Mountain Adventures

This past weekend, my mother in law, Sandy and I got to enjoy vacationing in the mountains. She was able to rent this cute little home for $50 a night. We arrived Thursday afternoon and left the following Sunday. We sure had fun!

We were a little worried about how the house would look since they were only asking $50 a night. But we were pleasantly surprised to find this cute and clean home. The one weird thing about this house was that there was no driveway. There was a mailbox and that was it! So we had to park the car off the side of the road. 

This was my room! Looks like a comfy king sized bed right? Haha...… It's really two twin sized beds pushed together. But that's okay, I still slept okay in there. (And Sandy insisted that I take this room. She wanted the room that had the patio door so she could step out when she wanted to) I promise, I was polite and gave her first dibs. 

This is the little dining room/ living room. 

Here is the living room. 

This is the room that Sandy stayed in. Through that doorway were four more full sized beds. She chose the pull out couch because it had a comfortable memory foam mattress topper on it. 

This is the same room that Sandy stayed in. It has the patio right outside. 

It's hard to tell in this picture, but there are mountains behind the neighbors property. The view was gorgeous! We had a little bit of rain, but for the most part we had beautiful sunny days. 

We loved that there was a river going through the front yard of the property. The owners let us use all of their fishing gear. I thought we would use regular fishing poles, but the ones they had were about half as tall as a normal one. 

Fun fact. The river is still technically public accessible even if it runs through private property. Sandy and I were a little worried at first because people kept coming and fishing where we were. Luckily everyone we bumped into were extremely nice and gave us lots of tips on how to successfully catch trout.  

This was my first catch! I think it's called a brook trout. I would say it was about a foot long. Those buggers are really hard to catch. They know how to throw the hooks faster than you can reel them in. I got lucky with this guy because he threw the hook after I got him up to the bridge. Then I had to quickly pick him up before he made his way back into the river. 

Neither Sandy or I have gutted a fish before. That was an experience. That was our only catch that day. We were out there for about two hours every time we went out. We fished everyday except on the day we left. 

On day 2 we wandered into Spruce Pines and mined for gems. We actually went to two of these places and actually had better luck at the second place. But regardless it's still a fun activity. 

We both found a lot of cool gems

At the end they tell you everything you've found. Unfortunately there are so many different types I forgot them as soon as he told me what they were! I was lucky enough to find a Sapphire and a Ruby. Sandy found a really pretty canary citrine. (I think that's what it's called)

After we were done looking through our rocks we had lunch at the Anchors Away Café. It was seafood. Yes, we ate seafood in the mountains haha. This is the view outside of the restaurant. We couldn't get enough of the mountain views. 

I texted this picture to my mom and she was like "What am I looking at?" Hello? The beautiful mountains??? haha ;) and the blue sky. 

One of the nights it was pouring down rain so we decided to pull out a puzzle. We finished it that night! We were done around 11:15. It's amazing how fast time can go when you are consumed in a puzzle. 

This was our final catch! Can you keep a secret? We didn't actually catch all of these. Just the one in ice. The rest came from one of the really nice fishermen who came onto our property. He and his buddy had two strings full of fish. He told Sandy to pick the one she wanted and he gave us the whole string! It was super nice of him. But remember, it's our little secret. What happens in the mountains stays in the mountains!

On Saturday we realized how close we were to Tennessee and decided to head that way. Tennessee is one of the states that I have not been to. We went to Johnson City and had lunch and went shopping! This picture isn't of the red minivan. This picture is of JCPenny! The whole mall was open and we couldn't resist. It's been so long since we've been allowed to shop. It was a ton of fun. 

Our last night here we set up the kornhole boards and started a fire. Sandy cooked us steaks on the grill. Then we capped the night off with the last Pitch Perfect movie. 

Sunday, we went back into Tennessee and ate breakfast at Shoney's. I've never been to one of those and they had this big breakfast bar. After that we shopped a little bit more. 

Once we got back, we finished packing up our stuff and headed out a little after 12. It was definitely a vacation to remember. Sandy and I had so much fun together and it was a great bonding experience. We hope to be able to come back again in the future. 

