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Today we met a group out at a local disc golf course. We all played a relatively good 18 holes. Boo even got a birdie and one guy lost a disc at one of the lake shots. Oops. After playing, we decided we felt pretty good and we should go for another 18. At first I didn't want to play, call it ADD, but I wanted to go do something different. Then, at the very last second, I decided, what the hell, lets play.

Well guess what? I got 5 birdies! TWEET TWEET Bitches! hahaha! I was just as shocked as the three guys I was playing with. Boo just proudly beamed at me and the other two were speechless. I guess they didn't like getting their ass handed to them by a girl :) hahaha! Seriously, I think my arm was loosened up and I did change driver disc's. That added with the right wind and some good old fashion luck allowed me to play the game of the day. It was so sick! I just threw them really accurate and close to the basket, then on my second shot, I just slammed dunked them into the chains. It was a nice feeling. Though I wish the sore losers would of been more gracious and given me some props. I mean, I didn't need a standing ovation or anything, but a "nice shot" would of been nice. I guess not everyone shows good sportsmanship like I do.

Afterwards, we went home to pick up the hounds and take full advantage of the awesome weather. We took them to their favorite pond and let them have a nice swim. The dogs love it at the pond, you can just see how happy they are. They smile and their tails go crazy. Boo and I chillaxed and enjoyed the day. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!!!

Disc Golf Sat.

We decided to try out a disc golf course that I hadn't played in a while. Boo played it a couple of weeks ago and told me how challenging it had become. OK, I'm up for a challenge. We loaded up into the car and headed out to Renaissance Park. The first 6 holes were pretty much the same. Hard, crazy ravines you have to repel, and lots of up and down hiking.

Well the next 12 holes were hard as hell! There were two par 6 over 1000 feet in distance throws. Believe me, I took all, and more, of the 6 shots just to get it to the basket. It was disgusting! Luckily I didn't lose any discs, but I think I need a better long distance driver..... hmmmm...... This course was definitely humbling, but made me want to come back and try it again. I think tomorrow we'll hit the easy course and see if playing on a pro-course has helped up my game any. Til Next Time. GET OUTDOORS!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Ok, Ok.... I know this isn't an outdoorsy post, but I just wanted to talk about my TG dinner. Thanksgiving was a low key affair at casa-de-Sweetpea. I decided to take on the challenge of cooking my very first Thanksgiving dinner! Turkey was a bit intimidating, so I went with something a bit smaller. Cornish Hens. I found a great recipe while surfing the Food Network, on Barefoot Contessa's show. So I downloaded the recipe from the website. The sides were easy-peasy. Nothing to fancy. I made regular stove top stuffing, just added some carmalized onions, celery, and dried cranberries to make it my own. I went with potato's augratin, simple. Take and bake oven rolls, and steamed brocolli. Oh, and wine :) I even cheated on dessert by getting an already made pumpkin pie. All in all, it took about 1 hour to make everything. Hope you all had a nice thanksgiving! Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!

$5 Beer Tasting

So I was supposed to go backpacking this weekend to test out my new stove, but beer kind of got in the way. haha! We ended up taking my dad to Carolina Beer Company on Saturday, since my mom was still out of town. It ended up being lots fun and I got to bond with my dad over some good beer and funny stories :) You may have seen Cottowood Ales or Carolina Blonde in your local grocery store. I know I can pick up a six pack at the local Harris Teeter. But something about going directly to the brewery makes the beer taste so good!
Well, we picked up my dad around noon. After Boo helped him figure out the latest computer issue, we headed out to Carolina Beer Company. Every Saturday, from 12pm to 3pm, they have live music and beer tasting for $5. And let me tell you, for $5 you get ALOT of beer. 5 beer tastings to be exact and a complimentary tasting glass. The glass looks like a pint size pub glass. I think Boo said it held around 6-8 oz of beer.

