Thanksgiving in the NC Mountains (pt 1)

Sunrise on Thanksgiving morning

This year we hit the road, with the other 11 million Americans, for Thanksgiving. We headed west on interstate 40 in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving morning. We were rewarded for waiting to travel - traffic was light!



We spent Thanksgiving Day in Marion with Paul's family. I had the honor of cooking with Margie - mixing/making the stuffing, chopping lots of fruit and roasting asparagus. Thanksgiving dinner was SO GOOD. After our meal, Paul and I took a walk around the property where he showed me all the old trails he and his brothers had made.


"The trail goes this way - no wait - that way - or over there..."

Quick picture taken before heading back up the house - an odd howling in the woods kept getting closer and closer...

Cool green stuff that covered the ground

We took a quick ride out around town and Paul showed me something new; the 1-lane Vein Mountain tunnel. We don't have such nostalgia in the big city.


Going in - waiting for the light to change


Coming back - a little like the twilight zone.


Sunset in Marion

On Friday morning we headed up to Asheville - once again traffic was fairly light and we saw some snow on the mountains.


Going up Old Fort Mountain - some color left on the trees


River Ridge exit of I-240

More to come! Christmas decorations and spring bulb planting calls!

Need to get in the Christmas spirit?

We plan to haul out our Christmas decor this weekend but in the meantime, I needed something to get me in the mood to decorate. Thank goodness for YouTube! I found these to be quite the inspiration! (Although I have to remember that Paul has that electrical engineer/PLC background that could lead to something similar - heee! highly doubtful though, the HOA wouldn't like it and energy to run it is too $$ for all that)



And 1 more

Fall in the 'burbs

I think we can say that fall has officially arrived. We had a couple of hard frosts, all our garden plants have been pruned/cleared and we've had to turn the heat on. But I think the tree color changes really prove it - check them out:

View from the front door


View from the laundry room


On my drive to work last week - we actually had some rain! (the following pictures I did take while driving with the monster Sony camera - very, very carefully)


It cleared up by the time I headed home




In the 'hood



On Saturday, we took a little hike to Blue Jay Point County Park. We wanted to see some fall colors and the level of the lake. Let's just say that Falls Lake looks really, really low. We even saw one boat stuck on a 'sandbar.'







Paul surveying the low lake level


A bridge & choice of paths


Lots of color in the trees




Driving back on Highway 98 - looking at the really low lake

Ouch! (gas prices)

Hello high gas prices! Just 2 weeks ago I was able to find gas for $2.63/gal (well, for regular any way). Today I needed to fill up my Subie and man, did I have some sticker shock!

At BJ's, with my membership card, it was $3.15/gal (for premium) and $2.98 for regular. Without the card, $3.06 and $3.25! Further down the road, gas prices were well above the $3 mark. Geeeeeeeeeez. It's not even close to Thanksgiving yet - when more people travel by car than any other day of the year. I shutter to think of what prices will be then...