and then I turned 35

We continued on with the annual tradition of renting a cabin for my birthday and bringing the girls. They tear it all up. They love the cabin, fire, leaves, hiking (to an extent), food, and staying up late. We invited the Dodds and they met us at the cabin (they moved to Asheville in May.)

We left early Friday morning and traveled to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, Georgia. It was about a 5 hour trip. The place was gorgeous! The cabins were huge and pretty nice. Nicer than the rustic cabins we stayed in last year. The canyon was super cool! The weather, super cold! Standing on the overlooks of the canyon was frigid, but beautiful!

We made some tacos Friday night, visited, and played some games. Saturday we drove to the entrance of the trails and hiked back to our cabin. It was a fairly easy hike. Addison had to be carried most of the way. We planned poorly and didn't bring any water, but I had a pocket of slim jims to munch on and we got icicles off the mountain walls. The girls thought that was a hoot! And then, and then, we got to the stairs. Oh the stairs. We probably walked 1 1/2 miles up stairs. Dern. Poor Michael had to carry Addison up most of them. I am in pretty good shape, but carrying a 28lb kid up a ton of stairs will wear you plum out. After we survived the stairs we made our way around the top of the canyon back to the cabin. The trail started getting busy around lunch time. We apparently were going against the flow.

We got back to the cabin, fired up the fire, and Addison down for a nap. Ella Kate went out in the forest and played. I so wish I could unleash her like that at home. Let her run free and wild like we use to when we were kids. Not in this day in age, not in Memphis. We may never see her again. Anne Marie said Asheville was like the park, no danger at all. So jealous. I don't let them out of my sight! She played on logs, leaves, made piles of them and jumped in them. She had a good collection of rocks and sticks going too. Michael ran back and got the car. We had some more friends from Chattanooga show up and we grilled steaks and visited. Then we hit the sheets and woke up and packed up and left! Good time had by all and fantastic to see our friends from a far!

Pics!

Strumming along.

Waterfalls.

Trying to get better at taking a family photo.

Canyon.

 

And then, I woke up at 3:30 early Saturday morning to go to the bathroom...had to adjust my eyes because I wasn't wearing my contacts and found this. I said holy poo and ran back in the room to get my phone and boot. Took a picture for proof, hit it with the boot, and pushed it under the sink and left the boot on for others to see. When Michael woke up I showed him the picture and he said Wow! Then I told him to go look under the boot. Then everyone looked under the boot and I finally threw him away. Crazy and a little scary. Needless to say I had a little trouble sleeping Saturday night! We didn't see anymore though.

Icy waterfall into an icy pond.

Pat and I.

Charades. I missed Pat's head.

Michael's present to me. I got a Yeti Hopper filled with Strawberritas and three boxes of slim jims. I am a fan of jerky.

 

I would recommend this place for kids, if they are a little older. Carrying Addison up those stairs was tough. Might have been better if we went the opposite direction we started. Going down is better than going up! They had places to camp in tents, back country camping, cabins, RV sites, and Yurts! I tried to get a yurt but they were all sold out. They looked really neat though!