Erwin, Rafting, Camping, Hiking, and Fireworks
I spent the 4th of July weekend in the middle of nowhere Tennessee. It was FABULOUS! We arrived late Thursday night and set up camp in this amazing campground called the Double D Roost. This little old lady runs the place and has a farm back behind the campground and even sells brown eggs! It was a beautiful place.
I was up until 3am talking with the girls in my tent... they slowly dropped off one at a time, first Laurel, then Britt and then Becca and I. I actually really enjoyed getting to know these wonderful and beautiful ladies better. The guys got up Friday morning at about 7am and started on Breakfast while the rest of us tried to ignore their noises and go back to sleep, well except Lacey who was already awake when the guys got up. I helped cook the bacon on the fire and that was one seriously interesting experience. Then we loaded up and drove over to the Outpost where we'd be rafting. They introduced us to the rules of rafting and then drove us down to the place where we would put in. While we were on the 45 minute bus ride to the river, one of the guides, Josh, told us the story of how Erwin, TN became famous in 1916.
When we finally got to the river and unloaded all the equipment and chose our rafts then launched what was about to be one really long, really fantabulous day. It was a 9 mile trip down the river which was extremely low due to the drought we've been having in the Southeast. It didn't discourage any of our group though we all had a BLAST! Sometimes we got stuck between some rocks and had to shift all our weight to different sides of the raft, or we couldn't move it while in the raft so we'd all get out and push it over the rocks, it rained and thundered and there may have been some lightening, we splashed and got splashed, some of us fell in and others were pushed. Overall I'd have to say that this had to be one of the best rafting trips I've ever been on!
After we rafted we all helped get the equipment back on the buses and had the raft guides take a picture of all of us together and then pose for one so we could have a picture of all four of them. Then we went back to the campground where we discovered that during the rain it had leaked into our tent and gotten quite a few of our belongings very wet (well that only applies to my tent). So we tried to dry out as much as we could before the next storm, which never came, and change our clothes so we could go watch some fireworks in Johnson City, TN. We all drove to town and hung out watching peoples personal fireworks displays and then got to see a very nice little display that the city did. We were thinking about getting ice-cream but we ended up just heading back to camp. Lacey, Cassie, Stephanie, and Kelley had gone and bought a rather large amount of sparklers so everyone played with them for a while before bed and then all I know is I crashed.
The next morning it was rather hard to wake up because of all the soreness in my body but wake up I did. We were heading home today so we cooked breakfast and then packed up our belongings before heading out to do a little hiking. We drove out to a Hostel just down from where the Outpost was and got directions to a hiking trail with a waterfall. We were told that it was an easy to moderate hike and so we were really excited to get to see this waterfall. It started raining on our way there but stopped by the time we actually got to the trail. We hiked up and up some more and then we realized that the trail was getting pretty rough. I swear we were about five miles from where the trail ended in a waterfall when Chip decided we'd gone the wrong way. So we all headed back to this bridge about a mile back and hiked in that direction. This way seemed to be MUCH too easy compared to where had just hiked back down from but we kept on going and then we ended up in the parking lot. SO much for getting to see a waterfall. I did, however, get a picture OF a picture of the waterfall that was posted in a kiosk right by the bathrooms before the trail.
Well, then it was time to head on out and back to Raleigh. We stopped in Asheville along the way to get some grub at the Cracker Barrel... and that was SO good. Then we really hit the road and only stopped once more for gas. I think we were all so very thankful to be home and able to sleep in our own beds Saturday night. All in all it was one of the best weekends I've had in a VERY VERY long time. :-)
***Some of these pictures were taken by Lacey Martin and others by myself
I was up until 3am talking with the girls in my tent... they slowly dropped off one at a time, first Laurel, then Britt and then Becca and I. I actually really enjoyed getting to know these wonderful and beautiful ladies better. The guys got up Friday morning at about 7am and started on Breakfast while the rest of us tried to ignore their noises and go back to sleep, well except Lacey who was already awake when the guys got up. I helped cook the bacon on the fire and that was one seriously interesting experience. Then we loaded up and drove over to the Outpost where we'd be rafting. They introduced us to the rules of rafting and then drove us down to the place where we would put in. While we were on the 45 minute bus ride to the river, one of the guides, Josh, told us the story of how Erwin, TN became famous in 1916.
When we finally got to the river and unloaded all the equipment and chose our rafts then launched what was about to be one really long, really fantabulous day. It was a 9 mile trip down the river which was extremely low due to the drought we've been having in the Southeast. It didn't discourage any of our group though we all had a BLAST! Sometimes we got stuck between some rocks and had to shift all our weight to different sides of the raft, or we couldn't move it while in the raft so we'd all get out and push it over the rocks, it rained and thundered and there may have been some lightening, we splashed and got splashed, some of us fell in and others were pushed. Overall I'd have to say that this had to be one of the best rafting trips I've ever been on!
After we rafted we all helped get the equipment back on the buses and had the raft guides take a picture of all of us together and then pose for one so we could have a picture of all four of them. Then we went back to the campground where we discovered that during the rain it had leaked into our tent and gotten quite a few of our belongings very wet (well that only applies to my tent). So we tried to dry out as much as we could before the next storm, which never came, and change our clothes so we could go watch some fireworks in Johnson City, TN. We all drove to town and hung out watching peoples personal fireworks displays and then got to see a very nice little display that the city did. We were thinking about getting ice-cream but we ended up just heading back to camp. Lacey, Cassie, Stephanie, and Kelley had gone and bought a rather large amount of sparklers so everyone played with them for a while before bed and then all I know is I crashed.
The next morning it was rather hard to wake up because of all the soreness in my body but wake up I did. We were heading home today so we cooked breakfast and then packed up our belongings before heading out to do a little hiking. We drove out to a Hostel just down from where the Outpost was and got directions to a hiking trail with a waterfall. We were told that it was an easy to moderate hike and so we were really excited to get to see this waterfall. It started raining on our way there but stopped by the time we actually got to the trail. We hiked up and up some more and then we realized that the trail was getting pretty rough. I swear we were about five miles from where the trail ended in a waterfall when Chip decided we'd gone the wrong way. So we all headed back to this bridge about a mile back and hiked in that direction. This way seemed to be MUCH too easy compared to where had just hiked back down from but we kept on going and then we ended up in the parking lot. SO much for getting to see a waterfall. I did, however, get a picture OF a picture of the waterfall that was posted in a kiosk right by the bathrooms before the trail.
Well, then it was time to head on out and back to Raleigh. We stopped in Asheville along the way to get some grub at the Cracker Barrel... and that was SO good. Then we really hit the road and only stopped once more for gas. I think we were all so very thankful to be home and able to sleep in our own beds Saturday night. All in all it was one of the best weekends I've had in a VERY VERY long time. :-)
***Some of these pictures were taken by Lacey Martin and others by myself
0 Share The Love:
Post a Comment