June–the second half

When last we left you, Lydia was in bed and Jim was watching tv.  Good thing we rested up because bright and early (7:30) on Tuesday morning members of our team met at the Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway for breakfast. After a hearty breakfast, 7 of the group, led by our leader, Dr. Charles (79!!!), began the 8.2 mile hike down the mountains. The scenery was beautiful and the wildflowers were gorgeous.  The rhododendron are in full bloom here and there were times we felt like we were walking through a tunnel of big white blossoms. We crossed several streams all rushing downhill and one “sliding rock” type of formation that had us all thinking about trying it out.  No, we didn’t – this time at least!

 

 

 

After a brief stop in a rhododendron thicket for a breather and a snack, we pushed on and arrived about 2:00 at the COF Discovery Center singing “We Are the Champions”.

On Thursday, all the volunteers met at Blue Ridge Pizza for dinner and then went to Lewis and Priscilla’s home for “make your own” sundaes.  A highlight of the evening (besides the fabulous pizza and the “kitchen sink” sundaes) was the arrival of Devin (COF Interpretive Cente, Seasonal Interpretive Specialist), his wife and new baby girl, Iris. We had all been anxious to meet her since her birth 8 weeks ago.  What a doll she is and several of us got our “grand-mother” fix and got to hold her.  Yep, you know I did!!!

We always have such a great time when we all can get together.  The volunteers work on two teams, so after-hours is the only time we can really socialize.  We make the most of it with (nearly) every evening “happy hours” and events like the pizza party. We're having fun working with all of them.

The parents of our "5th child", Kristyn (Forest Service intern), came from St. Louis for a visit. We invited them for cocktails and to meet the group their daughter was “hanging around”.

 

 

 

 

Three days of work, laundry and the usual errands to run pretty well wrapped up the month for us.  Oh, one more thing.  If you remember we’ve had awful telephone and internet service since we got here in April.  We finally bit the bullet and left ATT and went to Verizon, the only thing that works up here.  We’re now fully connected via 2 iPhones (same numbers we had in Georgia) and MiFi for the internet.  It cost us but it will be worth it to be able to stay in touch.  So… let us hear from you.

‘til next time….