Tonight I was on a bike ride with my pal Brian and we came across this family of bears. Bent Tree Rd is a popular route for cyclists, and apparently black bears. Undeterred, we followed this mother and her cubs until they scrambled up the bank, and then finished our ride.
We also saw two white squirrels in the same area. Nuts!
I’ve never done a corn maze before. Hickory Nut Gap Farm is a popular one near us in Asheville. I would say the maze, the farm animals, the barn, and pumpkin patch are great for families with young kids. We enjoyed it with our teenagers, but it’s a pretty low-key experience. Of course the short drive out there is beautiful. And who doesn’t like goats? Especially micro goats.
And oh yeah, riding horses. This is Paris riding at my parents’ neighbors’ joint. Now owned by Hampton University.
An evening stroll at Buckroe Beach. I have fond memories of the amusement park that was still there when I was a kid.
Fireworks finale from Fort Monroe. My parents live on Mill Creek directly across the water from where the fireworks are launched. Always a good view.
Osprey nest over on the Fort Monroe side of Mill Creek. My lady loves the birds, especially raptors.
Boating on Mill Creek with the yacht my dad and uncle recently bought. We usually canoe but considering the heat I didn’t mind the motor.
Saturday morning before we left Mars and checked out the hot rods at a car show in Asheville. I’ll do another post with some pics.
Friday before we the trip Mars and his friends at Rock Academy put on a show. The one song I didn’t capture in its entirely, tragically, was Mars singing (what??!?) “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. I need to post this on Imheavyduty.com too.
We love the waterfalls in NC. The falls at Dupont Forest are some of our favorites, and they’re close to Asheville. These videos are from “High Falls” which is at the top of the park. As a special treat we had some extra family members with us yesterday, Jolly, Phil, Ellie and Dillon.
On the other side of the falls there is a sweet looking natural slide. There were some college-age kids zooming down it but I didn’t manage to catch them in motion. It looked like it was hard on the backside, but worth the pain. Well, maybe at that age.
My daughter caught this on the Flip cam. Jump to the end to see President Obama tee off, then speak to us as he drove by. This is the golf course at Grove Park Inn. The tee is right by our back yard. We get to hear people yell “fore” and less polite things all day.
Then Paris walked down a few houses to catch him again. Unfortunately, that’s when he decided to walk back to our group and shake hands with everybody. So Mars and I got the introduction and handshake, but no video. Paris gets a handshake in the video below, but only her hand is on camera. ;) Fun day.
In the video above our house is just beyond the trees on the golf course. This is a roundabout path to the Grove Park Inn.
The Obamas enjoy some fine dining at 12 Bones just down the street from my office downtown. I love how after he orders The President says “you’ll call our number or something?”
If I’d hung around the house a little later today I would have gotten to see the motorcade go down my street.
Around 6 PM tonight four patrol cars parked in front of my office building with their lights flashing. Our balcony overlooks Pritchard Park. I was SURE the boss was going to come check out the regular Friday night drum circle. I would have had a perfect view from the balcony, but alas, they eventually got back in their cars and drove off. Change of plans I guess.
My neighbor down the street, very nice home, has a large sign on their picket fence: “We weeded our garden for the Obamas. Welcome to Grove Park.” I’ll mow my grass tomorrow.
We took a trip to Highlands, NC today to visit some friends. On the way back we stopped at this great waterfall called “Dry Falls.” Dry, because you can walk behind the actual waterfall.
Chillaxin' with my crew. Getting wet at Dry Falls.
You can see the path winds behind the waterfall.
Taken from the back side of Dry Walls. Yes, the path goes right under it.
NC Waterfalls has a bunch of great info about Dry Falls.
This is definitely not the highest and best use for bicycles. But it was pretty fun to watch! We saw this yesterday at the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival in Asheville. And this was hardly the freakiest site at the festival.
Check out how the hub of the rear wheel on these “bikes” is eccentric, i.e. it’s not in the center, and it makes the bike and rider bounce up and down. I’m sure these things were hard to ride, and they were plenty people who fell off before they even made it to the center.
This festival is “all local, all original.” I love living in Asheville.
This was a painfully fun 24 minutes and 11 seconds. About 60-70 folks participated. My time put me pretty much in the middle of pack for the Men’s Masters class. Like a moron I rode it the night before in about 25 minutes just to get a feel for it. (Amazing how much harder I had to push to shave a minute.) I ride the upper section of this course a couple times a week on my way up the mountain, but I never ride the steep part at the beginning because it’s out of the way. I’ll plan better next year.
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