Anyways, we pull in just as the party was getting started. Lots of people, the music was in full swing, the beer taps were flowing, and the sausage dogs were sizzling on the grill. We walk in to the tap room, pay our $5, get our 5 tokens, and side up to the bar. Boo knows he wants a glass of the Carolina Blonde. I'm eyeing the Cottonwood Pumpkin Spiced Ale, and my dad also gets the Carolina Blonde. We walk outside to take in the sunshine and grab a seat on the outdoor patio. As we are discussing the beer and it dawns on us that we could potentially taste all the beers offered if we each got a different beer and passed the glasses around so everyone gets a swig. (We family, so cooties don't scare us. ) After reading the descriptions of all the beers and we decide what we want to try next. This time around my token gets me a Low Down Brown, which I really liked. (Strong, chocolate/coffee tasting, dark beer.) Boo gets the Irish Red Style (taste alot like Killians), and my dad tries the American Wheat (taste Blue Moon-ish). We pass around our mini pints and everyone takes a sip out of each beer. Even though I appreciate the different flavors, I'm glad to get my Low Down Brown back it's sooooo good. I sip down the smooth, velvety dark beer and get that familiar tingly warmth feeling :)

My head starts bobbing to the music and I get bold enough to pull out my camera and start snapping some photos of the band, the crowd, and the brewery. I can tell my dad's having fun to b/c he makes a quick call to my brother to rub it in that he's at a beer tasting and he starts relaxing and telling us some of his funny beer stories. For our third glass, since they didn't have my favorite Cottonwood Almond Stout, I try the Endo IPA, Boo gets the Carolina Strawberry Ale, and I think my dad gets the Cottonwood Frostbite. Now my mind was a bit fuzzy by that point, but I think that's what we all got. As for the fourth token, I have no idea what we all got. It was good though. hahhaha! We decided to save the last token for the next time. Yeah, we're light weights, well at least I am :) I had a lot of fun at the brewery and highly recommend checking it out if your ever in the area. Oh, and technically we were outdoors enjoying the sunshine, music, and beer :) Til Next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Disc Golf Sunday

Boo and I decided to take advantage of the awesome mild weather and play a nice round of disc golf. We headed over to they par 3 course and this time, we took our time. We didn't power thru it, but enjoyed each play. I even took little dog with us for some exercise. Boo played awesome, he got 2 birdies. I played ok, but it took a couple of holes for me to find my groove. My best throw was on the 17 hole. haha! It was a beautiful Sunday morning. We came home and I got ready for a sewing event that a friend was having. I figured, I got a sewing machine, why not use it to make over stuff besides gear. My mission was to make some plushy dog toys for my hounds. I came back after 2 hours of slaving over a sewing machine with my stuffed Shark, squeaker included, and it lasted less than a minute with my big dog. Oh well, at least he enjoyed it! But I think next time I'll buy some heavy duty material to make the chew toy last longer :) Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Fall Lake Hike

We woke up this morning with plans to go on a family hike. Family meaning me, Boo, and my two hounds. We ate breakfast, then loaded up two excited dogs into my car and headed for one of our favorite hikes. Lake Norman State Park. As we pull in the park entrance, the dogs start getting more excited. I swear, they know that when they see a pine tree, it means fun. haha! As we meander thru the park, we see signs for a race. Then we see the joggers/walkers. There's a 5k and 10k going on. People are waving and smiling at us. Probably b/c our dogs are half hanging out the window and looking goofy.

We park up at the trail head and start our hike. Thing 1 goes crazy! We let him off the leash to get out some energy and because he's a good dog, but keep Thing 2 on her leash. Well, the big dog runs at full speed all through the woods. It's like he's in his own little heaven. He's so funny. It makes my heart feel good seeing him enjoy the outdoors. The weather is absolutely beautiful. I take my time and decide to take it easy and just enjoy being outdoors with my little family. The views of the lake are amazing thru the trees and as soon as we get beach, Thing 1 takes off and lunges into the water. Oh yeah, he's in dog heaven. Boo starts throwing sticks for him to retrieve and little dog and I just walk along the shoreline. We hop back on the trail and continue hiking. I'm a bit surprised at how easy the hills are to climb. I keep telling myself that I just climbed a mountain last week, so these little .2 mile ups are like speed bumps. I feel almost guilty for not breaking a sweat or loosing my breathe. But I guess all that backpacking is finally paying off. Now, I just have to keep it up! hahaha! Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!