Short and sweet

This past week I decided to use my three days off to go visit my parents in Ohio. I left early Tuesday morning and came home Thursday evening. The fun part of the 8 hour drive is going though the twisty turns in the mountains on highway 58. I wish I was able to stop and get a picture but with all the rain, there was thick white fog at the top of the mountain. I could barely see while driving so a picture was out of the question. But I was able to snap this picture at the base of the mountain. It was still a beautiful drive despite the weather conditions. 

Dixie and I made it home around 3 in the afternoon. I don't like to make a lot of stops when I'm traveling long distances so Dixie was happy to get out in the back yard and run around a little. We stopped one time for a gas fill up and a potty break about 5 hours into our drive and then trucked it the rest of the way. She's a good sport. 

Sterling wasn't able to come with me this time. Right now our work schedules aren't lined up. He gets the weekends off and I get Tuesday through Thursday off. But he was okay with me going home for a little bit. He was also a good sport and took care of the cats while I was away. 

Whenever I make it up to Ohio I make sure to stop and see Grandma Beninghof. She will be 91 this year! When we go visit we always sit in her living room and she has this beautiful picture of Grandpa Beninghof on display. I always loved this picture of him and his dog Brownie. This is one of the reasons why I really want to own a German Shepherd someday. They are just gorgeous dogs! Grandma told us when Brownie died, Grandpa spent about 2 weeks in the hospital because he was so heart broken. That's one heck of a bond, but also one I'm sure a few of us can relate to. I will be devastated when Dixie passes away. 

This is Grandma's cute little kitchen and dining area. She loves blue as much as I do! I believe I also get my sweet tooth from her. She loves chocolate!

I always loved looking around this room and looking at her trinkets and little figures. I swear you can always find something you've never seen before every time you look. It's like she has her own little antique shop in her home. I love it! 

There is always something blue on display. There is so much to look at. 

This is her living room. She has this couch (the one my mom is sitting on) that has a sleeping spell in it. Every time you sit down it makes you want to take a nap. It's super comfortable and she's had it for over 30 years. It's amazing how some of that stuff can hold up for so long. 

And here is the lady of the hour! She's just so cute. I love her very much and I hope to be a cute grandma like her someday. She is a really neat old lady with a bunch of cool stories to tell. I could sit and chat with her for hours. 

I also got to visit with my other grandparents. Yesterday was my Grandma Char's birthday so mom invited them all over for dinner on Wednesday and I surprised Grandma Char and Grandpa Tom. They saw Dixie before they saw me and Grandma Char thought my parents got a new dog haha. It was pretty funny. But it was a nice visit with everyone. 

I enjoyed my short trip to Ohio and I can't wait to go back! You can take the girl out of Ohio but you can't take Ohio out of the girl. It will always be my home away from home. 

Starting THE Journey

Sterling and I have decided to travel down THE path. Before you all get excited, this is NOT a pregnancy announcement. But, with that said, pregnancy and parenthood is the path we decided to follow. Within the last five months, my body has not been cooperating like it should. I finally decided to go to a gynecologist and see why I was not having regular periods. My doctor had put me on a medication to try and force a period and it worked! The next step is always an uncomfortable step for me. I had to go get blood work done on the 21st day of my 28 day cycle. This was a progesterone test to see if I am ovulating. 

I don't know if you can read this, but unfortunately I am not ovulating this cycle. Obviously this is not what I wanted to hear and it was also hard to deal with. We have been trying to get pregnant since September and this is just another bump in the road. Due to my doctor's office closing early today, I did not get to discuss the next step with my doctor. I'm assuming this will be a conversation I will get to have this coming Monday. 

When I came home all I wanted to do was lay in bed. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who came home and did his best to comfort and encourage me. We are just at the beginning of this journey and there are many options ahead of us. So now my job is to do my best to stay positive and keep trucking and pushing forward. 

But that might have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to allow myself to eat my feelings, watch Netflix, and give myself the time to be sad and disappointed. Tomorrow I will push the reset button and we will go from there!