Hello Atlanta

  After Luis and I settled into our new place we were quick to jump back into the Georgia life.  We had a three hour walk to and around Piedmont Park.  We ate at a few of our favorite and delicious restaurants like The Vortex, OK Cafe, Atlanta’s new food truck park, and we tired a new burrito shop that opened while we were away called, Bell Street Burritos.

One of the things I missed the most while in Texas was hiking.  Hiking in the mountains, next to streams or rivers is the best kind of hiking to me.  I added more hikes to my 2012 list and I haven’t done much of it.  Time to change that.  We decided to go for a 3 mile hike at Sweetwater Creek State Park.  There are two trails to choose from, one right along the river and the other high above the river on flat ground.  We picked the rocky path along side the river.

It was supposed to be a cloudy day, but it turned out to be pretty sunny.

About a half mile into the hike we came across the ruins of the New Manchester Manufacturing Company, a textile mill burned during the Civil War.  We went on a 15 minute guided tour to learn about the textile mill.  Luis loves all things history.

We were told these holes are from bullets and other weapons from a prior owner who used the building for target practice.

Our park guide also told us the mill was closed down this past February because John Travolta and Robert De Niro were filming a movie called; Killing Season, due out sometime in 2013.

I love finding knobby trees!

We also found a few little critters.

A silk worm.

And a very calm Fence Lizard.

We are planning another 3 hour walk around Piedmont Park tomorrow.   While we are there, we are hoping to pick up free tickets to Piedmont Park’s Shakespeare in the Park: The Tempest, an outdoor play for Sunday night.

Mount Mitchell @ North Carolina

Happy 1st day of June, and exactly one month until my 28th birthday!

Saturday morning after the mist had cleared my family took Luis and I hiking at Mount Mitchell State Park, the highest point east of the Mississippi. If you missed any of the beginning posts of our trip to North Carolina, you could catch up here and here.

The day was absolutely beautiful.  The air was cool and crisp and the sky was so clear that we were able to see every peak.

Isn’t it just beautiful?  I have never seen such a clear view of mountains before.  I’ve read that the summit is covered with clouds 8 days out of 10, and saturday was a great day to capture the beauty of the mountains. It almost doesn’t look real and these photos are not enhanced in any way. True colors according to my Nikon D3100.

Mount Mitchell’s nature trail.

This was one of the easiest hikes we have done, but also the highest and most colorful hike we have done to date.

This is one day, neither Luis nor I will ever forget.

Thank-you my Chereshkoff family for introducing us to a part of North Carolina’s beauty.

Blue Ridge Mountains @ Fannin County

Part two of our hiking adventure on the Blue Ridge Mountains, see part one here.

This area made Luis stop and take a look around.

He was loving the green tress, the moss on the rocks, the cool air, and the blue sky.

I think it’s going to be my goal to find a crazy tree every time we go hiking, I just love’em.

After a few minutes of hiking the Stanley Gap Trail we found out that it was a mountain biking trail so, we turned back into the Benton MacKaye trail and started heading down.  Those mountain bikers were seriously fast and made my heart jump as they came cruising down the mountain right beside us.

The sight of the river made me want to grab a kayak and jump in… as soon as it gets a little warmer =)

Now it’s time to start cleaning the house and figure out my menu for the coming week.

 

Hiking @ Blue Ridge Mountains

This morning was the first time in a long time that I have woken up around 7 in the morning on a Saturday.

I guess mother nature wanted me to take advantage of the great weather and go hiking.

100 miles later we found ourselves at the Blue Ridge Mountains in Fannin County.

We followed the stream along the Aska Road until we reached our adventure for the day…. Fall Branch Falls, Benton MacKaye, and  Stanley Gap Trail.

The photo above and below is me playing around with my camera, adjusting shutter speed to try and capture the movement of the water.

I really love to take pictures of moss.  Moss on rocks, moss on trees, moss is beautiful.

Lunch on top of Springer Mountain.

Until tomorrow for part two of our hiking trip on the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Amicalola Falls State Park and Lodge @ Dawsonville, GA

61 days since we moved to Atlanta and we went hiking!

Sunday was a beautfiul day! Not a cloud in the sky and the warmest day we have experienced since our move to Georgia.

Luis hardly had any homework (a first as well) and we were itching to get outside and explore some woods and do some hiking on my day off.

About an hour from Midtown Atlanta is a great waterfall hike located in Amicalola Falls State Park.  The trail had about 400 steps to climb along the creek and up to the waterfall, even though my thighs were killing me I enjoyed the workout.

Base of waterfall.

The beautiful blue sky.

It was in the 70’s… tang top weather.

Not sure if you could see, but hundreds of stairs criss cross the waterfall.

Lots of stairs…

As I climed to the top I thought with my fear of heights I wasn’t going to be able to finish. I am sure Luis thought the same as he watched me cling to the side of the stairs. I was forcing myself to focus straight ahead of me and not to look to the sides.  Heights is another fear I need to conquer. It was high but…

Look Mom! I did it!

The way down was much easier.  Instead of going back down with all those steps, we chose the old miners trail.

A snap of the coolest tree… ever!

After speaking with a park ranger about the best season to hike the waterfall, we are looking forward to returning to the park in the spring to see wildlife and some green on them trees.