“Yes, my consuming desire is to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, barroom regulars—to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording—all this is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always supposedly in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes, God, I want to talk to everybody as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night.â€
The last morning we spent in Destin, we broke out the champagne as torrential rains poured around us. Mother nature had given us two good days that weekend with beautiful sunsets and warm beaches and waters. I really enjoy trips with my friends. There’s a lightheartedness and adventurous camaraderie that you just can’t find in a family vacation. There’s no social structure, expectations or hierarchy. Just people and fun. Family vacations are fun in a very different way.
At the end we all signed the cork and I have it safe, to be put into a shadowbox of vacation trinkets that I plan to collect over the years.
Part of the reason Jeremy and I decided to go to Asheville was to just get way and do something relaxing, low key, and was just the two of us. On recommendation we decided to visit the North Carolina Arboretum. It’s a beautiful experimental forest and it cost only $8 for the car. It was worth many times more and even though it poured around us, we managed to see some beautiful gardens, hike some trail along a rushing creek and get that alone time we’ve been running short of.
A solo squash!
One of my favorite things about my trip to Ashveille was the home we stayed in. We decided, after a little deliberation, to forego the usual hotel reservation and instead try out a place via AirBnB.com We weren’t disappointed. The house we chose is located in Candler, a few minutes outside downtown Asheville. It had an attached farmland, chickens, and cats galore. It was nicely decorated and our room was spacious. I slept well every night of the four we decided to stay and having a host whose resposibility was just you and another couple made it really nice. Kathleen, our host, made us breakfast two of the days and was really fun to hang out with.
We made friends with all the kitties at the home. :)
One of the nicer things we got to do on our four day mini vacation in Asheville was visit Craggy Pinnacle. It’s located fairly close to Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The views and scenes traveling up there are spectacular. The saturation of the greens lining the dark gray street seemed unreal. A common thread of Asheville was the lush growth throughout. Flowers, gardens, mountainsides and street, all densely populated with the richest foliage I’ve ever seen.
Next hike? :)
I love going through my iPhone photos and playing with the new apps that seem to come out weekly.
These were all edited entirely with Afterglow, which I use almost exclusively now. I never thought I’d deviate from Snapseed!
I love my phone. Unfortunately while getting ready to hike the craggy trail I dropped my phone and cracked the screen. The damage isn’t over the screen (thankfully) and I’m surprised this phone has lasted more than 8 or 9 months. I am excited for the iPhone 5s or 6 or Lakers or whatever. Here’s hoping for a better camera + awesome processing power so I can edit more quickly on the fly!
Jeremy have done a lot of local traveling this summer. It’s been pretty great and we’re meeting some fun new people. We headed to Asheville the Wednesday before July 4th weekend. It looked like it was going to rain the entire time but sometimes nature provides beautiful images and a bit of bad weather is a photographer’s blessing in disguise.
The roads were steamy, and the resulting haze made for some beautiful views.
