Father's Day has come and gone but it is still fresh in my memory. The day before I had ran a 16 mile trail race in a little over 3 hours, but on Father's Day when asked what I wanted to do, I wanted to spend the day in the woods with my girls. We would only hike a little over 2 miles but the time it took, I wish lasted forever.
Thirty years ago today, I was 6-years old and if I remember correctly at school in the first grade. It was also the same day I became an uncle for the very first time. It's hard to believe that on that same day, the girl I was to spend the rest of my life with, was also born. At that time, the day was pretty special because my nephew was born. It was even more special, albeit unbeknownst to me at that time how much more special it was.
So we ask you, who likes picnics? We sure do and it's not summer if a picnic is not involved at least a few times throughout the season. So for this giveaway we have for you a chance to win a wonderfully Patriotic Picnic Package. Included is a cool canvas picnic basket, a table cloth, 4 plastic reusable plates, 4 plastic reusable cups, a small pack of American Flag napkins, a package of disposable/reusable cutlery, 4 telescoping marshmallow roasters (these are the coolest things ever!), and a frisbee. A complete picnic package just in time for you to celebrate America's Independence out by the lake, in the woods, or where ever your favorite picnic place happens to be. Just add good company and food!
on Saturday (of course this was after taking care of some yard work). We followed that up with some much needed shopping on Sunday (frankly we were all in need of some new duds so we spoiled ourselves a little). Today, we played tourist in 
So before our bodies decide to shut down on us for the evening, I know you've all been waiting to see who won the "Orion Sky" print giveaway. You've all shared your favorite constellations, liked us and Random Joy Fine Arts and Photography on Facebook, shared the post on your walls, Tweeted and even mentioned the giveaway on your blogs. For that we thank you all for your participation and support of Appalchia & Beyond. So without further ado, we give you the winner of the "Orion Sky" print by Random Joy Fine Arts and Photography. After plugging in the 26 comment numbers into the Random Number Generator at Random.org, we are pleased to announce that comment #7 - Jobiwan is our grand winner. Joe, send us an email at appalachiaandbeyond (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address and we will get the print out to you in the next couple of days. We hope you enjoy the print, after reading your first entry comment we are certain that you will.
Now knowing us, we'll come across something that we can't help but post, but we didn't want anyone to think we'd abandoned them.
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So, on Monday morning while Ashby dolls herself up for school, I occupy my mind catching up on blogs I follow and window shopping online. I usually find myself on Amazon reading the "LOOK INSIDE!"s. This morning though, a glance at the calendar reminded me that Valentine's Day was right on the horizon.
The New Year is rapidly approaching and it appears that we are once again going to fall short of our annual goal of 100 miles hiked. We aren’t dismayed by this. On the contrary, it has been a great year in terms of hiking. We came a lot closer to our goal than we ever have in past years, and hiked a whole slew of trails we had never hiked before. However, it is time to plan for 2011, and really we’ve never been the type for resolutions as we’ve accepted the fact that we will fail miserably within the first few weeks of the New Year. Seriously, who hasn’t? I suppose a better question would be who has stuck to a resolution and was successful? I’m sure there are a few and I admire those with the resolve, dedication, and will power it takes to accomplish such a feat.
As for our outdoor goals for 2011, our typical "hike 100 miles" still remains. If we make it then great, if not that’s okay, too. Sometimes things don’t go as you hope they will but later you realize it’s probably best it didn’t. Besides, if you dwell upon it too much, it might drive you nuts. Another loose goal for 2011 is to get at least 1 or 2 overnight backpacking trips in. Once again this is an open goal to which, if it happens, awesome and if not that’s okay, too. First, I have to convince Robin that Ms. Coo will be fine with the babysitter. Otherwise, I'll be packing in with a "Hamster on Board" sign.
We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with many blessings. Did everyone get what they wanted? We sure hope so. If you are in the Southern Appalachians then you got an extra special treat on Christmas morning much like we did here. We awoke on Christmas morning with about one and a half inches of snow on the ground. If I'm not mistaken, this was the first White Christmas for this area in several years. For me, it was the first that I can distinctly remember. Considering that I was originally a city boy from New Orleans, snow was not a regular occurrence.
We got another one to two inches Christmas night and it continued snowing off and on throughout the next day. Matter of fact, we tried our luck in the early afternoon hours of the 26th and decided we would head towards Townsend, TN. It would have been nice to have made it into Cades Cove in the Smokies to capture a bit of this winter wonderland through Wifey's camera.
In any case, we stopped at I.C. King park on the way back through. Robin was able to get out and snap a couple shots at the pier before she determined that any significant time outside on the river would likely cause important appendages to freeze and fall off. So we called in food and headed home.
Our uneventful trip became very eventful though once we got our food. We'd received a call from home. Weather conditions were worsening. The roads were "turning white." Kiddo asked if her cuz (Kiddo 2) could spend the night, and since it was on the way home (typically), we agreed to pick her up. By the time we started towards her house, the snow was coming down around us and every mile closer the roads were getting whiter and whiter. I'm not sure how we got up the hill to her house and back down but Wifey did it. She is used to this stuff, or at least, she's got more experience in it than I do.
