13 June 2022
Are we getting soft in our old age? Perhaps. But for year ten of camping with our friends – ten years of wide-open wonder and crisp air and melty s’mores and fireside chats, but also packing and hauling and uncomfortable backs – we opted to celebrate in style, with a glamping weekend at Gold River Camp at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near Marion, NC. It was a delight. And you’re darn right we had matching tees. I’d love to share a few photos, if you’d like to see! We arrived to Gold River around 5pm on our early June weekend. It’s a small, private campground that’s only about a year old; they offer cabins, RV sites, yurts, platform tents, and traditional campsites. Booking is all through Airbnb. The owners are onsite, but interaction is minimal (we unlocked our cabins with a code). We stayed in the Bower and the Cottage, which are connecting “cabins” – ours was one open room with a bed, a futon, and a bathroom with a shower; the Ray’s side had a living room area with a futon, a separate bedroom, a bathroom with a tub/shower, and the teeny kitchen. I put cabins in quotes because they’re really more like tiny houses – not a log in sight :) The beautiful thing about not having to set up camp the way we usually do? We could start exploring right away! And there’s lots to explore at Gold River. The kids made a beeline for the creek, and though that was definitely a highlight of our stay, there were also Eno hammocks, Adirondack chairs, fire pits, and tables and chairs dotted around the property for anyone to use. (Less glamorous but maybe more important: trashcans were also always nearby – and were emptied multiple
14 December 2020
December tends to be a bit of a clean-up month around here, as I hustle to share in the same calendar year anything of note that hasn’t quite made it to the blog! As such, I’ll occasionally serve up posts that are a bit out of season – but we’ll just consider them inspiration for the seasons ahead :) In this spirit, today I’m sharing a few photos and stories from our eighth annual family camping trip with the Rays. Hold onto your boots – it was a cold and wet one! For our eighth year, we returned to Blue Bear Mountain Camp, outside of Boone, North Carolina. As always, our car was absolutely stuffed. This was our third trip to Blue Bear, and it never disappoints – it’s a lovely campsite, with friendly people, and decent bathroom facilities (ha!). Sadly, we had to postpone from our original weekend due to weather, and we did not get our top choice campsites upon rescheduling. The sites were actually pretty inconvenient, especially for families with small children – down a steep hill from the cars and bathrooms, and with a fairly steep (though wooded) drop-off on the other side. But we made the best of it! We arrived on Friday afternoon in gray chill, which eventually progressed into mist (the photos of our site were all taken the next morning!). The grass was already wet from rain earlier in the day, which made hauling in our gear tricky and resulted in wet feet almost immediately. Thankfully, John and I were well equipped thanks to his excellent suggestion to wear our Bean boots, but for some reason we didn’t extend that logic to our kiddos, so they quickly were complaining of cold, wet feet – not pleasant, and I don’t blame them one
23 December 2019
I mean, if that doesn’t sound like an adventure, what does?! Truthfully, our seventh camping trip together almost did the Rays in, I think, but in the end, we’ve all agreed we’re going back next year :) Here’s a peek at our weekend away, if you’d like to see! This year, we chose Lake James State Park for our home base. Our side-by-side tent sites were close to the wash house, which was perfect for our frequent visits! The park itself was perched up on a hill without any lake views, but it was a quick drive to the beach — which we took advantage of, as you’ll see below! Sometimes we camp in the spring and sometimes in the fall; this year we chose August to give the December baby a chance to grow up a bit! We’ve each camped with a 9-month-old in our family, and know it can be a tough age (limited mobility=frustration). That, in addition, to coming in with a sleep deficit, pretty well summed up the challenges for the Rays. Of course, there were a million delights along the way, too! Conversation around the campfire, “dance recitals” in the road next to our campsite, a beautiful hike, time in the water, yummy meals, and lots of sweet moments. We ventured out to revisit an old favorite hike – Lower Catawba Falls – and though it was a beautiful day, we were a little disappointed: we were sharing the trail with so many others, it felt like we were at Disney World! It was a shocking change from our first visit to these falls 8 or so years ago, when we maybe saw three other hikers. Still beautiful, but I wouldn’t recommend it at this point if you’re looking for solitude. (It is, however, a
20 July 2018
Mother’s Day weekend 2018 was spent camping in the wilds of North Carolina – and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! You’re probably familiar with the concept of behavioral “nudges” – I’ve talked about them before. From The Tech-Wise Family: “Nudges are small changes in the environments around us that make it easier for us to make the choices we want to make… Nudges don’t generally make us do anything, but they make certain choices easier and more likely. They don’t focus so much on changing anything about our own preferences and ability to choose well; they simply put the best choice right in front of us and make the wrong choice harder.” We camp because it is one BIG nudge moving us to toward some of the things we care most deeply about: spending time with friends, disconnecting from technology, engaging in good conversation, moving our bodies, and soaking our kids (and ourselves!) in nature. No weekend of pampering could have been better! Plus, John brought sparkling cider and plastic champagne coupes to toast the mamas, so we really couldn’t have asked for more :) Our sixth annual camping trip with the Rays was full of all of these things and more. Here are a few photos, if you’d like to take a peek! This year, we chose South Mountain State Park as our destination. It was voted the 2017 State Park of the Year in North Carolina, and I can see why! The campsites (there are only a handful) are heavily-wooded and perched next to a gorgeous mountain river which provided the loveliest background murmur. We did find the sites a little smaller than we are used to, but the pristine bathroom facilities made up for that! :) We reserved two side-by-side sites, and Milly and