Georgia with the Dames (Sun)

This morning I walked over to the campfire ring and saw that someone has started a nice morning fire AND had gone and gotten our food from the bear bags. (It's looking like it's going to be a great day!) I went back to my hammock and packed up everything so that I could leave with one of the first groups. 15 minutes later I enjoyed the morning fire again, boiled some water for my oatmeal, and listened to all the chatter going on. SHOE, in another one of her food experiments, made some breakfast oatmeal that didn't quite work out. It looked like some congealed orange glop. HA! That girl makes me laugh! I caught Maggie eating a breakfast S'more and had to call her out. You see, last night she had her first, and what she claimed was her last S'more. Not b/c she didn't like it, but that it was just too rich tasting. Well, it seems it wasn't too rich this morning. HA! We both had a laugh and I'm glad she got to indulge in a camping tradition. :)

After the traildame morning meeting about today's hike and car pooling etc... Kelly and I were the first ones on the trail. We only had 5.4 miles to do but had a big climb that morning, a 954 foot ascent in a mile. We started around 8:45am and took out time. We climbed and climbed, and climbed. I thought it would never end! Then all of the sudden Kelly turned around and said, "you see what I see." I looked up, past her and saw the blue sky peeking over the ridge. I said, "if that's what I think it is, we are high fiving when we get up there." And that's just what we did! We were FINALLY at the top of Kelly's knob. I dropped my pack and as usual, as soon as I saw the view, I forgot about the climb. It was spectacular. Kelly was pointing out a lake and told me that you could see NC and SC from our GA mountain top. I thought it was the coolest thing. We took lots of photos and a quick water break b/c it was just the first mile of the day, we knew we still had a while to go. We climbed down into Deep gap and decided to by pass the shelter and take a nice break at the bottom before the next big climb. Well, we're chillin', when all of the sudden this old dude in JEANS comes running down the trail. I mean running like he's trying to get away from the cops running. He doesn't say anything to us. OK... strange. And why would someone be out in the middle of nowhere, running in jeans? Everyone knows you don't wear cotton on the trail right? ha! I just found it weird.

Well, we spent the next 2 miles climbing up and down 4 mountains. I counted each climb up. DAMN! I can honestly understand why lots of thru-hikers complain about all the PUDS (pointless ups and downs) in Georgia. My goodness, I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, just up, down, up, down, no view, up, down, up, down. By then, we were getting pretty fatigued from all the ups and downs, that we decided to take a lunch break. I knew from looking at Kelly's map that after the fourth climb, the rest of the trail should of been all down hill.

Well guess what? The map was wrong. Every time Kelly and I would make it to a gap, we would start climbing again, it got to be a cruel joke that we both laughed at and sort of cried at. THANK GOODNESS I had another person to share the insanity with. Haha! By the way, Kelly was a great hiker, she doesn't give herself enough credit. She set the pace and led the entire way. All the while telling me she's a slow hiker. Don't believe it! She's a strong hiker and I'd hiker with her again any time. So to get our minds off the climbs, we started thinking about cold icy diet cokes and that helped a little. This was a tough day for me. I hadn't expected all those extra climbs and coupled with the fact that I hadn't hiked since early October just made it tough.

We finally push up the last little hill and see the Dicks Creek Gap road up ahead. YEAH! we made it. and it was only 1pm! We hop in Kelly's car and head into Hiawassee for a diet coke! I was so excited to roll into Haiwassee, only because I've read about this little town so many times on trailjournals. I tell Kelly how excited I am to finally check out Haiwassee and then she points out the famous Blueberry Patch Hostel! It looked just like I would imagine it to look like. A blue little hostel. We finally found a little store and head right over to the soda fridges. I pull out a diet coke then spot one of those huge 1 liter diet coke bottles. So I do the right thing and put back my little coke bottle and exchange it for the 1 liter jug. haha! Yea, I got greedy, but that cold coke was sooooooo good. We got up to pay and notice slices of pizza for sale, so my greedy self grabbed one of those too :) I paid the clerk and tell her this place is like a little oasis. She smiles and I wonder if she gets that alot. I mean, it is a trail town. We decided to wait to eat our slice back at the trail head picnic tables, but we took big swigs from our liters of diet coke all the way back. hahha! As we get back to Dicks Creek Gap to wait for Joan and Maggie, we spot Sunny sitting in her car. We invite her to join us at the picnic table.

