I hiked the Appalachian Trail!

My dad and I set out for our Appalachian Trail adventure Monday morning.  After a stop at Dunkin Donuts (of course), the Post Office (to send some goodies to my husband), and Wal-Mart (for the ever important Almond Joy), we wound our way past Dahlonega to the start of our hike. 

Before we started

Notice the sun is still shining at this point

We started at Neel's Gap around 11 and planned a two-ish mile hike up to Blood Mountain, the highest point of the AT in Georgia.  The climb there was completely uphill, with a combination of trail switchbacks, gentle (and not so gentle) inclines, and stone steps.

See that incline??

The white mark to prove we're still on the AT

An action shot up the stone steps

My dad is a good sport, so we stopped for lots of photo opportunities along the way.

Almost to the top of Blood Mountain

When my dad first checked the forecast, Monday was supposed to be sunny with a 0% chance of rain.  By Monday morning, the forecast called for afternoon showers.  By the time we were on the trail, the forecast became "Gray skies with off-and-on rain all morning."  We got showered on a little bit, but fortunately it was while we were still warm.

It had stopped raining at this point, but there were still heavy gray clouds above

We reached Blood Mountain in about an hour and a half.  It gets surprisingly chilly and windy as you close to the top, and I was glad my dad had insisted I bring a long-sleeve shirt.  Fortunately, the CCC built a hiker's shelter back in the 1930's at the peak, so we were able to warm up a little bit.  We stopped there for a picnic lunch (expertly packed by my dad!).  There were a few other hikers up there, but they seemed to be thru-hikers just stopping for a rest, not day-hikers like us.

The stone shelter

Our delicious picnic lunch

After a quick stop by the bear-proof privy, we were ready for our climb back down.  The whole time up, I was looking forward to some downhill hiking. However, my thoughts on that quickly changed when I realized the ENTIRE hike back down was at a downward slope, and our knees were none too happy about that.  We took several "knee breaks" on our way back down to prevent serious injury.  I definitely got my knees from my dad!

We made it back down and stopped at the Walasi-Yi Interpretive Center, which is a hostel and outfitter. Hikers frequently will purchase new hiking boots at the Center and leave their old boots hanging from the tree out front.  It was a pretty neat sight to see!

We did NOT add our shoes to the collection

  Overall, we had a great hike.  Our total distance was around 4.5 miles there and back with about an 1800 foot elevation change from Neel's Gap to Blood Mountain.  We were both exhausted when we finished (turns out we're not in great hiking shape!), but I'm looking forward to hopefully doing another hike with my dad sometime or checking some more of the AT.

Project 365... Time to catch up!

Day 24: I hope they at least used all the money they stole to buy candy for their children's Easter baskets.  Actually scratch that, I hope they don't have children.

 On Sunday morning, I was awoken by my phone ringing.  I let it go to voicemail, but got up shortly after and listened to the message.  I had a voicemail from my bank telling me that there were suspicious charges on my credit card, and could I please call them back and verify these charges.  After talking with USAA, they came to the conclusion that someone had made a copy of my credit card and was using it.  I headed out to my car to double-check which card they were referring to... only to find out that someone had smashed in my passenger side window and grabbed my purse (which I had stupidly left sitting on the seat in plain sight).  Turns out they weren't using a copy of my credit card, but rather the real thing.  I quickly called the bank back to check my debit card, and they had used that one as well.  The police came out to make their report, which is actually when the rest of the glass shattered into my car.  The thieves only smashed a hole large enough to get my purse out; it was the officer who opened and closed my car door, causing the rest of the window to fall in.  All in all, the thieves did about $450 in charges the three cards in there, but the bank and credit card companies have already refunded that.  They also got away with my nice purse (the dark red leather one you gave me, Beth!), two wallets, a Publix gift card with several hundred dollars on it, and about $100 in cash.  Insurance will take care of the window after a $200 deductible, but I have a $5,000 deductible on my homeowners insurance, so none of the stolen items will be replaced.

