Triple Falls Hike

I'm finally back to tell y'all about our trip to the North Carolina mountains! It was wonderful to say the least, and what made it even better was that more of my family came than I originally expected. Here is our whole group during our first activity of the weekend, hiking up to Triple Falls:

{From L-R: My Aunt Catherine, cousin Jacob, Mom, Aunt Carol, Uncle Bill, cousin Caroline, sister Ashley, cousin Ali, cousin Grace, brother Drew, and Me.}
This is the beautiful view of Triple Falls about mid-hike. And here's a little fun fact: Triple Falls actually made an appearance in The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis. We randomly discovered this while watching that movie this past weekend. (P.S. I forgot how much I love the epic love story between Cora and Nathanial. "I will find you...no matter how long it takes, no matter how far, I will find you." It gets me every time. Sigh!)

This is the view looking down the falls. I know you can't see it in this photo, but so many people were out there with their dogs. It really made me miss Kyle and Doc!
No matter how old we get, I don't think our mothers will ever stop worrying. You can see it all over their faces in this photo as they watch us climb the rocks. ;)

And if you go up the trail a little further, you can see this gorgeous view of High Falls:
All along the trail you could see these rhododendron blooms. Such a beautiful flower!
Since no hike would be complete without a little wildlife, we ran into this slithery fella only minutes after my cousin Caroline told a story about her best friend being bitten by a snake this summer. Life's a little ironic sometimes I guess!

We snapped a few family photos at the High Falls lookout, and then headed back to my grandparents' house in Bonclarken for some lunch and relaxation on their screened-in back porch. My kind of vacation!

Later that night we had an early celebration of my sister's birthday, with not only this cookie cake, but with a Turtle Pie and Hershey's Chocolate Pie as well. Our family knows how to party down with some desserts, haha!

Ashley's birthday is actually today, so Happy Birthday Ashie! She will be celebrating her birthday in Romania today, as she is there with her husband Alan on a mission trip right now. They will get back late on Saturday and we can't wait to hear about their trip! If you want to give her a little bday present, I'm sure they would appreciate any prayers you could send their way. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with a post about our escapades in downtown Hendersonville. Stay tuned!