A Sunday Evening Hike On The Mountain To Sea Trail

We reached a milestone last weekend. As of Saturday around 3-ish in the afternoon we had kitchen shelves and a fully finished bathroom. Those two projects marked the last of the big projects for our upstairs renovation in the house, and with their completion I let out a humongous sigh of relief. 

Gutting and renovating this house has been an extreme challenge, mentally, physically, and more recently emotionally as the constant house projects work started to wear on us. But mostly it was challenging in a good way. It has been super fun to flex some creative muscles and think about what we really want in and for this house and our home. We couldn’t have done it without the tremendous help of our friends and family, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. 

We’ve got lots of finishing type touches, like hanging some art (I’m currently just not ready to mess up the walls we worked so hard to repair), and getting the nursery organized (how is it possible there is only 3 months left before we welcome little one #2???), and there is one small task of painting the closet doors and attaching some pulls…but in general we are taking a break and taking an advantage of this stopping point. It is Fall after all, and we don’t want to miss one of the most wonderful times of the year!

Sunday morning we spent some time recovering from the big Thank You/Pumpkin Cutting/Aubrey’s Birthday bash we threw the night before, then packed up and headed out on our first hike since moving back to Asheville. 

I’ve been back 11 months now and I can’t believe this is the first time we got out into the woods. For something that was such a common activity for us in South Dakota, it has taken a severe back seat over the past few years. It felt good to breath some fresh mountain air and spend time together out of the house – and not focused on the house. 

We’ve only been hiking one other time with Aubrey in tow. And it was in Turkey and a sort of odd experience compared to our previous ventures. Needless to say things have changed a bit. Hiking with a toddler is both fun and also a bit of a challenge. Their little stores of patience wear out quickly. Aubrey was fascinated with the awesome backpack she got to ride in, and laughed hysterically grabbing for leaves, and worried herself to death making sure the dogs kept up with us, but about 25 minutes into the hike the newness of the backpack wore off and all she wanted to do was get down and run around. 

I can be a bit of a worry wart when it comes to her, but I just didn’t trust her little, often a bit clumsy, feet to stay on the path and avoid falling headfirst over the side of the trail and down the mountain. We went on for a while in search of a flatter area to stop and have lunch and let her run around a bit, but the trail we were on didn’t pull through for us. 

We ended up having to tough it out back to the car and home.

But not without a quick potty stop 🙂 

And a detour to the Pisgah Inn hoping to grab some lunch, only to not be able to find a parking spot. 

I think the leaves are going to peak on the parkway in another week or so, and we’ve got plans to go back and enjoy them in all of their splendor. It’s pretty awesome living a short 20 minute drive from the parkway and all of its beauty. 

This smirk is also pretty awesome. And that fountain of a pony tail. Man these days are good!