Fall Festival

Saturday I went down to Fort Mill to visit the Millers. It was time for some quality time with Samantha. But first we had to eat lunch at her favorite place, Jersey Mike's. And she knew just what she wanted, a turkey sub. I tried to get her to call Mike and tell him where we were going because it is his favorite place too, but she was a bit phone shy.

The Fall Festival was a bit disappointing. Not only was there no face painting but Pickles the Clown wasn't there either. But Samantha is only 3 so she is easily entertained.



This was hard work.



Playing in the kiddie maze. This, surprisingly, was very entertaining for her.



Cutest pumpkin I saw all day.



No matter how many times she threw it in the hole, she reacted like it was her first time every time. I think she just liked Susan and me cheering for her.




Last thing we did was take a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch. Susan made sure Samantha only picked out a pumpkin she could carry. Smart. After turning her nose up at the first ones we found, she ended up wanting those in the end.

The kid is lots of fun and is very silly!! She'll be a great big sis! It's always fun seeing Samantha. I do love her!!

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Carolina Ballonfest

This weekend was the 38th balloonfest in Statesville. This is the longest running balloonfest in the country. There were 51 hot air balloons at the event. I volunteered to work at the event on Saturday. I sold food vendor tickets from 11 - 3pm. Thank goodness I had a partner because it was very busy. I did have time to take a picture of the Ghostbusters though...



These three were just walking around the event. It was hilarious.

After my shift Mike and I decided to go drive and park right outside the event to look at the balloons as they had their afternoon launch. We ended up being in the perfect spot to see the balloons.



We then drove down the road a bit and that's when we really got a good view of the balloons as they flew right overhead. We had the top down on the Jeep so it was perfect.












Then we went to get pizza and the balloons were still all around so we got a good view of them as they landed any where they could.







There was perfect weather this weekend for the event. There were so many people that they had to stop letting people in on Saturday. We really had a good time watching the balloons. They were so pretty and it's not something you get to see everyday.


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Fall Colors

Sunday we took the Jeep to the mountains. We were hoping to see some of the Fall foliage. We took the Jeep because we figured the Parkway would be too crowded to be much fun on the bikes. We rode with the top down, even though it was a bit chilly.

Once we got on the parkway the leaves were awesome. I took these pictures standing up in the Jeep as we went down the road.










We also took the Jeep down some of the dirt roads off the Parkway that we've ridden the bikes on before. I really am loving the dirt roads. It feels like it's our little secret. They are so pretty and no one is on these roads but us (mainly). There are miles and miles of dirt roads off the Parkway between Linville and Lenior.

These pictures were taken from a dirt road just off the Parkway.









Needless to say, all that dirt and dust you see behind the Jeep did find its way into the Jeep.



It was EVERYWHERE!

We also had a hitch hiker too...



It was really great to see the leaves today. So beautiful. It is nice to live so close that we can make a short ride up there in a day. Hopefully we can make another ride up to the mountains before the leaves all fall off.


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Weekend Getaway

Mike and I made another run up to the mountains this weekend. We were a bit early for all of the leaves to have turned colors for the fall but we've got to get away when Mike has time with his work.

We left work early on Friday and got up to Cherokee in time to do a bit of riding. Mike got a tip on a little dirt road from the hotel clerk. It was a nice little road that ran along a pretty creek. There were some nice country houses that set right on the creek. It was very serene. The road had some muddy ruts that were a bit intimidating for me. Mike rode my bike through them. We rode along until we didn't think we could go any further up the rocky road. Plus we had to be getting back for our bingo date. Good news is I didn't need Mike's help to go back over the muddy stuff!! Really wasn't that bad.

Yup, we went back to bingo and yup we were winners again. Well, I won on Friday. Mike won on Saturday. Yeah, we went back on Saturday too. What can I say, we love the bingo. And we got to sit in non-smoking this time. Now, back to my winnings, I won the first TWO games. That is unheard of!!! I've got skills. Mike also won on Saturday but had to split it five ways.

Saturday morning we were off again. It was a bit cold in the morning but not too bad. We again found some nice dirt roads. Some helpful hiker told Mike we could make it up this path he was just on. That is right after we made it around the gate that had the path closed. We decided no way would I be making this trek. We decided to ride two up on my small bike. This caused us to bottom out on some of the rocky sections. We couldn't make it all the way too the top because it was so rocky. We walked the last bit.



This was the 'trail'. Pretty crazy huh!! Mike is a rock star on the bike!!

Once we got to the top there was a lookout tower.



Views from the top...






Just imagine how awesome it will be when the leaves turn.

We made it back down alive and after lunch we did one more dirt road. This one had a bit of history to it.




This was part of the trail of tears. Poignant considering the area we were in.



It was a nice weekend. I could get used to these little bike and bingo getaways!!


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