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Wild Spaces at The North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville
Back in August I traveled to Asheville, NC for the EcoStream Conference. I first dropped off my boys with my parents in Whitetop, VA, then drove down a little early so I could explore the North Carolina Arboretum. I’m pretty sure I went to a workshop at the arboretum over a decade ago when I was just barely pregnant with my first, but back then I hadn’t been bitten by the gardening bug. If anything I was too nauseous and nervous to take in the surroundings. So this visit was essentially a first exploration of the space. The vast gardens were very impressive, such as the heritage and bonsai gardens,…
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Doughton Park Camping 2018
How nearly every Blue Ridge Parkway adventure begins and ends: a stone arch We planned this trip three weeks out when we were looking to camp in Hanging Rock during an October weekend. Every single reservable campsite was booked for every single weekend in October. When I relayed this information to my friend Sarah, who had felt me out on whether we would want to try a joint family trip, she suggested checking out Doughton Park, which I had never heard of. This is a national park, and camping reservations can be made through recreation.gov. To our good fortune, there were still three or four spots still available. We grabbed…
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Hilton Head Critters
We returned from a week at Hilton Head Island with my family, and I wanted to quickly share some of the wildlife we saw. I’ll post family pictures at a later time. We were all hoping to see large alligators, and we saw one in the water while on our bike ride to the Sea Pines Forest Preserve. However, we didn’t see them lounging around the water’s edge like I remembered from childhood. The boys and I read alligator facts and learned that they are nocturnal and sleep in the sun during the day. So where were they? Maybe they were all hiding on the private golf courses. There was…
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Chasing Geysers from Canyons to Old Faithful
Can we please just get to Old Faithful already? That’s how this blog series feels now that I’m to the tenth post, because, hey, isn’t Old Faithful the pinnacle of the Yellowstone experience? Maybe… but the true beauty of the place to me is that behind the the walkways and frequented sites, I know there is still something wild, and I know its just beyond what I got to see on this trip. One day I hope we can do some backcounty camping to see the secret wild things. Old Faithful is visible nearly 360 degrees by walking paths and predictably erupts about 23 times a day, although the intervals…
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Roosevelt and Lamar Valley
The day between our two nights in Canyon Village, our only plan set in stone was an Old West Dinner Cookout in Roosevelt, so we decided we would all meet up around 10 am and spend the time before dinner exploring the sights from Canyons to Lamar Valley and a little north of Roosevelt. We started our day by heading to the general store for Tillamook yogurt (the huckleberry yogurt was really great) and a few other food items. The boys and I loved the general stores and looking through all the souveneir pins, and Wookie set his sights on a Yellowstone pocket watch. I personally love the Ranger Doug poster…
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Yellowstone National Park South Entrance to Canyons
After our breakfast cruise, we packed up our rooms and checked out of the Tetons to head to Yellowstone. The weather changed on us, and I was suddenly thankful I’d packed two umbrellas and ponchos as well as warm jackets. The rivers were swollen to levels that my dad had never seen. We didn’t let the weather get us down … just a little wet. With six hours between check-out from Jackson Lake Lodge and check-in at Canyons Lodge, and just over a two hour drive, we leisurely worked our way up 191 and Grand Loop Road. There was still snow on the side of the road at the higher…
