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Posts tagged ‘New Experiences’

Oct 20

11 Comments

Apple Trees and Waterfalls – Part Two

Crabtree Falls!

I feel compelled to let you know right off the bat that I didn’t make it to the top.  You see, I still have this cough…and…and…okay, I’m in terrible shape.  I got up to the first overlook without much trouble, but that’s not saying much.  By the next stop, I was out of breath and my heart was beating out of my chest.  Going into the hike, I didn’t think I would make it very far, but I did think it would be worth trying.  It was!  I got far enough to see a lot of falling water, which is what I wanted.  So I’m satisfied, with the view if not with myself.  And (you know me) I managed to take a ton of pictures, some of which turned out okay.

We’re in the woods, ya’ll! The George Washington National Forrest, to be exact.

continue reading…

Oct 19

15 Comments

Apple Trees and Waterfalls – Part One

I had a wonderful day last Saturday!  I spent it with my good friend, Vicki, her sister and their two nieces in the Shenandoah Valley, picking apples and climbing waterfalls.  Well, climbing a trail. But there were waterfalls!

One of the great things about where I live is the proximity to so many other wonderful places.  We’re an hour away from our nation’s capital, an hour away from the state capital, an hour and a half from the mountains and two hours from the beach.  If your notion of fun runs to roller coasters and water parks, King’s Dominion is a forty-minute drive, and Busch Gardens is two hours or so. I’d say that Fredericksburg is a day trip away from just about anything you’d want to do.

First stop – the apple orchard. I was too short to reach these, so my friend helped me out. The bottoms of the trees were well picked over, but there were some big beauties still hanging up top.

I have long wanted to experience the fun of picking my own apples.  That sounds silly now that I’ve written it out, but it’s true.  Another friend of mine used to go every fall with her family and she loved it.  It always sounded like so much fun, and a little exotic, in a country kind of way.  I imagined what you see on the television or in movies: tall trees with apple-laden branches stretching out across a bright blue sky, wooden ladders propped up against sturdy trunks, and apple baskets (you know the kind, with bright red handles) filled to the brim with delicious redness. continue reading…

Oct 7

19 Comments

Blogging is my Life Coach

Last Friday, I wrote about how disappointed I was with myself for some bad behavior, and that post has been on my mind all week.  Which is not a bad thing.  I want to change my behavior, so it’s kind of important that I put some focus on it.  As I was thinking about all this, it occurred to me that were it not for this blog, I probably would have abandoned my pursuit of Thankful long ago.

That’s not an astounding revelation, it’s simply a matter of accountability.  Still, this was not one of the expectations I had when I started blogging six months ago.  Other than working on my writing skills, I certainly had no idea of using my blog as a means of self-improvement.  But then, I had no calculated intentions of divulging anything as personal as I find myself sometimes doing.  Who knew a blog could be such a good listener?  It coaxes things out of me that I didn’t know I needed to talk about.  And then it gives me excellent advice.

Wow.  Blogging is my Life Coach. continue reading…

Oct 6

10 Comments

Animal Kingdom

Disney Part 2 🙂  My favorite park was Animal Kingdom.  It was lovely and lush…and full of animals.  I particularly enjoyed the safari ride and a couple of trails you can walk through.

The picture to the left is the Tree of Life.  Or I should say, one little part of it.  How many animals can you pick out?

Okay, I’m not going to go into all the boring talk today, but mostly just share some photos.  With boring captions. continue reading…

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