Back from NC draft

We took a week long trip north.  The first stop was an airbnb in Athens, GA. 

We visited a lot of nice parks and libraries there.  The botanical garden was one of my favorite things.  The kids got to play on a piano outside the main library.   

We got there on a Saturday night, tried to observe the Sabbath, then many things were closed Monday, particularly splash parks : (  But it was a really nice town and I'm glad we got to visit.

This is a falls called "Bust your butt"  we took a picture but didn't let the kids jump in the falls or hop on these rocks.  It was much more treacherous than other places.

The hike to this waterfall had so many steps!  But it was beautiful.

B is a cautious kid.  It took him a long time to get in the water.  He asked me to go with him near the end and I didn't because it was cold, and L didn't have his life jacket, so I didn't want to leave him, and risk him jumping in.

We found waterfalls with pools at the bottom.  That was so amazing to swim at the foot of a waterfall.

Hiking from Mount Mitchell to Mount Craig, I got elevation sick.  P was able to reach the end of the hike while L and I chilled on an outlook.  Web MD tells me that it's not elevation sickness until 8,000 feet.  But I was bonking out and am glad I got to rest.

We drove on to North Carolina on Tuesday morning and began an extravaganza a of hikes.  We stopped at a hatchery and the kids got to feed the brood fish.  Then P bought a soda pop to get the kids to move back toward the car.  The human chain, taking tiny sips, got them back to the car.

We went on so many hikes!  These waterfalls are amazing and beautiful.  We learned after the 2nd day that putting your feet in the cold water really helped your aching feet!

The children were such troopers.  They didn't complain and hiked well.

Here we are under the Linville viaduct.