Glamping in Pisgah

Over Memorial Day weekend, Barb, Cricket, Lula, and I went camping in Pisgah National Forest.

This is the same place where we camped two weeks ago. In an earlier version of this blog post, I provided busy readers with links to blog posts about that trip, but now blogger is refusing to cooperate. Therefore, interested readers will have to scroll down.

I apologize for the inconvenience, you lazy bastards.

Kidding! I'm kidding! You're all wonderful people.

All three of you.

Anyhoo, here are two images from a day trip 10 miles away from our campsite at DuPont State Forest. I'm obliged by NC law to inform you that scenes from the Hunger Games were shot here.

Young Katniss

High Falls, DuPont State Forest

Us
No affiliation to the Hunger Games

Back at the campsite, for the entire weekend, a giant carpenter bee hung out around our fire pit. And in our mess tent.

Mostly in our mess tent.

Dealing with him when he buzzed so close to my face I could swear he was a drone, I adopted Cricket's Zen attitude: "Doesn't care."

Barb, on the other hand, was a little less than calm. We'll leave it at that.

Friendly Bee

But enough about my lovely wife, who as always, did a great job packing and prepping food. And is a lovely person. With great hair.

Enough. Let's talk about the lady.

Lula.

As you can see, after passing out from yet another "forced march," Lula didn't seem to care about anything.

Yet again. 

Cricket and Lula

at the campsite, from inside the tent 

On Saturday, out on the North Slope trail, Lula needed a break. As usual, she silently sat down on the trail. That's how she signals: I'm done.

This was the scenery. 

Pisgah National Forest

The following day, Sunday, on our way up to John Rock, Lula ran out of gas early. Really, really early.

Like, rully.

Luckily, I now carry her bike papoose with me. Just in case.

Because Lula

View from John Rock

That's it for now. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

I'm off to apply apple cider vinegar and baking soda paste to the poison ivy oozing out of my left wrist. And my right forearm.

And my chest.

Backyard update

The tree stays in the picture

It's been a while, so it's time for a... backyard update!

(Applause!)

First, we've been enjoying backyard veggies for more than a month now. As you can see in the foreground of the picture above, the grow tower has been cranking out the greens for quite some time.

Quite, indeedilus.

Second, in the background of the picture above, you can see that the pine tree our neighbor asked us to cut down is staying. For good.

(Applause!)

Third, my parents were here last week. Being the world's greatest parents, they bought us another housewarming gift.

Yep. Fire pit.

Let the flames begin!

Last Saturday at dusk was an auspicious time: The inaugural lighting of our awesome new fire pit!

Although it's technically still under construction, I heard more than one person say, "Can I have another cider?"

I also heard, "Yes, Scoop, the fire pit is kick ass."

In attendance was me, Spring, Molly, and Barb. Cricket was around somewhere, but Lula and Clover had to stay at home.

Because fire.

(Applause!)

Idiocy & graveyards: More camping pictures

"Hey, what about Major Kong?"

Following the North Slope trail at Davidson River, we passed underneath the beautiful fallen log pictured above. I swear to god, I tried not to do a Dr. Strangelove pose. It just naturally came out.

Repeatedly.

Further down the trail, we came across an old-timey cemetery.

"I see dead people."

"Just ring the f***ing bell, you pansy."

The great thing about the Davidson River campground is that there's hiking available for all level of hikers. Most of the camp sites actually have little trails that hook up with the main trails that head up into the national park.

There's also swimming, fly fishing, churching - all sorts of fun for the kids!

"Daddy! Wait! Who's gonna hold your hat?"

"In our family, there was no clear line between 
religion and fly fishing."

We love Davidson River so much, we're headed back Thursday night for Memorial Day weekend.

Leave a comment if you know what movies the quotes are from!

First NC camping trip

Girls who don't want to see bears, 

please head back the other way

Our first camping expedition from our new home in Asheville was a huge success! We headed about 30 miles south to the Davidson River Campground in Pisgah National Forest.

There are so many great pictures and stories, I'm going to dedicate this entire week to blogging about the trip.

Sound good? I thought so.

The first story I'd like to share is what happened when Cricket the mountain dog and I went for a two-hour hike Friday afternoon.

