I Ran Away Today



"The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man."

 

 

I ran away from the world for a little while today. It was fantastic. Here are the highlights:

 

1) The sights and sounds of the woods and waterfalls are wonderfully soothing to the soul.

2) Even though it was 70 degrees today, there is still a bit of snow in the mountains so trail paths are a little challenging.

3) I jumped on the Blue Ridge Parkway thinking it was the fastest way (per GPS) to the next place I was going. And then I quickly realized this was a bad decision and turned around to jump back off of the Parkway. Clearly they do not plow the Blue Ridge Parkway!!

4) Tried to reroute since I couldn't take the Parkway but there was no more cell signal and I got a little lost. No biggy, I found my way out eventually!!

5) I wish it was safer to go further off the beaten path alone (but it's not) because all I wanted to do was sit by the waterfall and read for a while, but when there is a large puddle in the the middle of the lookout area, random strangers get annoyed with you when you are sitting and reading in front of the only area that doesn't cause you to get your feet wet.

6) Even 3 hours away from home I get asked about the strange name of my church (I have it on a sticker on the back of my car).

7) As a general rule, hikers are really friendly people.

8) On a fairly secluded road while driving back home, I passed a guy peeing on a rock on the side of the road. (Really? You couldn't walk a couple steps into the woods?)

9) I pulled over just as the sun was starting to set, still on the secluded road. I pulled in next to one car and didn't see anyone around but could hear someone every once in a while. Thought I might be going crazy and then looked up and saw that they were repelling down the side of a rock. (So, you can just do that anywhere?) It was kind of cool to watch.

10) My 2nd destination was supposed to be Mellow Mushroom and Kilwin's in Blowing Rock, however I missed the turn and was tired of turning around so I decided to head home (since I now knew where I was).

11) I passed the Canyon's restaurant just as the sun was going down and got some pretty good pictures of the sunset over the mountains.

12) I did get some reading done. And also some conversations with God that were needed.

 

It was a great day. I need to find a spot just like that one by a waterfall that isn't as populated because I think I would go there every weekend if I could.

 



 

-The Real Me