Fall in Carolina

When we made the move home to Florida, I told David that we had to return to the NC mountains every fall.  Well, unfortunately, we missed last year.  But this year, we made up for it with an extra long visit!  The leaves were starting to turn, the weather was cool, but not cold...it was perfect.  So perfect, that I had a hard time packing up and leaving.  As soon as we got to our cabin, Nature's Nest (right between Blowing Rock and Boone), I burst out in tears of happiness.  Here was the view from our front deck.

The boys loved every second of the trip.  We spent our mornings hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  And we returned to our amazing "home" to rest in the afternoons.  Laura, Mike and Bennie joined us for part of the weekend, which was so much fun!  And we got to spend an evening catching up with Gardner, who lives in Boone.  

Cohen became such a little "mountain man."  He could have spent the entire trip on the hiking trails.  He picked leaves to take home for every friend in his class.  

Bennie has grown-up a lot!  We can't wait to see her again over Thanksgiving!

 

Driving along the Parkway

 Hiking around Price Lake

 Bathroom Break in the woods

 Back at our cabin

 Buzz joined us on our hike down Cascade Falls

 Blurry family picture at Cascade Falls

Hen would get tired about half-way through our hikes, so I either had to carry him on my back or David had him on his shoulders.

Cohen's class has been talking about orchards, and he begged us to go apple picking.  We found Orchard at Altapass about an hour away from our house.  The boys loved this "adventure."

 

 Downtown Blowing Rock is adorable.  The park is one of my favorites, so we had to take the boys!

 Morning fog at our cabin

 Some mornings, the fog was so heavy, we could barely see a few feet in front of us when we were driving up the mountains on the Parkway.

On our last day, we hiked Linville Falls.  It is breathtaking.  The welcome center was closed due to the government shut-down, but luckily, we found a back entry to the hiking paths.

 There are no words or pictures to due it justice.

 Another bathroom break

One more visit to the park on our last night

 We went to Canyons on our last night for dinner.  The view is spectacular.

It was one of my favorite trips we've ever taken.  A huge chunk of my heart longs to be in NC...but it is hard to beat the beach and being close to family.  We are looking forward to planning our next visit...very soon!!  If you want to look back on our last visit to Blowing Rock, click here.