Holy Fall! --Hiking Shortoff Mountain at Lake James

While most of you dressed in crazy costumes and went to Halloween parties I was a big nerd and went up to the Western NC mountains and hiked for the last time this Fall.

It was me, my hiking buddy Kelli and a co-worker/friend Karen.

We left early Saturday morning to hike the Shortoff Mountain Trail.

We read this awesome blog to get more information -- it's definitely bookmarked on my computer now.

There was a fire in this area back in 2007 so it's pretty wide open and the views are awesome as was the Fall color!

 The trail is located near Nebo, NC in the Lake James area.

Even after hiking around this region for 9-years this was my first visit to this particular area.

It WON'T be my last!

 Amazing views of the Linville Gorge Wilderness.

 The views of Lake James weren't too bad either!

The whole way up and the way back down was unbelievable.

 The trail is up and back which is about 4.5 miles round trip.

But, you can keep going to the other side of the mountain if you want on the Mountains to Sea Trail.

 The weather turned off cool this weekend so a warm hat was a must!

 How many of you gals/guys have heard about Tebowing?

Brad insisted that we do this on top of the mountain.

Hysterical!

 Awesome..Awesome hike for any of you that live in this region.

It's obviously pretty popular because there were dozens of people on the trail, many of whom were backpacking.

 Afterwards we happened onto Bear Creek Marina on Lake James.

We saw a sign and said... let's check it out!

 This place was awesome too!

You have to check out their website!

I told Brad that we are taking the jet-ski up there this next Summer and maybe camping or renting a cabin.

 I still cannot figure out why in the world I have never been to the Lake James area before now?

Boggles my mind!

 The Marina had several indoor areas decorated very rustic.

Totally up my alley.

 Nothing like a warm fire, college football on the TV, a friend, and food -- after a long hike.

We spent a good hour or so there then headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway to our Inn.

We stayed at the Alpine Inn in Little Switzerland last year too.

The view from our room.

 Not fancy but quaint and perfect for a quiet weekend if you're looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of life.

 Thank goodness it had heat because it was COLD in the mountains this weekend.

We showered and went to dinner.

Tomorrow, our hike along the Parkway and a visit to one of Western NC's best wineries.

Happy Halloween!

I'm going to be honest.

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.

Not sure why?

It's not that I dislike it, I just prefer Thanksgiving and Christmas more.

But, even so...

I do love yard art like this that one of my neighbors put out.

Charlie Brown and the GREAT pumpkin is one of the best holiday specials ever.

I can't wait to see some trick or treaters tomorrow night!

Have a good one blogging peeps!

Buddy the Grand-Dog

Don't ever doubt that our dog Buddy isn't considered part of the family.

Look what my MIL did for the 'grandkids'

Yes, even Buddy gets his own pumpkin.

She gave it to us the other day and now it's on display in the perfect place in our house.

Cute or what?

Too bad I'm not goofy enough to dress Budster up for Halloween.

Geez!

We don't even dress up for Halloween!

Happy Humpday!

White Pizza

Brad and I are big into making homemade pizzas.

As you can see here and here.

On Saturday, after running errands, getting things done around the house, and watching the LSU Tigers and the VT Hokies win...we got ready for our pizza party.

Brad is obsessed with the chalkboard in our kitchen.

 I'm a huge fan of white pizzas when we dine out but had never attempted to make one at home.

I went online and found a recipe for white pizza sauce.

Found here.

2tbs. of butter

3tbs. of flour

1 cup of milk

garlic

pepper

1/2 cup of fresh parmigiano.

Cook on the stove.

As you can see I mixed in some dried basil as well.

When it comes to our pizza making we also cook our crust for 5-minutes in the oven before we put any toppings on.

It makes it crispier

 Then, the rest of the toppings.

We had some leftover brocolli so we put that, mushrooms and cheese on and popped it into the oven for 10-minutes.

 Here's what we got.

OMG!

It was so good!

Brad swears we're never making regular pizza again.

Simple, easy and fun to do together.

You have to try it.

Here's to more pizza parties!

An Asheville Wedding

We got back this morning from Asheville, NC where our friends Stephan and Eileen tied the knot.

The venue: The Farm.

Time: Friday afternoon in the Fall during peak weekend for leaf peeping.

I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted because it was pretty chilly during the ceremony but here's where it took place.

 Gorgeous view especially since I'm such a mountain lover.

 Perfect centerpiece for an October or November wedding if you're not dead set on flowers.

 Cupcakes instead of a cake.

This is becoming such a big trend.

My Mother refused to let us do this.

 Party favors: horseshoes

 Giving that it turned off chilly I pulled out my trusty long black Shelli Segal Laundry dress.

I picked this baby up years ago at the Junior League Wearhouse for free.

The zipper was busted and they were going to throw it out.

I brought it home and had a new zipper put in and have been wearing it ever since.

 I got to wear my wedding shoes again too for the first time since our big day.

 The food was Southern as could be complete with cheesy grits.

 The happy couple.

 And...another very happy couple.

 We had a great time and had planned to stay today and tonight to join everyone on a bar crawl but giving that I have been gone most of the week we decided to head back to Charlotte and get our house in order.

Farmer's market, grocery and now our top priority, watching college football!

La La Land and The Reagan Library

I basically got back from Knoxville and jumped on a plane headed West to Los Angeles.

Three days of work with wake-up calls at 3:30am each day.

You have to love working on East Coast time when out West.

In between all the work a co-worker and myself enjoyed dinners in Malibu.

 Oh, so nice.

Nothing like a long day of work that ends with waterfront dining.

 Where we were working allowed us a beautiful drive over Topanga Canyon to get into Malibu.

 Have I mentioned on here how much I love the mountains?

 One day we also took in The Reagan Presidential Library after our work-day came to an end.

 I have been wanting to go to this for years.

It finally happened and it was totally worth the wait.

 It was very interactive with video and audio.

And, yes..

A chance for visitors to play President for a minute.

 They even had a section on Nancy as First Lady with several of her dresses on display.

 Located in Simi Valley, the property the museum sits on is totally gorgeous!

 One of the highlights of the museum is the retired AirForce One that they have on display.

 They let you walk through it but don't allow pictures.

They had it decorated as if it were the 1980's but the last flight this plane took was 3-days before 9/11.

 There were also sections on Reagan's film career, and his ranch located near Santa Barbara.

 At the end of the tour, Reagan's tombstone.

If you ever get a chance to visit the museum I highly recommend it.

As much as I love California -- I'm a bigger fan of the Northern Coast versus the Southern portion.

I'm not sure why that is -- but it just is.

How about you?

A SoCal fan or NorCal?

Or, have you ever visited Cali?