Vacation

HI!

Long time...no post. I have been "out of range" for a few days, but now am back in civilization. My wife and I took a quick trip to Hot Springs, NC! It's a wonderful town of about 600 just outside of the Tri-Cities. And it's ture about being "out of range." Hot Springs has NO cell phone service. So, if you've ever wondered what you did before cell phones. Go to Hot Springs! It will remind of a simpler, and most wonderful time. Through the mountains, it only takes a little more than an hour, and it is well worth it.

The two of us stayed in a chalet at the Creek Ridge Campground (www.creekridgecamping.com) Wonderful accomodations! The grounds are right on a wonderful creek complete with fun rapids that you can tube or "body surf" through. It also had a couple of nice trails...and the people (owners and empolyees) were some of the kindest people on the face of the earth. We felt like family after meeting them for 30 seconds. We also met a family from Atlanta! Theywere SO neat and wonderfully kind, too. There were four children and they were just making memories for a few days...no need to go to some fancy place...just spending time together.

A few of the other things we did were to raft the French Broad River and to actually visit THE Hot Springs. We went rafting with a local company called Huck Finn. We only did a half-day trip, so our rapids went only up to Class 3, but it was a great trip. Our guide, Dan, was a nice guy who lives in Hot Springs most of the year and then heads to Cincinnati to sell Christmas Trees during the winter. He also is a major history whiz, and we found out that he was a new Daddy to 18 Day old (now 20 days old,) Aria...Our raft buddies on the trip were Kay and Susan, who are involved with education, and so Meredith had a great time receiving teaching advice from both them. They were so nice, and a lot of fun. You could tell they love adventure!

After the day of rafting and fun, we were able to soak our now sore muscles in the mineral water. It was very nice, and relaxing. If you've never done that before, I recommend finding a spa and trying it. Something neat, also, was that you were able to head to their drinking fountain and bring (or buy) a jug to take some of the water home with you. We did. It comes out hot, but after being the fridge for a bit...it is really some great water!

Finally, after stopping at Steady Eddy's for Coffee, we did something that I never knew I would have the chance to do. We went berry picking at a local organic farm. It was really fun! You grabbed a basket, filled it to the brim, weighed and payed. We took home about 7lbs. of blackberries (Meredith's favorite!) YUM! They are so good. Of course, we made some Blackberry Cobbler, and this morning I made some Blackberry Syrup (Weight Watchers Friendly, too) for our pancakes...and we still have plenty to snack on!

So, if you get the chance to "get away" for a few days, I would recommend staying close by or at least looking close by...we are so blessed to be in this region. Blessed by it's beauty, it's people, and the amazing fun you can really have.

CH