Our camping weekend out of town up in the mountains of northern Georgia was a total escape from reality. But first....We had to deal with our favorite store Walmart in the hopes of getting a sleeping bag for our trip which was suppose to come in before we left...but did not. Thanks Walmart!
Our idea of obtaining food from a local produce stand did not work out because of waiting on Walmart's super friendly and most intelligent staff. So as we got closer to our destination, the only place around to buy food was...of course...Walmart.
That total bill of $24.59 is all they are getting from me for a very very long time.
Once at our walk-in campsite, we pitched a tent (no, not in that way-dirty minds!), and started a fire? Oh wait! We forgot the lighter. Let me remind everyone that we do not camp very often. We are really kind of novices at this still. So having forgot our lighter, we had to go to...where else?
Good ole WallyWorld.
Back at camp, we made great veggie hotdogs with baked beans. We had a great cider beer from France. Very refreshing for a hot night. Actually it was very cool in the mountains, but we worked up a sweat pitching a tent (insert dirty mind here).
The next day we had a nice drive into Asheville about 2 hours away. We ate at a delicious vegetarian restaurant called Laughing Seed. After strolling Asheville we went to a coffee house and bookstore called Malaprops. And after being totally exhausted, we decided to start our drive back through the Blue Ridge Parkway. We always missed out due to it being closed on our way to to Smokies every year. It was a beautiful drive to say the least.
After our return we started cooking our shish-kabobs over an open fire with a bottle of wine. After dinner, I cleaned our dishes at the faucet near the restrooms while Dave took a shower. A nice couple about our age came by and asked "Have you camped here before?""No, how about yourselves?"
"No, but we were wondering if you heard anything in the woods last night. We couldn't tell what it was and haven't found tracks."
"Well, the rangers have mentioned that this is bear country, so just be safe and leave your food in the car and they shouldn't bother you. There has not been any sitings this year yet."
And so the couple seemed reassured and said good night. By the time I cleaned up Dave was still in the shower and I decided to go up to the camp site and prepare the smores.
With just a flashlight in my hand, I strolled up to the site and noticed that of course the fire was dying out. I bent over the fire and gave it a couple of blows. And then there was a growl. The next thing I knew, I was running down the mountain. Dave heard me scream and came butt naked out of the shower and saw my flash light bouncing down the hill. I told him what happened and after I calmed my nerves, we went up together and checked the site out. The only evidence we found was our bag of food tipped over with our english muffins carried into the bushes. We stood scanning the bushes, meanwhile I am ready to sleep in the car. Then I saw it! A pair of little beady eyes peering from behind a tree. I was so relieved that it was a raccoon and not a bear! I still didn't sleep though.
Fun weekend! So relaxing!
