One good weekend......

My mom & I incorporated an early mother's day mountain trip in to my sis-in-law's sister's wedding (got that?!).  We couldn't have ordered a better weekend.  The air was cool, the forrest was green, and unbelievably relaxing.  

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera to the wedding, so I only got these two pics with my phone.  Eli & Ollie were perfect little angels.

If you've never been to Lake Rabun, plan a trip right now.  It is AMAZING.... truly feels like you're in Europe.  The wedding was at Lake Rabun Hotel which was equally as charming.

We spent the rest of the time at the lovely Beechwood Inn in Clayton and tooling around the Smokies.

Part II
And the trip continues..... we (Lauren & Kelly) spent an afternoon at Glenwood Hot Springs. I have a thing about public pools, so I was a little resistant when I realized the hot springs were suspiciously similar to one.  Thank goodness I got over that because before I knew it Kelly had me laughing and riding water slides.  See, it really was camp for big kids.

This is the only evidence I have of what the boys did that afternoon.  

Looks pretty innocent, huh?  Oh, Charles (right) had a bum ankle as well, so he was also on a crutch!  

Our last full day I spent tearing up the mountain on a snowboard did one run on the snowboard.  One.  I had a wonderfully patient teacher, but I just wasn't feelin' it & I made it known.  So we joined the boys at the base to enjoy the sun, some fun, and a great little band instead.  

The evening brought an impromptu build-your-own pizza party.  Kelly is a member of their local CSA, so we had an amazing spread.  She also makes her own dough... SOOO good.  

After a little relaxing we mournfully made our way to the airport, but not before a little stop...

I've always wanted to see a show at Redrocks, so I almost jumped out of my seat when there was mention of making a little detour to see the amphitheater.  There wasn't a show to see (other than a weird mix of people exercising), but "the rocks" sure were something to behold.  

 And that's a wrap.  What a trip....I am so thankful we decided to go.

Spring Camp for Big Kids.....

That's where we've been.  We had an amazing time in Colorado & the airport was mostly uneventful.  The fine folks at Airtran had a wheelchair ready for us at every stop & gave Trent an extra seat for the ol' boot.  Only one time was I left to roll ALL of this:

They don't call these mountains the Rockies for nothin'

We kinda had separate vacations, but we were both as happy as can be with that arrangement.  Trent hung out with his childhood friends, Michael & Charles.  I went on several adventures with Kelly.

By far, my favorite thing was a hike to Hanging Lake.  Though a bit treacherous at times, the hike led to what I would seriously say is one of the top 5 coolest things I've ever seen.  I loved it so much it's going to get the rest of this post.  The pictures don't do it justice.

What we found at the end of the hike....

The hanging lake was gorgeous, but climbing a little higher led us a to an ice stalagmite that was breath-taking.

 Part II coming soon......

Hopefully we'll have gotten through the airport without a hitch and will 

be hanging out with this guy by the time this posts.  

Oh, and these guys, too.... we're so excited to have the opportunity to hang out with good friends and take in the Rockies!

Mini-Vakay

We're fresh off the road from a trip to the lake that I didn't even know I needed.  I took my camera with big plans to capture the event, but the weather was so nice I only thought about enjoying it.  This picture is the view from the deck that I took back in the fall.

I clocked in a lot of hours here chatting with the fam, reading, thinking.  It was warm enough outside that  we canoed in short sleeves.  The one & only picture I took this weekend was from my phone...  

(Sorry about the dog in bed thing Mom... I put the sheets in the laundry before we left)

I'm refreshed & ready to take on the week now!

And here's a barnboard, just because I'd like to pretend I got some painting done.

This past week I drove through uncharted territory on my way to a customer's house (for my day job).  The country views were exquisite... I almost ran off the road several times trying to take it all in.  I would have killed to have my camera.  As I continued to drive I entered Hard Labor Creek State Park.   I've always heard of it, but didn't realize how close it was.  Trent & I had been kicked around the idea of camping for a few weeks, so I decided this was our destination.  

Saturday morning we loaded up all our gear- I made sure the camera was within reach.  Trent didn't know I planned on pulling over 20 times on the way there for photo ops.... I knew he'd grumble.  So, I see my first subject in the distance and ask him to slow down. He's compliant.  I hop out and snap one picture and the camera dies.  No big deal, I always have a spare battery with me.  But I soon realized that I neglected to charge the back-up and there was no back-up for the back-up.  Errr.

I pouted as I watched the views go by before I thought about the old camera phone.  Score!

The quality is poor, but I did manage to get a few shots before it also died.

 We had a sweet little campsite with the lake in view.  Trent cooked up some good grub.  

We did a little exploring.  It's hard to beat a spring weekend in Georgia!