4th of July weekend

What a great long holiday weekend we had! Thursday was my day off, so Harrison, Christen, Adam Bowers, and I took advantage of the beautiful day and went canoeing down The French Broad River.

We went on a section of the river that we had never tried before (from Redmon to Barnard) and it was awesome! Some parts were a bit technical (class II), but most of it was pretty laid back.

We stopped here for awhile to swim and hang out since the water was so nice:

On Friday, Harrison and Andy took off to Virginia for a weekend backpacking trip. I would have gone, but I was pretty sure I'd hold them back...they're fast! He took my camera for the weekend, so I decided to post a few great shots of their trip in the Grayson Highlands (known for their roaming ponies). This was one of Harrison's favorite sections of the Appalachian Trail when he was thru-hiking in 2004.

 This pony tried to eat Andy's pop tart!

It's no wonder the Appalachian Trail's nickname is "The Green Tunnel."

On Saturday, while the boys were off doing their thing, I met up with Andy's wife, Lesley and her friend from college. We went to Shindig on the Green which is a great outdoor, free concert in downtown Asheville that happens every Saturday evening from July through early September. The concert series features local bluegrass and old-time string bands as well as cloggers both young and old. We brought a picnic and stayed late just listening to the great music, enjoying the weather and ambiance (free of mosquitoes). 

After Mass on Sunday, I met up with all of our friends at Carrier Park so we could celebrate the 4th of July (a day early) as well as Adam Brewer's birthday (also a day early) by floating down the French Broad River in our 'party barge.' You're probably wondering what a 'party barge' is. Well, last year about 20 of us took inner tubes down the river, but we decided to top that this year with Adam's Caribbean Island float. This thing is MASSIVE! There's room for three to lay out on the 'deck,' and room for another five on the actual seats that surround the swimming hole. There are even two gigantic coolers and a cabana. We fit about ten people on it and the rest of the crew attached their tubes and floats onto the sides of it. Unfortunately because Harrison had my camera, I missed out on getting pictures of us on the river. I did however, find an image of The Caribbean Island online and will share it with you below. The pictures following the float are from last year's 'Float the French Broad.'  

Last year:

 7/4/10:

We got out at The Bywater, where we feasted on seven pizzas! The plan was to go home, shower, and meet downtown for fireworks. I got home, crawled into bed for a nap, and woke up at 8am on Monday! Oops!

On Monday, the true 4th of July, Harrison and I went to Chimney Rock Park, about 30-40 minutes outside of Asheville. It's known to have great panoramic views and is also the filming site of Last of the Mohican's, Harrison's all-time favorite movie! I was happy because I knew that there was an elevator that takes visitors all the way to the top! Knowing I wouldn't have to do any strenuous activity, I wore my cute sundress and flip flops, just to find out when we arrived that the elevator was out of service. We definitely had to do a little hiking, which I didn't mind too much until we heard thunder. We got to check out a few views that included a beautiful waterfall, just before the water fell. The rain pretty much dampened our spirits and we went back to Asheville to have a nice BBQ dinner downtown. The rest of the evening we just relaxed watching a movie and seeing some lovely fireworks from our couch :)

This week is a little bittersweet, as Friday is my last day of work at Biltmore Family Medicine. On a happier note, we leave for The Outer Banks on Sunday!