Friday

I will admit to not sleeping well because of the fear of today. Ever since we were told the left loop had a deadly fall area on the trail I have been nervous. I kept picturing in my mind the bridge from Indiana Jones were he throws pebbles to see the bridge that drops off on either side. I have agreed that I can always walk or turn around if need be but I needed to attempt every trail.  We set off on the left loop and it turned out to be not so bad. The twinge of anticipation gutted my stomach but I biked onward. We finally approached the cliff of despair and it was not too bad. A fall would have hurt, yes, but my imagination had definitely taken over. We continued and I soon found that I had nothing left. I bonked. I could hardly even bike forward. I fell over. It was past lunchtime, we had not eaten and my legs were toast. There was only one way to go so we continued. The last couple of miles of trail took way longer than need be. Pretty soon we started to feel rain. Luckily we were on the gravel road leading back to the parking lot. It then turned to a downpour. I was so exhausted but I tried to ride as quickly as I could. Drenched we made it back to the cabin and started to hatch a plan. We were so close to Dupont State Forest we had to see where the games were filmed. We began packing up our cabin, checking our gear for cockroaches, maggots, lizards and other things found in our cabin. Steven called and booked a night at the Princess Anne Bed and Breakfast in Asheville. We decided we would drive to Dupont and hike the 3 mile waterfall hike including, Hooker, Triple and High Falls then drive to Asheville, eat at Salsa (our favorite Cajun restaurant there), get desert at the French Broad Chocolate company and stay at the Princess Anne an awesome B & B. It rained heavily the entire drive to Dupont. The drive was awesome and wound through the Pisgah National Forest. We of course continued listening to the Hunger Games during the drive. As we approached the forest the rain ceased and we were able to hike the trail. Port-a-pots had been set up to accommodate the traffic of tween fans. The hike was beautiful and just as we set back down the trail the rain began again. It was perfect timing. We made it back to the car not too wet. An hour and a half later we were back in Asheville, had checked in, and found our restaurant. Our eyes bigger than our empty stomachs we ordered way too much food, including Steven’s bubbling volcano platter of Cajun veggies and chicken. Despite being stuffed we had to go to the famous French Broad Chocolate Lounge. Dessert included chocolate mousse and Belgian dark chocolate ice cream. As you all know Steven has a sweet tooth and this place is a dream to him. It was a perfect ending to our vacation.

Zzzzzzz,

Full Bellied Libby and Waterfall Loving Steven

Thursday

This morning we drove back to Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) to hike part of the Appalachian Trail.  We hiked several miles of the trail. The NOC would definitely be an oasis for those hiking; its location right on the trail is a refueling station for many of the hikers. Next, we headed to Bryson City, the closest town, to eat and post our blogs.  Our favorite restaurant there, The Cork and Bean, offers delicious savory and sweet crepes.  Our Tsali trails awaited us and we decided it was time to continue the mountain biking saga. At this point, I secretly made it my goal to bike every mile of trails in the park.  The trails alternate depending on the day whether it is open for horse riding or mountain biking. This left us with the only option to ride the Thompson Trail. It proved to be the easiest trail thus far.  When we made it back to  the parking lot we chatted with a family from Indianapolis. We arrived back at the cabin and settled in for a dinner of Cheesy Hamburger Helper and a night of reading. I pulled up CNN on my phone to check the news, something I hadn’t done all week. I found an article about Hunger Games fans flocking to North Carolina to see where the films are taped. Several scenes are shot in Dupont State Forest, which is where we mountain biked last year.  A thought occurred to me, during the Harry Potter craze we were in London and saw the Half Blood Prince at the Empire (premiere theatre), during the Twilight frenzy we happened to be in Forks, Washington, now we happened to be right in the area of the Hunger Games. I am beginning to think Steven has a secret love of young adult fiction.

Off to snooze,

I love my JAVA Libby and Team Catniss Steven

Wednesday

An encounter with a pitbull and two ticks helped in the decision to make today a rest and relaxation day, so we headed into Asheville. Unfortunately, we forgot that there isn’t much to do there. We ate at the Tupelo Honey Café, which is famous, although we’re not sure why. We split the fried shrimp taco; when in the south do as the south.  After getting bored wandering around town, I started to think about my Outward Bound trip which had started in the area. After the trip each participant received an Outward Bound pin for completing the course, which was very special. I had pinned mine to my jacket, but lost it several years ago. I decided to call their corporate office, which is in Asheville to see if I could get a replacement. I explained the situation and the lady on the phone said, “Well stop on by, we can get you another pin.” I was so excited. My Outward Bound semester was amazing, and I had spent one night sleeping outside this particular Corporate office after we were evacuated off the Outer Banks because of a hurricane. It was a weird drive as we turned on several roads labeled Old School Road and navigated our way to the office. I instantly recognized the building and it brought back fantastic memories. I picked up my pin and was ecstatic. Unfortunately, we couldn’t think of much else to do in town, and while we really wanted to eat at a fantastic Mexican place we’d found last year, we were too full from the “light” southern-style lunch at Tupelos to eat again. We d

ecided to head back to the cabin and settle in for a variation on the usual Hamburger-Helper vacation fare: Lipton Noodles! We enjoyed a nice dinner of fresh rainbow trout, Lipton fried rice, and mixed veggies, and then pulled out the books.

