Boone, North Carolina

Welcome to our weekend. I went along with Lauren up to North Carolina-to see Lauren's friend, Sarah, who lives in Boone. We left on Friday morning and stopped in at yet another Dwarf House Chick-Fil-A for breakfast in Rome, Georgia--one side you can order like normal from a person at a cash register; the other side you can sit down on. Lauren had an awesome chicken biscuit; and I downed me some grits, eggs, and biscuit--something I have decided is a southern staple. From there, we headed north and drove through the northern Georgia mountains, past the Brasstown Baldy, the highest point in Geogia.

In these parts, all of the Kentucky Fried Chickens have buffets--something we saw a ton on this trip. Wish we would have stopped there for lunch--anything would have been better than Clyde's, which is where we decided to stop. We crossed into North Carolina; and things went from beautiful to absolutely beautiful. We drove up and down some mountains and got into the first of two really big rainstorms, so we stopped at Clyde's in Waynesville, NC. Looked like an awesome greasy spoon, home cookin' place. It was greasy allright-greasy badfoodiness. Never eat there--just in case you are ever at a crossroads of where to eat in Waynesville, North Carolina--don't pick Clyde's. Just go hungry if you have to. Lauren's was okay. Mine was just plain bad--it gives fried chicken and mashed taters a bad name.

After lunch, we drove through the Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains. Above is a picture we took not too far from Boone. This stop is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The picture, of course, does not even get close to what it actually looks like. Guess this is why they call them the Smoky Mountains in these parts--looks like there is smoke rising from all of them.

This is Boone. A really cool place. It had been in the high 90s here in Carrollton last week. At Sarah's, we slept with the door open and I had to close it because it was freezing. It was perfect temp. We ate at the Coyote Kitchen that night--totally made up for lunch--kind of a Tex-Mex sort of place. I had the best salad I have ever eaten--lettuce, corn chips, salsa, kobe meat, cheese. Awesome. Guess it stretches the term, "salad"-but still. Lauren had a boat thing--bunch of stuff together--fried plantains, sweet potatoes, chicken, black beans, and cornbread. She also had a sweet potato fry appetizer that she really liked.

Saturday morning, we went to the Watagua County Farmer's Market (amazing); and we hiked up Grandfather Mountain, just south of Boone, up to 5,900 ft. It was a seven mile hike; and we are still feeling the effects today--but boy, it was cool. Above is a picture of the trail we took. Wish the whole thing would have been like this--we literally had to crawl up some ginormous rocks to get to the top.

No, this was not one of those rocks--but it was a really cool rock we saw on the way up.

This is why they call it Grandfather Mountain. This outcropping in the distance looks like a man's face, if you look at it right. Sorry the flash did not work well, but if you look right and use your imagination, you can see us and Sarah.

This is from the top of Grandfather Mountain. Made all 7 miles worth it.

A shot on the way down the mountain.

Just thought we would share a bit from our weekend with you. We have been meaning to post some pictures of our church and of the loft--we will do that soon.

--b and l