Sunny used to be a serious hiker/climber/outdoors woman til she got into a really bad car wreck. She still hikes, but not as much distance as she used to do. She and a couple of hikers took the bail out, 1 mile trail back to the car this morning. Seems as if a couple of the girls decided not to finish the hike today. So Sunny went with them to help out carry gear and car pool. Then she came over to the trail head at the end of our section hike to pick up the rest us that finished. As we were talking, I find out that Sunny is really into ultralight backpacking and start to pick her brain for some gear recommendations. She asks if I want to SEE any of her gear and I excitedly tell her "YEAH!". She comes back with a huge duffel bag full of gear. I checked out her Patagucci (Patagonia) down jacket that weighs almost nothing. I check out her snow peak stove set that made me double think my Jetboil, and you know I love my Jetboil. But the snow peak was so small, compact, and light. I picked up her western mountaineering 20 degree down bag and almost ran off with it. That bag is soooo light I couldn't believe it. Then she showed me my next gear purchase! hahaa! Her Granite Gear Vapor Ki backpack. Man that pack was sweet. She let me try it on and I loved where all the straps fell. I've been wanting to get a lighter weight pack, but still wanted one with an internal frame. This one is perfect. I love the outside pockets that were made out of stretchy wetsuit material, I loved the cushioning on the hip and shoulder straps. It just looked and felt great on. I'm going to be saving up my pennies for this purchase!

After ohhing and ahhing over all of Sunny's gear, Joan and Maggie finally show up. We load up into Kelly's car and head back out to the cabins. I say my goodbyes to everyone and at 3:30pm, I'm pulling out of Helen GA and headed home. Another wonderful trip with the Trail dames. The weather was perfect, the views were great, the company was wonderful, and even though the trail kicked my butt, I got to be outdoors. I couldn't of asked for a better weekend. Til next time... GET OUTDOORS!!!

Georgia with the Dames (Sat.)

At 9:45am we step foot on the trail and start our 1 mile climb up. I hadn't hiked since the Shennies trip in early October so I was worried I'd fall behind. Luckily, my trail legs didn't disappear! Joan and I hiked together for the rest of the day. She was kind enough to wait for me on top of the climbs and we would hike down the trail together. At the top of the first climb we caught up to Crystal and her dog Buddy and we all stopped to enjoy the view and take some photos. Crystal and Buddy were just out here for the day and it was Crystal's first hike. She seemed to be doing really well. Buddy was loving it. She had her tail wagging the entire time and just raced up and down the trail. She would stop when she couldn't see Crystal and wait for her, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of her mommy, she raced down the trail again. It was so cute. It made me miss my dogs. I learned that Joan was really into the plant life. It was actually pretty cool having someone point out things and teach me something. Like when we hiked by some bamboo plants, normally I would of just walked on by and not thought a second about it, but Joan schooled us on the fact that it was a bamboo native to only the GA mountians. See, I learned something! Joan's from Oregon, but is a professor at University of GA, where she also does some genetic research. She would sometimes get off the trail to check out an interesting tree or flower. I kept wanting to give her the trail name "Dexter", like that Hanna Barbera cartoon about the little red headed scientist in the white lab coat. I think the cartoon's name is actually Dexter's Labratory. Anyways, we continue on together and see the sign for the shelter. We were told there were some stellar views, so we dropped our packs and decide to hike the .3 miles up the nicely graded trail to check it out. We arrive and notice an open privy on the left and as I yell back to Joan and Crystal to check out the privy, it dawns on my that there's a pair of boots peaking out from it. Oops! Seems as if we stumbled upon someone doing their business. We quickly look over the shelter, then head back to the view to give the fellow hiker some privacy.

