On Top of Old Smoky

For labor day weekend, we took a trip down to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina with some friends. All I could think was "no wonder it's called Great Smoky". Drifts of fog would roll in and out through the hills and we felt like we were right in the middle of a scene from The Last of the Mohicans. We loved getting away for the weekend and marking another national park off the list.

We stayed in a fun cabin that was surrounded by trees.

Beautiful foggy sunsets. 

We took turns on meals and this was a taco salad by our friend Lucy that was SO good. 

It was over this weekend that I decided I would run a Ragnar Race (I have no idea why...) so Kyle and I went on a little train run to continue my training. I loved running through the mist with him cheering me on because runs like this are a walk in the park for him.

Smoky, no?

We went on a lot of fun hikes including one to a waterfall that has had better days (moving into the fall, I think it had started to die off).

Our friends Jake and Sierra have the cutest baby named Sloan. This is what he does when they say 'show us your muscles'. 

Cute Benson.

Kyle found a vine and tried to see how far he could climb before he got too tired or it gave way. Luckily he got too tired first because I'm not sure what would have happened if it broke.

We got caught in a crazy rainstorm and had to wait with the littles while the guys rain back to get the cars.

I get so excited when Kyle plays with our friend's kids because I see what he'll be like as a dad.

The ultimate selfie. 

One of our friends was making pancakes for breakfast and I gave him the assignment of making a Sasquatch shaped one. I think he did pretty well.

The area was full of green fields and barns.

We finished our stay by visiting Upper Creek Falls to do some rope swinging and rock sliding. 

This rock slide was the coolest thing. You just sat down
and the current picked you up and threw you on down. 

There were some people there with the cutest dog and one dog
started sliding down on accident so Kyle jumped in to save him. 

We LOVED Great Smoky Mountain National Park and
hope to return soon while we are out on the east coast!

Our New Favorite BBQ Place and A Satisfied Space Nerd

I had been dying to visit Chantilly and we found the perfect time over Labor Day weekend to go check out a couple sites. We hit up the highly talked about Willard's BBQ, went over to Sully's Historic Place and went to see (geek mode commencing) the SECOND Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (yes, they need a second one to store all the planes, rockets and other gadgets that have been considered Smithsonian worthy). Chantilly was really beautiful and had a lot of the lush green found outside the D.C. metropolitan area. 

Willards is known for having all different types of BBQ from all over the country. So your original North Carolina Pulled Pork to your Kansas City Burnt ends as well as your Texas Sliced Beef Brisket. I'm a sucker for pulled pork so I jumped on that combo meal. Kyle took more time deciding and went for a regular BBQ sandwich. We got amazing sides of baked beans and mashed potatoes and vowed we would make it out to Willards within the next year. 

Next, we went to the Sully Historic Site, a nice plantation and home that belonged to Richard Bland Lee, northern Virginia's first congressman. It had a cute house, a garden, an outdoor kitchen, a smokehouse, slave quarters, a stone dairy and a school house. 

Our final destination was my ALL-TIME-FAVORITE of this trip. A little fact about me...I'm a space nerd and love anything that has to do with the final frontier. And since I knew NASA's oldest and most traveled shuttle, Discovery, permanently holds her home here, it was all I could do to not burst through these doors at full speed. 

First off, we went up to the Observation Tower where you can watch planes flying in close by and landing in the Dulles Airport across the way. 

Then we hit up the main airplane hanger with all types of airplanes from the earlier models to present day.

Cool WWII airplane (P40 Warhawk so the husband says). I liked it because it looks like it could belong in a Disney cartoon...

This plane was the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This place was chock-full of history. 

Tiny, skinny hang glider. 

Little baby helicopters that are also Disney worthy. I wish we could have our own personal helicopter. 

An Air France Concorde. So big! It can travel twice the speed of sound but it's too expensive for people to afford tickets, even though it's convenient for long flights. 

And there she is! I just had to stand by her for a while, looking up close, thinking of everywhere she has been and what she has seen while in orbit. 

My space nerd has been satisfied....for now. 

What's a trip without homemade custard ruined by Reeses, hot fudge and a waffle chip? It was a good Labor Day quick trip and one we definitely crossed off the list.