Morrow Mountain Adventure

In need of excitement and adventure, not to mention some time for Mommy and Daddy to spend some time together with baby, we embarked on a family day trip yesterday to Morrow Mountain State Park, which is just east of Albemarle NC, about an hour away from Charlotte.  We'd never been there before, but Kurt was searching for something to do this weekend and came across it online so we packed up a picnic lunch and our baby and off we went.

The drive would have been scenic were it not for the plethora of fast food restaurants and mini-storage facilities dotting the countryside.  We knew we were getting close when the Applebees and Taco Bells gave way to gun and knife shops, hunting stands stores, and my personal favorite... "Stuffy's Taxidermy and Game Processing (Now selling Jerky and Smoked Meat)"  Stuffy's...get it?  Gotta have a sense of humor in that line of work, I'm guessing.  So we made it up the mountain and it was definitely worth it.  Here's a pic:

Beautiful view and there's also a lake for boating and fishing, hiking trails, and camping. We didn't venture off into the woods with little one (I'm paranoid with her about sunburn, bee stings, falling walnuts, mountain lions, etc. You laugh about the walnuts but one fell on our car and it dropped with the force of a coconut. That could knock out a 2 month old!) We did, however have a nice picnic from our tailgate, enjoyed the view, the cool breeze, and the sounds of big motorcycles cruising by and gunfire in the distance.  Ah, the sounds of Autumn in NC!  Bikers around here are always super-friendly but it kind of ruins the tranquility of nature when you have the roar of 20 Harleys parking next to you.  And don't get me started on the smell of cigarettes destroying my fresh air.  Gosh I'm such a complainer...we really did have a wonderful day, and bikers, hikers, & other families passing by all noted how cute our little mountain munchkin was.  She was a bit cranky starting out but she slept most of the drive up and enjoyed all the new sights and sounds.  She slept the whole drive home, even through a stop at Sonic for limeade slushes and at a po-dunk quickie mart for a powerball ticket.  We figure we'll never win the Powerball if we keep buying the tickets in downtown Charlotte.  It's always Bubba's Grocery and Bait Shop in BFE that sells the winning tickets so we thought we'd have better odds out in the sticks.  Obviously we did not win or we'd be on our way to Raleigh picking up a big check instead of sitting here writing this blog.  Dangit.  Only two more weeks until I have to go back to work.  That's only 4 more Powerball drawings.  We better hurry up and win.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of our pumpkin on our big day of fun:

Hi Daddy!

Finally a Smile Captured on Film!  (For Daddy of Course)

What'choo Talkin' bout Daddy?

Covergirl Baby

Here's our little peanut hanging out with Daddy.

Not having fun anymore...as evident by the saddest face on the planet.

A smooch from Mommy makes it all better

Handsome Daddy!