Twilight

Last month at this time, I was reading in every spare second to try to finish up the Twilight series in time for Book Club.

And my friends--who would not let me watch the DVD with them while I was still reading the book--have not yet inflicted more than the first 10 minutes of the movie on me...

Waterfall Hunting: Glenn Falls, Part II

Glenn Falls has several stops on the trail down. This is the lower portion of the falls. Dave had fun watching the little creatures thriving in the puddles.

We trekked all the way down to the very bottom of the falls. I joked that this was where all of the bad trees go when they die because there were logs and uprooted trees everywhere.

Dave found a salamander chilling on a branch, and I was impressed that my camera took a clear picture zoomed in that far.

Then the came hard part... hiking all the way back up.

At least there was a nice mountain view once we were back on level ground!

Waterfall Hunting: Glenn Falls, Part I

On our way out of town, Dave and I stopped to hike at Glenn Falls. According to a website dedicated to the waterfalls of the Nantahala National Forest, several injuries have occurred this year as a result of disobeying signs and guard rails at the top of the falls.

Below is a picture of Dave watching me from the *wrong* side of the guard rail. I got the shot above seated behind the guard rail on the *correct* side...

A short hike later, we were at the upper portion of Glenn Falls. See the guard rail at the top of the falls in the upper right corner of this picture?

Waterfall Hunting: Bridal Veil Falls

I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Yes, those are a bunch of bikers under the falls. If they hadn't parked there, we could have driven underneath and given Dave's car a much-needed wash!

Friday Funny

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"

Dedicated to my Firefly Fangirl Friends ;-)

¿No Quiero Taco Bell?

"Yo Quiero Taco Bell" is now only the stuff of memories and YouTube videos. Gidget, the rescued chihuahua made famous during my later high school years in a series of Taco Bell commercials, passed away Tuesday. I always used her tagline when teaching my Spanish I students the verb "to want" (not that many of them actually remembered the commercials, which made me feel ancient).

Que descanse en paz, Gidget.

Waterfall Hunting: Cullasaja Falls

Cullasaja Falls is easy to spot from the road--if you're headed eastbound on US 64 (unlike us...). The dead give-away for the viewpoint was all of the cars pulled over on the side of the narrow, winding mountain road. No hiking was involved, just a death wish if you got too close to moving vehicles behind you or the drop-off in front of you.

Check out this link to a description of the falls (and the not-so-tourist friendly viewpoint) with pictures of the falls in each season of the year.

Some friendly bikers asked us to take a picture of them, and in return, they took a picture of us.