Mostly because my entire life there has been some sort of mountain, or significant hill very near my home. Here there is NOTHING! Only trees as far as the eye can see, which isn't very far because the view is blocked by trees :) Unless you manage to find some sort of rise. We found Crowder "Mountain". I had to use "" because it's really just a big rock sticking up out of the ground, but hey it gets you above most of the trees so I'll take it. And it is the ONLY "mountain" within miles.
We had a little picnic lunch before heading up . . .
UP the trail . . .
My first view above trees in months!
The trail we took was 1.8 miles to the top. The last 1/3 of the trail was about 1,000 stairs . . .
Luckily they had lots of benches to rest on . . .
We took the dogs. Cherry did fine but I really thought Chance was going to have a heart attack! He was seriously huffing and puffing and wheezing, poor old man, fat dog!
At the top!! I could have taken a panoramic and the view would be the same, miles and miles of FLAT! It was so nice to be above it all! I can see how it is going to be a great hike in the fall and spring too, so many colors. We hiked it in February, so still winter technically . . .
I've mentioned before my kids are my biggest readers of this blog. They narrated their lives and tell me what the posts should read with the pictures. Ryan wanted this one to say "Here is Ryan almost falling down the huge cliff, only hanging on by one hand!"
More view . . .
Queen/King of the rock . . .
This fallen tree was just too tempting to walk past . . .
Ryan, "Hey mom take a picture of me jumping in the air and it will look like I'm falling down a huge cliff" . . .
Or maybe not . . . .
Water break. . . .
No we don't let the kids suck on our camel pack, because . . .well I'm sure you can imagine why not, so we improvise . . .
It was a fun afternoon, not to far from the house and a much needed get away from all the danged TREES! I'm not anti-tree it's just when they are every where you turn for miles and miles and miles being in the middle of them day in and day out feels claustrophobic and its nice to get a break from it.
The roads are another thing I'm not digging here. All are very narrow and there is no shoulder. YOu have the road which is barely big enough for two cars to pass each other, the white line painted right on the edge on the side, then dirt. The roads are pretty windy and they don't use road reflectors so if you are driving at night or in the rain, it is all just a sea of black in front of you, very scary. The speed limit on the side streets is mostly 45 miles per hour, which feels WAY to fast to me, considering the windiness and narrowness of the road. I'm pretty sure all North Carolina cars drive with their brights on at night too. Just switch them on and leave them on . . .I don't love driving here at night if you can't tell :)
The highways/freeways are nice though. Not paved well and more pot holes and sink holes then I have ever seen, and they get new ones all. the. time. but even with as many cars as there is on them, it never feels rushed or crowded, except in rush hour, then it just feels crowded. The drivers are very courteous and drive relatively slow for big city traffic, I like that!
The weather has been pretty great! It has been a really wet, cold winter for them but it all feels normal to us. It does rain here more then in southern Oregon. Probably at least 1 or 2 days in every week since we've been here it has rained all day long. I mentioned before the "snow days". Well even after those we got even MORE snow and more snow days. The second storm felt really legitimate to me. I think the grand total was 4 or 5 inches.
Charlotte completely shuts down with that kind of snow. We were home bound for about 4 days, no school or anything. We had taken our snow tires off and the roads were not plowed anywhere so we really were stuck. Terry didn't even go up town to the office.
After day two we all started to go a little stir crazy. I told the kids we were having a run day. They each had to get on the tread mill and run. I told the older kids they couldn't get off until they had gone at least a mile. The two little girls I didn't really put a distance on. I told them all I didn't care how fast or slow they went, they just had to stay on until they reached their miles.
Janie ended up doing a full mile and Jilli did about .25 miles. In all the kids and I totalled 10 miles that day! We decided we wanted to attempt at Davis Family Marathon. Everybody take turns running until we reached 26.2. I guess we better do that soon if I am going to be able to contribute more then just a couple miles :)
Ryan showing off a bit . . .
Backwards running . . .
Raegan is walking here. She ended up doing 2 miles. Yup, in that outfit :)
The next day the snow inspired the kids to re-enact our Davis Dare we do every year in the woods of Oregon at the cabins we love to stay at once every winter. We didn't get the chance to go this year but the kids wanted to make sure we did something crazy in the snow. This is what they came up with
I wasn't feeling quite so adventurous this year. So I showed my support by standing at the door in my fuzzy warm socks and sweats and hoodie with the camera and cheered and took pictures. Then made everyone hot cocoa with marshmallows :)
The house we are renting sits on 2.5 acres so there are a lot of woods around us. The kids quickly scouted out a "fort" near the back of the property. They spend lots of time out there. Snow days included. Here they are headed out to it. I actually can't see them from the house when they are all the way back in their fort . . .to many trees :-/
So it has either been freezing cold here or it's raining or its just really pleasant and lovely. We have enjoyed quite a few lovely, and pleasant days. There is a green way biking/jogging trail near our house. We have been on it probably at least one day every week since we've been here. It's our Sunday walk destination, Saturday roller blade/bike ride destination and Jilli and I go often durning the week while the kids are at school. The trail totals about 20 miles of boardwalk and paved trail. It really is great! I've only taken pictures of one of our outings . . .
And finally here are some pictures of the new digs! We live at the end of a dead end street. Our drive way is LONG! You can't even see teh house from the beginning of the drive way! I took these pictures at around 7 am.
This is the view just approaching the drive way. There are three driveways at the end of this road, ours si the middle one . . .
And right at the driveway
Still more drive way . . .
And theres the house . . .
Here are some pictures of the yard around the house from the same early morning photo shoot . . .
Here are some pictures from just yesterday around 5 pm
The field across from the house
Looking down the driveway
Front yard . . . no grass
More front yard
Backyard
Inside Now :)
The rooms aren't clean or organized, but if we waited until that was done, you would never see pictures on this here blog :)
Music room . . .
From the front door up the stairs . . .
the same hall looking the other direction . . .
Junk room, I mean Toy Room . . .
Toy room from the door off the kitchen . . .
Kitchen . . .
MOre Kitchen and Dining . . .
Sun room . . .
Living Room . . .
Girls room . . .
Girls Bathroom . . .
BOys room . . .
I didn't snap a picture of the boys bathroom. Your not missing anything, promise.
There is another bedroom upstairs too that I didn't take a picture of.
This house has tons of closets down the hall ways which is really nice.
Laundry Room . . .
Master Bath . . .
Master Bedroom (on laundry day) . . .
Family Room . . .
And there you have it. This is where we hang in Charlotte :)
COme Visit!
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