It was a great view, I would highly recommend stopping at Tray Mountain shelter just to check out the view. As we get back to our packs, we see that most of the group has arrived as well as 2 Southbounders!! Buffalo and Eecreats (spelling?). I find out that Eecreats will be the first ITALIAN southbounder to finish the AT. You KNOW I had to ask him about my favorite country on the planet. hahah! He's sort of a celebrity on the trail, at least that's how we treated him. hahah! Picture 12 women just oohhing and ahhing over these two southbounders. They were loving it! Sunny offered to get their picture and we all clamoured around them for the photo. OH, and I found out the dude in the privy was Rootbeer, another southbounder hiking with Eecreates and Buffalo. So after the photo op, Joan, Crystal, Buddy and I continue down the trail for a couple miles. We decide to have lunch at the top of one of the climbs, which looked to be about 1/2 up. Well, a mile later we were walking down into SWAG of the Blue Ridge Gap where we met some other hikers, one from England and one from Ireland. They were nice enough to take our picture at the SWAG sign :) Well, you all know where there is a GAP, immediately after, is a climb. So we climb up some mountain and climb down into Sassafras Gap, where Joan and I decided to get water at a blue blazed spring. Little did I know I would need some repelling gear to climb steeply down .3 miles for some water. (The down really wasn't that bad, it's coming back up that I dread. And it's especailly bitter when the miles don't count. hahaha!) So we left Crystal up with our packs and we rapelled down to the spring. It was actually a nice, clean, running water spring. Joan and I took turns pumping water thru the filter and finally climbed back up to our packs. When we got to the top, there was no sign of Crystal or Buddy. We think she just decided to finish up since she was just day hiking. So Joan and I continue into camp. We look at our watch and it was only 2:30pm when we arrived into Addison Gap.

We split up to pick some nice camp spots. I choose a couple of nice trees, set up my tarp, hang my hammock, and sit in it a while to relax my feet. About an hour later, in walks Sundai and Diana! They looked pretty worn out so Joan and I help them set up their tents. I realize that their backpacks weigh a ton and that's why they were so wiped out. Around 4pm, Laura and Lynn walk in, followed by Maggie. The Dames are starting to trickle in. While everone is setting up their tents, Diana decides to pick up some logs/sticks for a campfire and Joan and I go off to hang a couple of ropes for bear bagging. She's never done it before and it's one of my least favorite camp chores to do, so... yeah. I take advantage of the situation and tell Joan she should practice. hhahah! Seriously, after she weighted down one end of the rope with some twigs, she had 2 bear bag ropes up in less then 10 minutes. It was so cute to see how excited she was to get it over the tree limb. We high fived after each successful toss and she had the biggest ear to ear grin. When we got back to the campsite Diana had a nice little fire going. I helped her stack the logs around to keep the fire going and to create some really good coals. By 5:pm, I was getting a bit worried about SHOE and her group. SHOE, as the leader of the trip, held up the rear and made sure everyone made it safely to camp. It was almost completely dark when they finally pulled into camp. By this time, everyone else was pretty much set up and starting to make dinner. She went off to get water, while Joan and I put up another bear bag rope. This time I threw one up and it was pretty sloppy. Instead of redoing it like we should of, we let our stomaches take over. So off we went to make some dinner. I was starving! As everyone was making/eating dinner (SHOE and Kelly filtered water)guess who night hikes with her headlamp on into camp. Mudd Butt! YAY! She is in such a cheery mood, it's hard not to smile when you hear her. The best part, she brought in everything you need to make S'Mores!!! Whoo hoo! I walk over to hug and say hello. While she is busy setting up her camp, I go and bear bag my food.

As we are enjoying the S'mores :) and chit chatting around the campfire, Jen and her family hike in. Jen works at Mountain Crossings Outfitters and attempted to thru hike last year. After they set up, they start making dinner. Talk about a yummy dinner. SHOE and I looked at one another and she says, "we are doing that next time we're in the Smoky's" and believe me, we are SO doing that. Jen had marinated some steak, skewered it, and cooked it on the campfire. After a while, the fire started to die out and most of us called it a night. I didn't realize how warm the fire had kept me until I started walking back to my hammock. I checked my themometer and it said it was around 35-40 degrees. Chilly night! I slipped on my down vest, jumped into my warm hammock, and drifted off to sleep. I slept sooo good that night. The next morning I woke up around 6:30am and just laid in my warm hammock til I heard some of the others moving around. Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure. Til then, GET OUTDOORS!

