Weber time!

Uncle John and Aunt Sue hooked us up with a new Weber. Our older Weber is a hand-me-down and it shows. Parts are rusted open among other things. Now we have one for meats and one for veggies. Grilling time. Annie and Jeff also got us a Weber Rapidfire Chimney Starter. It is as cool as it sounds.

First meal:
Beer Butt Chicken (Budweiser this time.We are down south after all.)
Grilled portobella caps with red wine, garlic, and season salt
Grilled asparagus
Some Miller High Life Light
I opened a bottle of home brewed beer for this occasion, yum.

Back to Hurricane Creek to explore

Excellent weekend! Greg and Shawn came in from Durham and Charlotte for a camping trip. Three Rovers in all. Jeremiah's DI, Shawn's Defender and our DII. We hung out Friday night around the camp fire while the girls emptied wine bottles inside the house.






The Rovers were all loaded up and we headed out early Saturday morning in the rain. The weather broke right when we hit the trail. Tiff started off driving to brush-up on some driving skills. She did amazing as always. The trail is very rocky and jagged, but lucky no major problems all weekend.










We took the trail up the mountain, all the way to Max Patch and then we went for a short hike up to the top. It is beautiful up there.










We stopped for lunch while we were "lost" on a mountain road along side some cattle pastures. The photo with the fence is where we stopped. Shawn convinced a cow to get close enough to pet. Then they started flinging spit.

That evening we rode back down and found a nice camping spot across the creek. Set-up camp and had a brilliant time as always....to be continued for sure.

Puppies getting biGGER.

Here are some new pictures of the four females. Just over a month now until the puppy comes.

Sam Knob - day hike

Sunday morning we did a nice hike up to Sam Knob in Black Balsam. It is a moderate 2.2 mile long trail. The summit is 6,050 feet. The nice part is that you start at 5,850 feet. The elevation change is comfortable at 570 feet.

More beautiful views and it was cooler up there with a pleasant breeze. We only saw one black snake...I emphasize "saw."

Cataloochee Ranch

My mom and dad came into town for a long weekend to visit us and see the new house. We had a ton of fun and relaxed a little also. We went riding on Saturday at Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley. They have great, healthy horses and amazing views. Dennis was our guide and he rode a Tennessee Walker named Bandit.

Rover Ride

A quick little trail run with some Rover friends and my dad. Now he gets "it." We had a lot of fun. Here are some highs and lows. (stolen from Nick G. and Joe C.)
Lows:
I got stuck on a huge rock. Radius arms and exhaust got caught and left the front wheels off the ground.
Banged the passenger real quarter on a large rock ledge and bent it a bit.
Jeremiah dumped about $8 in gas out of the filler cap due to the fact that he was so far over.
Mike peeled a swamper tire right off the rim.

Highs:
I got unstuck off the rock.
I bent the panel back, no real harm done.
No one rolled their truck.
Mike and Brandon reseated the tire...no problem.