to the mountains we went

i love the mountains, they are peaceful and their beauty is captivating.  this summer we took a family vacation with my mom and stepdad, jack, to north carolina.  they used to take me there a lot as a kid.. i kind of forgot how beautiful it is there..how it feels to be surrounded by Gods mountainous creation.  this trip woke up my warm memories....so, up to the mountains we went..      

our week was full... packing in everything from gem mining, white water rafting, visiting an alpaca farm, hiking, campfires, playing in creeks, exploring cherokee and then wrapping it up with a family reunion in charlotte. below are some of the highlights of our trip. i took way too many pictures to share them all.

 the alpacas....

  

these are pics from the alpaca farm. these animals are SO so sweet and cute! they had just been sheared so they were all skinny looking:) we purchased some roving from this farm. my mom and i were on a felting kick during this trip.. it has kindof died off at the moment, but im anxious to start felting again..

ok.. i had to post one of these pics.. boiled peanuts.. they are everywhere.. people love them. they are kindof mushy for me though.. i like the kind you get from roadhouse or the ground round..and they let u throw the shells on the floor.  how fun is that???

we saw this indian show in cherokee, nc.  i loved the way their songs had that chanting beat.. it was really beautiful to see them dance and play the drums.

i love the worn moccasins and tattered ribbons on this guy..

more of their dance.

they asked if anyone from the audience would join them for a dance( only children went.. why do adults always shy away from this stuff??)  i was tempted.. but i wanted to take pictures of the boys dancing with them. so i stayed put, watching from the sidelines. and at the end of the dance they said whatever name the dance was.. and that all those brave enough to dance it would now live to be 100 yrs old. why did i sit out?!?!?  now i have to go back and do this dance sometime before i get to be too old.  hey, you never know!;)

this is duelio, feeding the cute duckies.  this cool mountain stream ran through town.  it was great to dip our feet in, hunt for smooth river stones and float in the current(lots of people tubed here).  this fun pit stop occupied us for two hours as we were waiting for the guys to finish golfing.. which i heard was amazingly beautiful.. but we unfortuantely dont have any pics of that little excursion:(

super duper cool bamboo forest we stumbled upon as we left the creek.

i cannot get over the skies.. everyone of them was just so brilliant.

this is kindof a little family joke.  my mom always talks about how she used to roast potatoes in camp fires when she was growing up.  unfortuantely, we dont do a lot of camping or make lots of fires.. so our opportunites to do this are slim.  i dont know if you can tell, but there are little balls of foil- wrapped potatoes deep in the glowing cinders of this fire.. we ate them for breakfast the next day, they were a little charred, but i really liked them:)

and here we have gem  mining, folks!  we actually did find some great stones.. but getting them cut and polished..thats another story..

duelio, hard at work..

i LOVE, love, love, love. love moss.. i love how it grows and creeps its way up and around anything in the forest. the green, so vibrant and foresty feeling. ahhh...:)

jack, pausing on our hike.. what is better than hiking in the mountains??

finding a cool forest mushroom on a hike-thats what! (they sure are pretty, no wonder people want to eat them) 

and a waterfall, of course!

"last of the mohicans" is one of my all time favourite movies.. i love these skies, bc they make me feel like im in the movie.

of course, i was dying to pick my own veggies at a farm.. so we stopped at this charming and ever- so- delightful little place, just perched up on the side of a mountain. what a happy little place for a garden:)

cole picking a watermelon

the boys picking grape tomatoes

and now, moving on to charlotte... unfortunately, i wasnt as good with taking pictures there.. but i do have a few!

as if it needs an introduction....but just incase some of you havent heard me go on and on about it.. ladies and gentlemen................ BUBBLE TEA!

dwill was upset they were out of "bubbles" so he had "jellies" in his.. poor little guy..

and you here have it.. a close up.  i just cant get enough of this stuff.. SOOOOOO good!  i owe this fascination and obsession all to the lovely, courtney reichely.  thank you, love.. yuuummmmm!!!!

and as all adventures come to and, this one did too.. back down the mountain we went.. back to our life by the sea..