A few miles away from the Art Loeb trailhead, pictured above, Cricket and I were having a ball. We'd been completely alone in the thick, green forest the whole way. Suddenly, at a point where the trail is completely covered by a canopy of green, a 200-pound black bear popped out of the forest, sat down on the trail, and started scratching himself.

Cricket, being the super-social guy he is, wanted to say hi. I was still registering the fact that a bear was 20 yards in front of us when said bear turned and looked at us.

I started to raise my arms to appear as large as possible, but the bear immediately took off into the forest.

That's when Cricket realized how big the bear was. For the next 10 minutes or so, he was pretty wound up. But no harm, no foul. Onward and upward. Jazz hands!

The second story from Friday is all about burgers. Burgers and a total deluge of rain.

Yep. Half-way through cooking dinner on our open fire, the sky opened up.

Man, oh man, did it pour. But we saved the burgers!

Guess who forgot to bring a second pair of shorts?

That's all for now. 

Stop by tomorrow to see what other kind of idiotic things I'm capable of. Anything's possible.

Another Asa picture

East bound and down
Or: Scoop wif a hair hat

The other day, I was driving to the local Buncombe County Transfer Station. I was headed there to throw away some windows that had been sitting in our "garage" for the last four months.

After more than 125 days, I had finally come to the realization that the guys who said they were going to pick up the windows weren't coming.

They were never coming.

They installed our new metal roof and our relationship was over. That was it.

Maybe I left myself open to be a little misled about the commitment to the windows. The washing machine. The holidays.

Whatever. It's fine.

It's fine, okay?

Cranking a hot right turn down a hill in our little car/go cart on the way to the transfer station, I suddenly found myself thinking about Burt Reynolds in 1977's best movie, Smokey and the Bandit.

Mostly because of the picture Asa just gave me.

See? It's not all bad. I still have my little buddy Asa on my side!

"Dis is you wif a hair hat, Scoop," Asa said.

I couldn't help but notice that I looked like a certain movie star and his TA. You see, Asa knows who he's dealing with.

Senor Awesome Neighbor, that's who.

My running route,
two miles from downtown

As I drove through the hills, I followed my running route. I love my running route. It's on a greenway - one of Asheville's many multi-use paths used for recreation that typically occupy stream and river corridors. This particular greenway follows a stream that feeds into the French Broad River.

Regular readers will recognize the French Broad as the world's third-oldest river.

That's right, the third-oldest river in the world! It's true!

Like the Bandit with Jackie Gleason on his tail, I shot underneath three-story tall highway underpasses, forgetting that I had a stack of breakable junk sticking out of the back of the car.

VROOM! VROOM! VROOM!

Wow. I hate driving.

Like really, really hate it. But every once in a while, I'm smart enough to realize the limitations of a backpack and my bike.

Suddenly remembering my precious cargo, I reached behind me to make sure I hadn't spilled it all over the road. I've done that too many times in the past.

But we won't get into those road closures right now, because...

East bound and down, 18 wheels a rollin'!  

I'm gonna do what they say can't be done!

Okay, maybe not. 

Basically, I drove some old-ass windows to a dump. But in my head, I was the Bandit. 

Or maybe a little bit like the Sally Fields character. You know, breaking free from a toxic relationship. ...And maybe driving through a little league game or two. 

Whatever.

Other runners on my route

Anyone wanna come over and pick up a washing machine?

If you do, you'll have a standing invitation to Thanksgiving dinners!

Backyard camping

Here comes Lula!

We did a test run yesterday. It only took us about 20 minutes to set up the tent.

"There were only about fifteen seconds of tension," my current wife happily announced to our neighbors.

It gets a little chilly at night here in the mountains, but our sleeping bags definitely passed the test.

Fairyville. 

Lucky in Fairyville

Yep

The other day, our wonderful neighbor Spring gave Barb a four leaf clover.

"I find them almost every day," she said.

Doesn't surprise me. Because, you know, we live in Fairyville.

I'll look for some when I pitch our tent in the back yard tonight. Time to get ready for camping season!

Honestly, there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think about how lucky we are to live in Asheville.