Good day! Hope you all had a terrific weekend. I can honestly say - my weekend was just fabuloso!
Today is the first day of another year of wedded union. We celebrated our real anniversary yesterday with a day trip (if you will) just up the road to Hanging Rock State Park. It wasn't for a picnic or to lie beside a beautiful lake or feed ducks by a brilliant pond....no we went to sweat! What do we do on our anniversary? HIKE! Five miles! Up hill! ON ROCKS! It was a lot of fun.
This all came about a few months ago when my husband said we should go hiking one weekend. I was totally down but it was December and a little too chilly for me. Knowing we were going to get away for a proper celebration sans kids later in the season we opted for a little hiking venture on our actual anniversary. It was a great idea and fun experience. It was also sans kids...
Hanging Rock is in Stokes County (North Carolina) and from the view just moments from the Virginia line. The drive up was a little less than an hour. Our first trek was to see the beautiful waterfalls. I'm a sucker for a waterfall. I was expecting a couple rocks with a trickle (what I call a urine stream) coming down but was happily surprised at the falls that were offered. Not huge, not trickles, but very pretty.
My husband sucks at navigation so the fact that he held the hiking map was a bit unnerving. There was a lot of stopping and reading the folded paper in his pocket. I have a very short fuse named patience so I decided to just keep walking. Eventually, he saw the beauty of putting the paper in his pocket and leaving it there.
There are a lot of rocks, a lot of steps and a lot of briars on your way up to the top of Hanging Rock. It was interesting seeing the other hikers or walkers on their way up and or down the trail. I enjoyed those in the very nice attire who obviously thought it was going to be a flat, paved walk with an occasional pot hole. I also enjoyed seeing those who were dressed ready to hike the Rockies or live out their desire to be a ranger. I just wore my regular workout clothes and tennis shoes. The hubby was more GQ in his fleece pullover and jeans. After yesterday I can say Justin Boot Company did not create their boots for hiking - my husband may agree. He loves his Justins but not for this past time! My New Balances were perfect!
I'm not real sure what would possess one to bring a two year old to climb up rocks or to roll down rocks. We saw several very young children who probably would benefit from a kidzone more than a rocky adult playground. The mommy in me was screaming - THIS IS NOT SAFE FOR THAT BABY! I had to get a grip and realize I am not Mother Teresa and those kids have their own parents that are responsible for them. But still - lets use our heads before we take a 18-24 month old on a hike that is really rocky and a little too steep for a new walker. There is my PSA for today.
My husband made a great comment on how we humans are used to our elevators and escalators these days. There were a lot of people who looked like they may have decided to lay down and die as they made it 1/3 of the way up the trail. One woman, God bless her heart, was struggling. You could hear her heaving and you could see the white knuckles wrapped around her walking stick. With so much user friendly technology in the workplace, shopping mall, and well everywhere in our lives our bodies are shocked when we decide to venture somewhere that is so....dare I say retro? A place where we must rely on our muscles and bones and joints to get us to our destination and not a vehicle, a conveyor belt, or hydraulics. We also saw many people in their "extremely golden years" ready to venture up to the top. You had to smile at them and root them on. Then you had to pray they didn't fall and break a hip. On our way down Hanging Rock we passed a mama-to-be. I thought, "Yes, I have been in your shoes and I hope this hike helps you go into labor too."
Hanging Rock was a great place to get our hiking shoes broke in. I totally recommend it!
As we made our way up the hills we met loads of people and loads of dogs. I think we decided our next doggie will be a Boston Terrier. Some times people talk about kids on their anniversaries and the possibility of another child. Not us! Heck no our next kid will have four legs, a tail, and pant when it is hot!
The coolest part of our venture up and journey down was so many people we met along the trail were anything but locals! I imagine we heard all these languages in the course of three hours - Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and Romanian. That is pretty cool if you ask me.
Once we reached the top (my hubby and I kept saying "summit" because it is way cooler than saying "the top") we just had to stop and look around in stone silence (no pun intended). It is amazing to see the beauty of this land we populate from so high up (2300ft above sea level I believe). It was breath taking - Carolina Blue skies, evergreens, fields ready for the arrival of spring greenery, and a bright yellow orange sun giving it all a glow. Off in the distance was the skyline of Winston-Salem.
