Back in the N.C.

The second leg of the East Coast Holiday vacation brought John and I back to the fine state of North Carolina. From Richmond to Wilkesboro we drove.....making it into town just in time for dinner with Jim & Patti and Jame & Audrey. I'm so bummed I didn't get any pictures that night; I have to admit I kind of slacked on photos. Friday morning we got all primped up for our engagement pictures (eek!) and then had a yummy lunch with Jim and Patti in downtown Wilkes before we were back on the road braving the rain onward towards Asheville. Friday night we had an important date with our buddies and the Avett's. First we grabbed pizza and a Pilot Mountain Pale Ale at my fav restaurant Mellow Mushroom and then headed to the Orange Peel for a sold out Avett Brother's concert.

The guys at the concert: JT, Peej, Will & Jason

Go Girls!!! Me, Hannah, Lizzy, Meg, Laurel, and Meredith
(John also attempted to make the photo...way to ruin it John...gosh!)

Saturday morning we regrouped with everyone for a lazy breakfast on Austin Ave which reminded me of some of my favorite times with friends. Girls in the kitchen and guys providing acoustic background finger pickin' music.

Like I said...girls hookin' it up in the kitchen

The soundtrack to the morning provided by the dudes

Believe it or not, next it was back in the car back for Wilkesboro. Of course we had to take the scenic drive and enjoy the views of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
And of course we couldn't drive through Boone and Blowing Rock without John wanting to stop and check out the boulders.

So of course we did and it was so great to soak in the smells and views of the Blue Ridge Mt's....I forgot how blue the mountains really are. Ahhh.... It was great getting to see everyone and I wish we had 10 more days so we could have visited even more.

More great blue ridge views. Above: the windy roads of the parkway and Below: me at sunset

Holidays in Viriginia

The first week of my 10 day East Coast Holiday vacation was spent in Richmond with the fam and John in Wilkesboro with his. I had a great time hanging out with the family, catching up on some sleep, and visiting with friends.

Jenn arrived Christmas Eve and then Kenny & Amber arrived Christmas Day and John later that night in time for Christmas dinner. I worked in a visit with Lori and John and I rallied late night and made it out downtown to the fan the day after Christmas to visit with my high school buddies. And we had a special visit / lunch with our good friends Steph and J as they were passing through Richmond on their way up to DC.

On the 27th John and I made the hike back down to NC for the rest of the visit.....more to come on that later.

Though Miles had to stay behind in San Diego (sniff sniff) I had to show off his new dog bed that Santa brought him....you should have seen the box it got delivered in! This is a real deal dog matress, with at least a foot of foam!

Christmas Eve luminaries on Worchester Road

Awww....Ken & Amber

Awww...Kenny & Dad (Wait a second!?!?!)

The Fam Shot

Straight Stylin' in our new jackets

Lucky lotto John!

Special visit from Steph and Jason to DC....the berries on the Dogwood were sooo pretty

You can never have too many shots by the Christmas tree

Quick Desert Fix

The weekend before John and I flew back to the East Coast for the holidays we took a quick day trip out to Blair Valley for a little desert action. The drive out there was pretty crazy because we drove right through some of the major burn areas from the the October wild fires. As we crested the hill on the 67 into Ramona you could see the burnt valley below. As we drove through the windy roads of Julian we'd see one house perfectly fine next to another lot that was scorched with nothing left. Pretty sobering and crazy at the same time. Once we got to Blair Valley it turned out to be a perfect day...warm temps and great climbing weather...at least till the sun started to go down. I even got brushed off the cobwebs and got on a few problems. John and I are looking forward to making a few more trips out to Anza Borrego this winter to take advantage of the winter desert climbing. Enjoy the scenery....hard to believe this place is just a little over an hour from our house!!!

The windy roads on the way to Julian. Notice how some trees are alive and green and others are brown and dead

Burnt hillside

Not so lucky :(

Suns out!!!! John on a warm-up problem

Checkin' and prepin' the boulder

John liked this one so much he did it three times

It's me on a boulder....this one was actually really fun

John on the same boulder I was just on