This year we went camping up near Franklin, NC with Hannah and Jimmy. My brother recommended a campground that he had stayed at before while surveying. All of this coincided with a visit from my Aunt and Uncle from Huntsville, AL who were visiting with David and Britta to meet Hazen. So, we all met up in Dillsboro for dinner and visiting late into the night (at least by some people's standards).Although the campsite/campground was not exactly what we had expected, it was still a nice quiet break from things down here. Lily and I stomped around in the river some and plopped rocks. Michael got the giant tent put up, which wasn't so giant with an airbed in it. I have discovered that camping is worlds better with an airbed- UNLESS it is about 50 degrees. In which case, the air IN the airbed is that cold as well. Even with a down comforter (yes I know, some camper I have ended up being) I was still chilly. I was sharing the comforter/mattress with Lily so I couldn't very well roll up like a burrito, which is what I wanted to do. Lily had her fleece jammies so she was ahead of the game.
Anyway, she was up until about 11pm Friday night, visiting and running us ragged at the hotel Aunt Janie and Uncle John were staying at on the river in Dillsboro. She passed out
in the car on the way back to Franklin. Fortunately we were able to get her dressed for bed without waking her. She looked completely unconscious though so I am not sure she would have woken up anyway. I wanted to take a picture of her but I knew the flash would wake
her for sure. We figured she would sleep pretty late considering her late night. Oh no.... 7:30am she was up... we had a hard time getting going, especially with the cold.
She ate a banana and sat around in the tent for awhile, poking into things.
Michael and I enjoyed speculating on
what retirement in a "retirement RV village" was like...we soon found out. By 8am the retirees' coffee had kicked in and they were up and about shrill-ly calling out
"GOOOOOD MORNING!" and "HAPPY FOURTH!" to one another as they busied about their RVs decorating and getting ready for the big "parade" later in the morning.
We walked down to make sure Hannah and Jimmy, who were located in a much more scenic area, were awake to enjoy it all too.
Later in the morning Lily and I watched the "parade" go around the gravel road that snakes through the campground. It consisted of a golf cart with the 2 Grand Marshalls, who no joke were wrapped in star garland. Following the gold cart were about a dozen walking "seniors" and 2 "hover-round" chairs (also decorated). All of these revelers were banging pots and pans, wind chimes, bike horns, whistles, and other loud items. Several had
their little purse dogs with them. It was quite a sight to see. Lily was just not sure what to make of it. She stared as it went by, then walked out onto the gravel to watch it go down the hill and around the bend.
After eating a bite, we decided to try to find a scenic area out near Highlands. I knew of a particular place that is just gorgeous but it turns out it was closed for updating the parking area, stairs, and walkways. So we ended up pulling over to see about a trail that went off into the woods. Jimmy and Hannah went to size up the situation....or so Hannah thought.
While on this mini-hike Jimmy proposed and Hannah came back sporting a lovely ring on her left hand.
After all of that commotion we went into Highlands for pizza. Highlands is very very different from the way I remember it 10-12 years ago. None of us had a high enough income to park along the main parking area....ha. It was pretty snooty.
We spent the rest of the day hanging around at the campground with David, Britta, and Hazen. After dinner we left and headed home. Lily had pretty much had it by that point, and so had we. She lasted about 4 miles and was out for the night.
Fortunately for us, I had thought to bring a 2nd set of jammies to put her in for the ride home. So, straight from the carseat to the crib once we were back at home.
Please go to album #2 for all the pictures we took.
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