Something even more amazing was looking at the other people who were taking in the view with us. There was a young Asian man sitting on one of the rocks ahead of us (you'll see him in a picture). He was eagerly reading a book and taking pauses too stare out at the view ahead of him. The book? The Bible. He may be a new Christian or just discovering new religions he may have been raised in a church and trying to make some sense of faith....it didn't matter - just seeing him with that book on that rock was pretty powerful. I get a monthly newsletter from a religious group that supports the Christian ministry in Asia. So many countries there are totally against Christianity and those who want to worship in the Christian church must do so in secrecy or they will be killed. Knowing all this and seeing this guy here in North Carolina have the freedom to open a Bible and read it because he wanted to was enough to stir some emotion. He was reading Genesis. I think the story of creation and where he sat went together quite well.
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After we logged five miles we took the highway back to one of our favorite spots! Downtown Winston-Salem isn't huge and bustling and compared to most downtown's I have enjoyed exploring. It has plenty of room to grow and thrive. The cool part - from what I can se I think it is well on its way to doing just that. This area of town gets our business at least once a month. From Fourth Street Filling Station to Foothill's Brewery to Recreation Billiards we love the food and fun and spirits downtown!
Yesterday, I gained a new favorite restaurant downtown.
If you have a chance - and a hankering - for some seafood you need to venture to King's Crab Shack & Oyster Bar! The laid back, beach side-feel "hole in the wall" is a delicious gem of a seafood shack. You can sit at the bar or grab a table along the wall across from the bar. My hubs and I sat side by side at the table and watched the four big screens while downing some celebratory brews. The decor is upbeat and makes you drift off in a the wooden boat of sweet release on a calm sea.
Our service started a little hectic but ended up being superb. Onna was excellent! She had a great personality and kept it cool while she was being ran all over the place.
I am a crab cake connoisseur so I (of course) go the crab cake sandwich with fries. Yes - delicious. I devoured every single square inch in front of me. My husband got a King's Burger and he had nothing but lip smacking reviews (after he gave me the tomato on it....what is it with you people who are so afraid of maters?)
With it being our anniversary I had to get some dessert. I opted for the cheesecake thanks to Onna's recommendation and I was not disheartened. (Yes, our anniversary meal was spent at this wonderful spot!)
We will be back. And next time I want a t-shirt!!!
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I love my guy. I am happy we were put together and I am happy we are more in love now than we have ever been before.
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How are you doing with the time change? It always takes a little adjusting doesn't it? I am trying really hard to adjust but realize it will be next Monday before I am fully into the swing of things. I really wish this was the time we got to keep 365 days a year. I like my daylight!
And if this period of adjustment is too tough on you....today is National Nap Day. Apparently, if you nap the majority of today the time change WILL NOT negatively affect you. Having said that - try not to fall asleep in your cubical or patient's room....may not end to well for you.
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I had to theme up this week and I decided that a lot of us are in spring fever mode. Whether you had a great taste of spring over the weekend or you're just sick of winter - we all want some warm temperatures and sunshine a.s.a.p!
So this week we will be "Getting the Winter Out!" - this means making our foods more springy, our homes, and ourselves.
Here is what the daughter and I did on Friday!
We happen to have five thousand fireplaces in our home - ok just two. They are both closed up because we need to have them pretty much removed. Until we have them removed we have this awesome space for creative output.
On Friday we decided to Easter up the house. We cut out eggs and decorated them then cut some "grass" to put the eggs in. Using this unsightly area of our living room we fashioned a little Easter decor.....from the heart and tiny hands.
Do you have a place in your house you consider your own little eyesore? Doll it up! Even if you don't have little kids you can still do something creative with that space that makes it scream out SPRING!
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Did you watch The Bible last night? I cannot get over how many white people were around back in the day. I thought Moses was a little too white and now Saul is looking a little white as is David. I was pleased to see Samson was not white. Finally, a non white cast for the Bible! I am sorry I do not subscribe to the idea that the folks from back in the Bible days were pale. No, in my heart of hearts they were African, Middle Easterners, Asians, yeah I'm sure there were some whities but really people....whites had to be in the shear minority back then don't you think?
I love that this rendition of religion on tv is bringing it in for all people. I must admit last night I was crying over Samson - when Delilah showed up I wanted to poke her eyes out since I knew how the story would go.
We learned a good lesson last night - when you start putting people in power the good in them starts to fade away....and fast! Saul was a jerk. David needed his tail whipped. I know Solomon had his human flaws as well but I look forward to the third installment next week!
What are you enjoying about this mini series....if you are watching?
I must say that I knew there was a lot of fighting and saying "God told me to" back in the day but I still question whether God was really that into wiping out people. Just putting that out there. I have the view of God is the ultimate lover....as in loves us like no other. This of course is paving the way to Jesus - who would show the love like none other.
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Have an excellent Monday Fun day....stop rolling your eyes!
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Until we meet again -
Brownie