Since then, I've been doing what I can to feel safer and hopefully prevent any future incidents.  My very nice neighbor Adam is in the process of installing a motion sensor light over the garage, but in the meantime I'm sleeping with the porch light on and a light on upstairs so it looks like someone is up and about.  Adam also re-taught me how to shoot my shotgun, but I'm hoping I never need to use that.  I am in the process of getting all of my cards (credit, debit, driver's license, military ID, Barberitos Frequent Rollers Burrito Club) replaced, but this whole thing has been quite a hassle!  I am living off of some cash my Dad loaned me on Sunday, since I can't withdraw anything from the bank and most places won't take a personal check without seeing your driver's license.  It has been very unnerving to have this happen within a month of James leaving,  but he has been very supportive throughout the whole process.  I honestly am not scared for my safety.  If they had wanted to draw attention to themselves, they would have stolen a lot more than the purse.  I think the thieves were just looking for some quick cash.  But like my gramma told me, something like this just makes you feel violated.  If you want to check out the report on the Police Blotter (and read the mean comments of people who told me I deserved it for leaving my purse in sight), you can check that out here.

Now, onto something more fun!

Day 25: Robb and I plan our new lake house (also known as the two-story shed from Home Depot).  We have it all figured out; it's going to be pretty sweet.

Day 26: Praise the Lord, we finished testing!  Five days of the CRCT was more than enough!  While I'm very proud of the effort my kids put into it this year, I'm also VERY glad we have that out of the way.

Day 27: Playing in math with one of my favorite kiddos.  I taught them how to play Contig, and it was a BIG hit

I should have a couple real posts of actual events next week.  My dad and I are hiking part of the Appalachian Trail in North Georgia on Monday, and some friends and I are hitting up the rodeo in Athens next weekend.  I will be on spring break, so I should have time to check a couple of adventures off my list!

Project 365... Days 22 and 23

Day 22: The best reading friend EVER

Day 23: Running at the Veterans Memorial Park feels appropriate while James is deployed

Project 365... Days 18, 19, 20, 21

Day 18: Mac shows off her new haircut

Day 19: The Easter bunny came early to 3rd grade

Day 20: Laura gets trapped in the foam pit

Day 21: A tiny bloom on my walk tonight

I'm doing an April Photo-A-Day challenge on Instagram, where each day there is a different topic and you are supposed to take a picture that follows that theme.  Today's theme was "tiny."  I thought maybe I would just skip today's picture on Instagram, but when I took the dogs for a walk this evening, I saw tiny all around me.  The picture above is my favorite, but below are the other pictures I took on the walk to capture the idea of tiny.  Turned out to be a lot of fun!

Trampolines!

Yesterday, my high school best friend Vanessa came into town.  She teaches in South Carolina and is currently on spring break, so she came to Athens for a visit.  She, my friend Laura, and I ventured to Suwanee to go to Sky Zone....an indoor trampoline facility!

Sky Zone has several trampoline arenas (I guess that's the right word).  Each arena is made up of probably 30 or so individual trampolining squares, so you're each in your own space.  They also have several longer strips for the gymnastically inclined (like Vanessa). The walls are also slanted trampolines, so you can bounce off of those.  All three of us attempted that, but with very little success. Vanessa is a former gymnast and trampoline owner, so her tricks were pretty impressive.  Laura used to have a trampoline, so she at least can flip.  I was perfectly content just to bounce up and down on my little square.  I did find my trampolining strength, however, when we decided to race from one corner of the arena to the other.  I absolutely dominated that.

After some time in the arenas, we headed over to the foam pit, which was by far my favorite part of the whole place.  You have two trampolines, and then you launch off the end into a pit full of foam cubes.  It was so neat because you just sink immediately into the foam.  Apparently I missed out on this by not being a gymnast (that, and the ability to do even a cartwheel).

Getting ready for my first jump

And down the trampolines I go!

Laura in the foam pit

Laura trying to get OUT of the foam pit

Vanessa just hanging out

Overall, we had a great time!  It was only $9 for 30 minutes, so it was an affordable adventure. Our friend Beth was supposed to go, but she couldn't make it this time, so I'm already planning a return trip.

Project 365... Days 15, 16, and 17

Day 15: We got 3rd in the tug of war competition!

We start the CRCT on Wednesday, so our principal declared a school-wide Fun Day on Friday.  Our Fun Day consisted of centers for morning work, making bunny windsocks (in honor of Shel Silverstein's "Runny Babbit," our new favorite book), having indoor recess, and watching The Lion King (I still know every word to every song in that entire movie).  During specials, the kids got to have a grade-wide tug-of-war competition. By some miracle, we managed to come in 3rd out of six classes (technically we only beat 2 classes since there was a tie for 2nd place, but we'll take what we can get).  Check out all that tugging!

Day 16: Father/Daughter bike ride on the Greenway.  Sorry I slowed you down, Dad!

Day 17: The whole group together for Lauren's wedding shower