Georgia with the Dames (Fri)

Once again I zipped down to Georgia for the Trail Dames annual backpack trip! After work on Friday I hopped in my car, and headed to Kelly's cabin to meet up with the dames. I whirled up the mountain roads up to Helen GA and this time the weather was clear, crisp, and all around perfect for a backpacking trip. (If you've never been to Helen,GA it's the cutest little Alpine village type town. It reminded me of a little ski resort in the Alps.) I called SHOE to let her know I was close by and she gives me directions to the cabin. Well, Kelly has three cabins and wouldn't you know it, I went into the only empty cabin to wait for everyone. So typical of me. hahaha! Everyone else happened to be in the first cabin. SHOE came over to rescue me and then introduced me to everyone. I met Crystal and her dog Buddy, who will only be day hiking the first section with us, Kathy and Sunny (who is really into ultralight backpacking and gave me so gear tips), Kelly, who owns all three cabins, Lynn and Laura, (mother and daughter), and Diana, whom I met last year at the Hike Inn in GA. We chit chat a bit, but since I rolled in late, everyone was ready to go to bed. SHOE and I stayed up a while just catching up. We finally decide to call it a night around 10:45pm b/c the rest of the Dames were coming up at 7:30 in the morning. I pulled out my sleeping bag and stretched out on the couch for a good nights sleep. SHOE said I must of slept well b/c she could hear me snoring away. Oops :)

I woke up the next morning around 7am and started packing up my stuff when a new group of Dames walk in. Sundai, Nancy, and Joan drove up this morning. In total there will be 16 of us backpacking. (Me, SHOE, Kelly, Joan, Sundai, Nancy, Kathy, Crystal, April, Mudd Butt, Sunny, Diana, Lynn, Laura, Maggie, ) Everyone finally arrived at the cabins, (except for Mudd Butt, she had to work and was hiking in to our campsite later that evening.) we loaded up all the packs and shuffled three cars up to Tray Mt. Gap. The ride up Tray mountain was on a narrow, steep, gravely, dirt road with tons of pot holes, which made for an interesting drive. :) We made it to the trail head, parked the cars, got everyone situated, took the obligatory "before" picture, and started our trek to Addison Gap. Only 6.2 miles away. Tune in tomorrow to continue our adventure! Til Next time GET OUTDOORS!!!

Touching Dog Story

So I'm a sucker for dog related stories :)

This story trully melted my heart. It's about a Marine in Iraq, a mutt named Nubs, and the connection they shared. Just click on NUBS to view the story. What is it about these furry little animals that make them the most loyal companions. What a lucky person you are if you've ever had the unconditional love of a dog. Go hug your dog today!

Dad disc golfs!!

Today we had made plans to hang out with my dad to watch the game and keep him company. (My mom was out of the country.) So on the way up, Boo and I decide to play 18 holes of disc golf. On a whim, I called my dad to see if he wanted to join us. (Thinking he'd politely say no.) Well imagine my surprise when he actually said "yes!" YAY! We picked him up around 9:45am and were on the first tee by 10am. It was cloudy, drizzly, muddy, and about 50 degrees out. Boo had on his cleats and my dad and I had on our hiking shoes, but I was still worried it wasn't enough to avoid slipping and sliding all over the mud.

We basically had the entire course to ourselves, which was great, but I still played like total CRAP. I think it was b/c I gave my dad my fav. orange "shark" disc and my driver, while I played with some of Boo's disc's, which were made for a more sophisticated player. Let's just say I was in the woods alot b/c I don't know how to handle the "S" curve disc very well. I may have gotten my disc in a ravine or two, but my dad got the "throw award of the day." He had to hike down into a steep, narrow muddy ditch to retrieve one of his disc's. HA! It was actually alot of fun and no one fell in the mud, though there were a couple of close calls. My dad played surprisingly well for his first time. I think he'd make an awesome disc golfer if he keeps it up. Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!