Camping in a cloud

If you saw my Instagram from the other day, you probably thought my entire weekend was some heavenly dream. I'm here to tell you that you can't judge a vacation by an Instagram photo. While we had some good moments, our camping trip didn't start off amazingly. We pulled up to the campsite and it was pouring rain. Thankfully we had a giant tarp that we were able to put over both of our tents, and that kept everything dry! Our campsite was also on top of a mountain, and while the views were wonderful (when it wasn't foggy), we were basically in a cloud the entire time. Even when it wasn't raining, everything was just wet. Our dry wood that we brought up would not catch fire. Michael is an Eagle Scout, and he could not build this fire, people. It was that moist in the air! We were in and out of rain throughout the whole weekend, because mountains are just like that sometimes, and also this is the wettest, rainiest summer in the history of the world. It wasn't what we pictured when we planned this summer camping trip.

HOWEVER, we did have a lot of things go right, the number one being the friends we were with. Sarah is one of my best friends from college, and she and Ross drove down from Ohio to vacation with us. So by golly, we were going to have fun whether the weather said so or not! Some of the best memories can be made in the worst of circumstances, am I right?


C A M P I N G  H I G H L I G H T S

The clouds clearing a bit on our first night during sunset - just beautiful.
Seeing a herd of Elk and their babies!
Playing cards by lantern light on that first night when we couldn't get the fire started.
Finding the perfect swimming hole with a great big rock to jump off of.
Enjoying the sun being out while at said swimming hole.
Climbing Chimney Tops Mountain and feeling like we were on top of the world.
Finally getting a fire started on our second night! (we totally cheated and used a hefty amount of starter logs.)
Eating amazing food - quinoa, tilapia, and veggie foil pouches on night 1, and pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, and potatoes on night 2 (we may have been camping in the wilderness but we ate like kings!).
Taking the plunge down Sliding Rock in Pisgah, basically a natural waterslide. AWESOME. (and cold!)
Stopping in Asheville on our way home to get a beer at Thirsty Monk and eat some amazing comfort food at Tupelo Honey Cafe.


So while it may have been crazy weather and not necessarily how we imagined it, we still had a great time and we are thankful we live so close to some amazing places like the Smokies & Pisgah! And we are thankful that our friends made the journey down here to tour the mountains with us!