Mountain Retreat

S and I had an absolutely marvelous time away last Friday night and Saturday. We said goodbye to the children and headed to NC. It only took us about an hour to get to our destination and we were in the midst of beautiful mountain country. We checked into our nice hotel room (with a jacuzzi!) and went and had dinner at Outback Steakhouse...mmm,mmm good! After a bloomin' onion, bread, steak with lobster sauce over it, a salad and loaded baked potato...I was stuffed! An added blessing we had not planned on was that the hotel had a delicious looking pool. So, after dinner we headed to K-mart to buy something suitable to wear in the pool. We had not packed anything, because we had not anticipated swimming. When we got back there were some people in the pool, and we were only going to swim if no one else was there. But, after about 10 minutes it was empty. The water was like bathwater, it was so warm and refreshing. We felt like kids again, splashing and swimming, trying to do the tricks we did when we were young. It was completely private and could not have been better!

I have always loved staying at hotels, so I enjoyed every part of the "hotel experience" to the fullest. It was so wonderful to just have time the two of us. We have not had that in years and was so very refreshing and needful.

We decided to forget the breakfast the next morning and just sleep in. :) After doing so, we got up and went for another morning swim. Headed out close to noon for brunch at a Dennys. We then went to a place that had been recommended to us by one of our church friends. It was somewhere around 250 acres of private property of a famous poet who died in the 60s by the name of Carl Sandburg. But, it was so beautiful it had been turned into a national park. There were hiking trails up the mountain, ponds and lakes. It was absolutely beautiful. We ended up hiking nearly five miles, which leads up to a funny story...

We started up Big Glassy Mountain trail not realizing how long and hard of a climb it was. It was nicely prepared trails, but steep for long periods of time. We were huffing and puffing and I was asking S how much farther we were going to be going. We noticed an elderly man probably at least in his 70s coming down the mountain. It caught our attention as he came down. Well, we stopped and splashed water on our face and were absolutely feeling winded and tired, when who do we see? The same man coming back UP the mountain again! You should have seen how S and I looked at each other. It was so comical! We thought, "Wow are WE really out of shape!" So on we go. Our little old man stopped to talk with some ladies who offered him some water so we passed him by. But, shortly, here he came again, catching up with us! I turned around and said to him "I want to know how you are doing this?" He then explained to us that he did this 4-5 times a week, climbing up and down the mountain trail several times. The most he had ever climbed it at once was 5xs!!! Today he was doing 2xs. We asked him about how much farther it was (remember I am huffing and puffing). He says "Oh, we are about half way." GULP! But, we had passed the hardest part he says. For the rest of the trip up, he stayed with us and we visited. That is, he talked acting like we were taking a stroll, and I huffed and puffed. I wasn't going to say anything in front of him, but S knew I was struggling, so he was trying to gently help me along. (Lest you get the wrong idea, S was sweating buckets himself too!) We find out the man is a Christian and grew up near the same town S's dad did. They knew of the same stores and surroundings. When we got to the top the view was spectacular and we enjoyed God's beauty. I was glad to sit on a bench! After visiting a little more our little man said goodbye to us, saying with a wink that he was going to beat another man that had just headed back down to the bottom of the mountain. So, S and I headed back down ourselves. I tell you what, going down sure if better than going up! But, it was a fun adventure and oh, so beautiful! We saw some beautiful mountain laurel flowers. When you examine them you see God's mighty order and beauty. Each flower has the same amount of sides, and inside are ten little stems that are hooked until they open up and unfold. Their perfection awes you as you see how great our Creator is.

After our fun hiking experience we went into downtown Hendersonville. We got a Marble Slab ice cream and walked the quaint downtown area a bit. Then, it was time to head back to get our children. We picked up pizza to bring for all of our supper and were met by happy, smiling children that had a great time with Mamamo and Bapa, but were SO glad to see us.

Tomorrow evening we are having our end of the schoolyear celebration, with Mommy's written report that she reads, diplomas and awards given, as well as gifts. We top it off with yummy ice cream! TTYL!