Post-New Year's Return to North Carolina
Within less than 48 hours of returning home from vertical caving, I found myself sitting next to Mike in his car on the way to North Carolina. We were returning to the Logels for a few days before school and we had been unable to successfully convince anyone else to come with us. At this point, the drive up was par for the course. We stopped randomly in North Carolina to take pictures of the clouds and the mountains, everything was so beautiful. We met up with Logel at his dad's for dinner and I acquired some really cool flight maps of North Carolina and an atlas from his dad. That night, Mike and Logel's friends Liana and Anna showed up and also stayed with us. Liana went to the University of San Diego with Mike and Logel and Anna is her friend from home that they have also become friends with.
The next morning, we picked up Janna, a friend of Mike and Logel's that they met while hiking in North Carolina several years ago. I told Liana that if her name had been Lianna, the rhyming of Janna, Anna, and Lianna would just have been too much. We all hiked up Beech Mountain in the snow and watched the clouds swirling around the snow capped mountains. We also went to a local park, called the Land of Oz. It had a Wizard of Oz theme and it was fun to see the yellow brick road peek through the snow in the shape of our footprints. The snow was simply magical. I couldn't describe it enough if I tried. As a Floridian, snow is somewhat of an enigma to me and it inspires curiosity and provokes joy. I rarely see the negative aspects of snowfall. Rather, I enjoy its beauty and I think it's fun to play around in. I also have learned to appreciate driving on windy mountain roads and I enjoyed following the yellow lines out of the back windows with my eyes. That night, after dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the mountain, we relaxed and watched the movie Looper.
After a day in the snow, we decided to go to Compression Falls and set up a rappel. The hike to Compression Falls was steep and coated in leaves. Liana and I decided to be more cautious and took a long time getting to the bottom. By the time we reached the falls, we had lost the rest of our group. We discovered later that they had gone up a side trail that we hadn't noticed. Instead, we sat around and enjoyed the falls, hiking back and forth and talking to each other. According to Mike, we were lucky to have missed out because they got soaked on the second rappel and they were all freezing. I was still disappointed to have missed out on the adventure, particularly since I had carried all my gear down in the first place. At least the weather was nice and the falls were beautiful. Everyone headed home except for me and Mike; We returned to the Logels. Logel realized that he couldn't find his cell phone and thought that he had left it at Compression, so we drove back to the waterfall. We looked around the parking lot and couldn't find anything. Thus, we descended down the steep hike in the dark and in the rain. I was planning on just staying in the car but I felt bad, so I followed Mike and Logel down toward the water. We didn't find the phone after searching for at least 20 minutes post-hike. Then, as we almost reached the top, Logel remembered that he had put it in his first aid kit. So we hiked down for nothing and I threatened to kill him several times as I pulled myself up the hill, clinging to tree roots and trying not to slip back down. The guys both laughed at my annoyance, amused by my empty threats and ranting.
The next morning, Mike and I decided to head home early in anticipation of a chocolate fountain party at my house, proposed by his brother Chris the week before. We said our good byes and then headed for the Blue Ridge Parkway to hike to Ship Rock, which had been closed off the last time we had visited. We hiked up with our DSLR cameras and took many pictures of the gorgeous day. There was some ice on the ground but for the most part it was dry and clear. The views were outstanding, particularly of Grandfather Mountain and the rest of the Blue Ridge mountains. We then headed back to Florida, trading in hiking and rappelling for a gluttonous chocolate adventure.
Events occurred: January 1-4, 2013
Within less than 48 hours of returning home from vertical caving, I found myself sitting next to Mike in his car on the way to North Carolina. We were returning to the Logels for a few days before school and we had been unable to successfully convince anyone else to come with us. At this point, the drive up was par for the course. We stopped randomly in North Carolina to take pictures of the clouds and the mountains, everything was so beautiful. We met up with Logel at his dad's for dinner and I acquired some really cool flight maps of North Carolina and an atlas from his dad. That night, Mike and Logel's friends Liana and Anna showed up and also stayed with us. Liana went to the University of San Diego with Mike and Logel and Anna is her friend from home that they have also become friends with. 
The next morning, we picked up Janna, a friend of Mike and Logel's that they met while hiking in North Carolina several years ago. I told Liana that if her name had been Lianna, the rhyming of Janna, Anna, and Lianna would just have been too much. We all hiked up Beech Mountain in the snow and watched the clouds swirling around the snow capped mountains. We also went to a local park, called the Land of Oz. It had a Wizard of Oz theme and it was fun to see the yellow brick road peek through the snow in the shape of our footprints. The snow was simply magical. I couldn't describe it enough if I tried. As a Floridian, snow is somewhat of an enigma to me and it inspires curiosity and provokes joy. I rarely see the negative aspects of snowfall. Rather, I enjoy its beauty and I think it's fun to play around in. I also have learned to appreciate driving on windy mountain roads and I enjoyed following the yellow lines out of the back windows with my eyes. That night, after dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the mountain, we relaxed and watched the movie Looper.
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