Thanksgiving!!

I always love Thanksgiving time. Basically, ever since my Freshman year of college, we have gone down to the house in Cashiers, NC to spend some good quality time. We always get plenty of good outdoor activities in, lots of time around the fireplace, and of course, a bunch of drinking. There was only 1 year since 1997 that we have not been, and that is because of my cousin's wedding. So needless to say, I was very excited about the holiday. This year it was not going to be as much family time as before because my aunt and uncle were going to stay in FL with the kids and my Grandmother. We still had a good crowd of 9 for dinner.

This year I was able to get out of work a bit early on Tuesday and got to sit in traffic on my 9 hour trip to NC. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. The highlight of Wednesday was taking the dogs on a nice hike up Rock Mtn. There were snow flurries a few day earlier, so a little bit was left on the mtn. The pups had a good time playing in that!

On Thursday, turkey day, we had our annual Fletcher Memorial hike up Chimney Top. We woke up to an absolutely gorgeous, cloudless sky!! We had a beautiful hike and an amazing view from the top. It was a little windy and cold, but good nonetheless. We decided to sleep in a bunch, so we were behind schedule a bit. We got back tot he house with enough time to watch the second half of the boring Falcon's game. But the turkey was going to be a little later than we had planned. The 2nd game, Denver - Cowboys, began and we had appetizers and beer during that. The plan was to start dinner at half time and then be able to catch the end of the game afterwards. But half-time came and went and the turkey still hadn't popped! Well, just as overtime was about to start, dinner was served. We got to see the Broncos win, and we also had a great meal, thanks to mostly Mom and B.

Friday was another lazy day around the house to begin with. Normally we go mtn. biking on Friday, but since Dad's hip wasn't up to it, we axed that this year. Instead in the afternoon, we made some attempts to get a nice Xmas card picture for this year. (Since none of Dad's 5 million rolls he took this year had a good picture of me and B.) That was an adventure, but I think we finally got some good shots. We'll see which one is the best soon enough! Friday was also Mom and Dad's 33rd Anniversary, so they went out to dinner and the kids hung around the house and watched a movie.

Saturday was when everyone was leaving, except for me and the dogs. I saw no reason to head back to DC when I could spend the night there and have some time to myself. I went mtn. biking Sat. afternoon to Tsali, one of the best areas on the east coast. It was a nice day, not too cold. I just needed a long sleeve shirt and by the end, my tights were keeping me toasty. There were a bunch of other people out there too, so I didn't feel all alone. I definitely felt that I was out of shape though!! I have been taking it extremely easy since my Tri season ended, and I have been losing my conditioning. So terrible of me! I had a great time anyway. Then I got home and took the dogs out to run all over the golf course, which is always an adventure.

My Sunday didn't go quite as planned. I didn't sleep well on Sat. night, and when I woke up Sun. morning about 9, it was raining and not too nice out, so I decided I would go back to sleep. I slept in a bit later than I wanted, and after I finished closing up the house and letting the dogs run, it was about 2:00. The drive back to DC wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it certainly wasn't any fun. Oh well, thank goodness for football and talk radio on my XM!!

Oh how I love Turkey Day!!