This Pilgrim's Journeys

Ah, the mountains of North Carolina. This was one of my favorite vacations. My family (minus my sister) rented a little house outside of Asheville, NC. Asheville itself seemed like a cool city to check out, but we didn't have time to do that...because we were too busy doing lots of other cool things! In fact, one of my favorite things we did there was visit the Biltmore Estate, which I will cover in another post after this one. Grandfather Mountain This place had some really neat hiking trails, including some that had ladders and ropes straight up rocks. My mom wanted to go on and check out that one further, but the rest of us declined - especially since it was drizzling off and on and the ladders were wet. Grandfather Mountain has an elevation of 5,945 feet and quite the bridge to walk out to the highest point. It's an amazing view, but it's also very windy and chilly up there. Gorges State Park Gorges State Park is also gorgeous ! My favorite hiking trails were h

I love North Carolina - honestly, I could totally live there. It has great beaches and great mountains - and this is the beach edition of a favorite place that I would suggest! If you enjoy the beach and having fun times with family at a rented beach house, this is the place for you. The two times I remember best we were actually at the same beach house. So now, I give you, the beach...more specifically, Topsail Island. The Beach Here in PA, the closest beaches are in New Jersey...I do not like New Jersey, nor do I like their beaches. They just aren't nice beaches...and there are a lot of weirdos! ;) But in all seriousness, Topsail Island beaches are way better - better shells and sharks teeth to collect (and then later regret collecting because where on earth do you put them?), cleaner sand, way less crowds, etc. (Oh yeah, and really cute little green lizards.) One of my favorite things (I'm not a huge water and swimming fan, and can't do that all day, nor can I

Back in 2012, my family took a vacation (in fact, our last full-family vacation before marriages, busy jobs, etc) to the coast of Maine with my aunt and uncle. We rented a house just steps from the beautiful rocky shoreline. As you read, I share why Maine's coast made my favorite US travels list. Our Rocky Backyard I mentioned that the shoreline was steps away out the back porch, and it was a beautiful place to be. I love climbing on rocks, so this was naturally a perfect place for me. I also enjoy finding private areas to relax alone in, which didn't take long for me to find in all of those rocks. So yes, I found the perfect little rock cut-out to hide in. My sister and I enjoyed walking up and down the coast on the rocks and seeing what pretty rocks, creatures, and tide pools we could find. (I admittedly took too many rocks home...and then discarded in our stone driveway.) It was great to see the foggy mornings and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Picturesque C