It's been a while since my last update, and quite a lot has happened. My friend Alex came down to visit for a few days (adventures ensued...) and I went with my family to the beach for a week (not as adventurous, but some entertaining tidbits). So let's start with "The Adventures of Ches and Alex."
The Adventures of Ches and Alex!
Adventure 1: The day begins inconspicuously enough. We're playing some form of sport (this day it was soccer...), women are gawking and fawning...pretty much the norm. After a few hours of strenuous running, we decide to head to the water fountain for some hydration. We meet two kids there, who immediately begin to talk and ask us about the sports we play and the sports they have played. All seems well and good until the smaller kid begins to talk about how to explode a soda bottle. Alex and I grow concerned for our safety and begin to slowly back away from the kids, hoping not to elicit any harm from the soda bomb. At this point, the kid holds up the bottle, freshly shaken and engaged, and starts running full steam towards me and Alex. We head for the football field and to the safety of the car, which is clear across the field and up a menacing amount of stairs. We zig, we zag...trying to confuse and frustrate the explosive wielding devilish spawn of a child. We reach the car, exhausted and out of breath, thankful to be alive (and dry), and promptly drive to the baseball field, but not forgetting our rule of the day....don't trust kids.
Adventure 2: During Alex's stay, I told him we would travel up to a risque named waterfall to hike, take pictures, maybe meet some bikini clad women, and maybe swim a little to escape from the iron hot clutches of the sun. We travel south down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Skinny Dip Falls and begin our trek in. It's only about 3/4 of a mile hike, but there are boulders and trees to climb over, including the aptly named Dragon Tree.
We reach the falls and see that the place is pretty deserted, so we take some pictures, waiting to see if anybody else shows up. We only needed to wait about 5 minutes before some people start arriving. We head back down to the main falls area and meet a few people, including what appear to be two sisters. Conversation turns to whether or not any of us would get into the water, and the girls will only if we jump in. Being the leader and manly man I am, I decide to jump in from the 12 foot rock over the second series of falls.
After we leave the falls, we decide to do some more exploring up at Graveyard Fields. Here are a few shots from that...
Alex leading the way into God knows what...
Me crossing a rickety old bridge...
After we leave Graveyard Fields, we decide to pull off and take some pictures of the mountains. We find a nice pull out spot and notice a car sitting there and people looking down over the rock cliff. We get out and learn that the guy has somehow dropped his keys, and they are are perched on a ledge twenty feet down. Me being the only man with actual shoes on (who wears sandals in the woods...?), I decide to climb down and see if I can retrieve them. Alex was kind enough to snap this picture off of me starting my descent. (thanks for the help....)
About fifteen minutes later I get back to the top, keys in tow, with only a few scrapes and bruises to show for it. We head back down off the parkway, our new friend happily (and re-keyed) driving behind us, honking through tunnels and weaving past lazy motorbikes, we made it back from another adventure alive.
Until next time......