-Restin’ Libby and Relaxin’ Steven

My legs were so tired that I tossed and turned all night, so we had a much later start than expected. Also we had an early morning scare when (I’m not sure what exactly woke Steven up) but I woke up to a flash of lights and to hear Steven in a terror stricken voice whisper, “Something or SOMEONE is in the cabin.” Well, there was neither something or someone in the cabin so once I was able to calm the situation back down we got some more needed rest. We headed to the trails and decided to try the Mouse Trail. As we approached Tsali Recreation Area we noticed a lady outside of a VW van watching us with a huge grin. As we got out of the car we heard in a New Zealand accent, “You two look like the sort of people who might have a bike pump! Just when I thought no one will be riding these trails during the middle of the day you show up.” I decided her VW van of the late 90s model, festooned with racks for all sorts of outdoors gear, would be a perfect adventure mobile. Her license plate read “NeedMore.” I didn’t think to ask her what she needed more of? Air for her tires perhaps? The Mouse Trail was our favorite thus far. It had less climbing than the right loop and a great overlook trail. The overlook was a brutal, uphill slog which involved some “hike-a-bike”, but some great downhill riding. (NOTE: MARSHA PLEASE STOP READING THIS PASSAGE FOR TODAY. THERE IS NOTHING MORE EXCITING THAT HAPPENS. THE NEXT PART IS A SECRET TO BE SHARED LATER) After this exciting part of trail we encountered our first wildlife confrontation, a pit-bull. No collar. With mauled ears. A large, muscular, muddy pitbull. I am a bit of the anxious type and had spent my time worrying about falls, rocks, tree branches, and mountain descents, but an-on-the loose pit-bull had not crossed my safety radar. Steven mentioned that he looked well fed. Barely audible, I noted it was probably on careless bikers. We cautiously were able to bypass the dog by keeping our bikes in between him and us and carefully walking around him. We finished up our ride pretty proud of ourselves and rolled into the parking lot. There was a family just getting ready to hit the trails including a girl of about ten insisting that she lead the way. It deflated our egos a bit. We returned back to the safety of our cabin and Hamburger Helper and decided we had time for a quick hike along a forest fire road behind our cabin. The walk and scenery was fantastic and we were able to add a pheasant to our bird-spotting list for the year. Back at the cabin I had settled in for a relaxing night when I heard shouts from Steven, including “grab my knife!” It turns out Steven had two ticks on him. I’ll just summarize the next several hours as saying there were lots of screams of panic, a load of laundry done, Google searching tick bites and Lyme’s disease, panic, some more panic, and little sleep.

Til Tomorrow- Certain She’s Lyme Stricken Libby and Tick Magnet Steven

Monday

Today we biked the right loop: 14 miles total with the addition of an overlook loop, and 4,000 feet of elevation gain. The single track riding is incredible. I had no idea how fun mountain biking could be and how completely different an experience from the Franke Park trails in Indiana. It is a very peaceful way to travel through a forest, aside from the

occasional moments of panic. When we finished and cleaned up we were too tired to make intelligent decisions or cook for ourselves. We decided to try a restaurant at the outdoor center that is the only 4 star restaurant on the Appalachian Trail. It ended up being closed which only added to our lack of decision-making skills. We settled on an Italian restaurant in Bryson City that was bizarre in the least and solidified our loyalty to Hamburger Helper while on this type of vacation.

Downhill Descent Libby and Log Hopping Steven

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Nantahala Outdoor Center for information about the mountain biking trails. The center was a huge complex with cabins, restaurants, yurts, white water guides, and an awesome outfitters store. We were directed to a local who was familiar with the trails. When asking about which trails we should try she suggested that they are all excellent, but (in a southern drawl), “there’s a section on the left loop that if ya fall ya die.” This followed by a young guy chiming in, “yup I always walk that part, ya don’t want to fall. Woo that would be quite a fall.” Hands sweaty and heart pounding I decided we would try out the right loop. We headed out for a shortened version of the right loop to get our feet wet (and muddy) and know what we were in for. It turns out we were in for a lot of climbing, something we weren’t used to, but incredible trails. We made it back to the cabin exhausted and settled in for our vacation go-to food: Hamburger Helper. The day reminded me of a conversation I had with my brother, “I appreciate how you and Steven vacation but there is phrase that my vacations will include: ALL INCLUSIVE.”

-Crunch Taco in a Box Stuffed Lib and Cockroach Killing Steven

Saturday

We left later than expected from Greentown for the start of our mountain biking vacation. This was mainly due to the late night watching the best basketball game of the tournament. (IU vs. Kentucky). We won’t debate that here, Kadys; we can have a discussion later. We decided to try a book on tape for the drive. This term is a bit dated, however, since we actually signed up for a trial subscription and downloaded the book on Steven’s phone which was plugged into the car radio. With all the buzz around the series we decided on The Hunger Games. It made the trip go by kind of quicker. There was nothing notable about the drive except for the torrential downpours, the eleven-hour length, and the nighttime drive through the Appalachians. We finally found our cabin after a terrifying drive up and around a mountain in a dark rainstorm.

-Lib and Steven