Veil Falls. It doesn't really compare with the one in Provo but it was pretty and kind of cool that you can drive under it.
Our first hike was Whiteside Mountain. It is a landmark along the eastern continental divide. It was a 2 mile look and you wouldn't believe how many funny looks I got for being out hiking with this baby in my tummy. I heard several say "oh my gosh" and "did you see that pregnant girl?" etc. It was fun and the mountains were quite pretty. This isn't quite into the Smokey Mountain National Park but they do consider it as part of the Smokey Mountain area.
Then we went on a little jaunt to the Whitewater Falls. It was 1/2 a mile from the parking lot to this view point. This waterfall is the highest east of the Mississippi River at 411 feet tall.
We had a nice little family take our picture after going down some 100+ stairs to this next view point. The little girl in this picture said to me "you look like you are going to have a baby." To this I replied "your right, I am." Then she wanted to be in our picture so of course we let her. Who wouldn't want to be in our picture;).
She also wanted to continue hiking with us. Her dad said no and of course she was very disappointed until her dad said they were going to the boat. Well, needless to say, I didn't think that 1/2 a mile was far enough of a hike since we had come all this way so we decided to hike down to the river bottom, a "strenuous" 1 mile.
It was kind of steep and there were quite a few roots and some stairs along the way but it wasn't bad going down. We were told to remember that we had to come back up though.
At the river there were other stares but it was sure nice to put my feet in the nice cold water. The hike back to the top wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. I just went slow and steady and it only took us about 35 minutes to get back to the top, even with stopping a couple of times for water. It was well worth the effort.
This was called Dry Falls. It was right off the road. Here's another belly shot for those who like that sort of thing. I was 32 weeks and 2 days here.
Back in Winston there was an Independence Day flag football game where families were invited to come watch. This group of guys gets together every Saturday to play. This was Kris' first time going and he got some pretty good battle wounds. Afterwards we went to our friend's house and had a barbecue. Kris made good ole Sanpete turkey barbecue. It was tastylicious.
Our final destination was Lewisville for the fireworks. There were a bunch of people from our ward who met there so we joined them. You can't tell from the picture but we had a giant tree blocking our view at first. It's to the left of this firework. All in all it was a great weekend.
Just hanging out on a blanket.
I think he looks pretty big in this one.
You talkin' to me?
A few pictures of our "garden" that we have growing on our upstairs deck. It is looking a little sad, but the peppers and tomatoes are doing well.
This is the baby's half of the spare bedroom. We have some pretty nice borrowed stuff, from even nicer friends. Thanks go to the Jackson's and the Kinlaw's. Airplanes is the main theme, we think it turned out great.
Our first hike was Whiteside Mountain. It is a landmark along the eastern continental divide. It was a 2 mile look and you wouldn't believe how many funny looks I got for being out hiking with this baby in my tummy. I heard several say "oh my gosh" and "did you see that pregnant girl?" etc. It was fun and the mountains were quite pretty. This isn't quite into the Smokey Mountain National Park but they do consider it as part of the Smokey Mountain area.
Then we went on a little jaunt to the Whitewater Falls. It was 1/2 a mile from the parking lot to this view point. This waterfall is the highest east of the Mississippi River at 411 feet tall.
We had a nice little family take our picture after going down some 100+ stairs to this next view point. The little girl in this picture said to me "you look like you are going to have a baby." To this I replied "your right, I am." Then she wanted to be in our picture so of course we let her. Who wouldn't want to be in our picture;).
We got to the game about the 3rd or 4th inning and our new team was really having a great night. The score got to 12-1 I think.
Then in the top of the 7th inning, just moments after they did a "no rain" dance...
Fortunately everyone decided to leave when they saw the dark clouds so we were able to get under the spot where we wouldn't get wet to see about waiting it out. Well, it only got worse so we left too. We didn't own umbrellas at the time so we got a bit wet heading to the car but it was a good time and we might consider going again.
It was fun to be in the front, I didn't have to work as hard as Kris to keep us going straight;). This was shortly before I got him pretty wet.
I guess the only bad thing was that the lifejackets were a bit dirty and so my white shirt (already previously stained) was stained from the "brown" stuff on the lifejacket. Oh well, that's why I picked that shirt and not a nicer one.
Carver making faces.
Maddie & Carver
Russ and Oliver
New baby Nicalee (p.s.-I made the blanket she is laying on)
Maddie
We spent one night down in Provo up at South Fork park and had a delicious dutch oven dinner and peach cobbler. Here is Jason & Josh.
We also got to go to "Treasure Island" at the Hale Center Theatre because they decided to add an extra row of seats at the top. My cousin Skyler had one of the main rolls. It was awesome!
Here is a shot of the back side of Timp and Deer Creek reservoir taken from the car while we were out and about enjoying the beauties of Utah.
We had a great time at home and I'm glad that we could come. It's never long enough when you go somewhere to visit. Sorry for not being able to visit with everyone and seeing others longer than we did. I guess we'll just have to come back again sometime.
Here is some crazy pregnant lady who thought it would be cool to do a bit of wake boarding herself. Too bad the life jacket was so big, you can't even see how much fun Little Foote was having.
We went on morning walks to see what was on the other side of the mountain...some more of the lake. This is looking into Halls Bay.
Ahh, the Graylady. So many wonderful memories.
Oops, we went for our usual Sunday boat ride and we came across this boat that didn't see this sand bar and got stuck. Yeah, I know, we are rubber neckers but who can resist a kodak moment like this.
This pose is for all those who want to see that I really do have something growing in my tummy.
Here is Kris showing his skills.
Thanks Dad for taking us to Lake Powell every year. It really is my favorite place on earth. I don't think I'd like to live there but I sure do love to visit.
Here is us at the top of Mt. Jefferson. We did have to hike a little to get to this point.
