We had a magnificent time during our celebratory hike over the w-e. Friday the gang from the Triangle started arriving just as Holly and I settled into the house after our own 3 hour drive. Laurie and Julia arrived with their dog Ely after hiking part of the Mtn to Sea trail in Asheville earlier in the day. Marty, who came alone on this trip, arrived courtesy of Sandy and Amy and their panopoly of high tech gear & clothes for the hike. Everyone got fast to work unloading coolers and boxes of hiking stuff. We ate lots of yummy cheese that Marty had gotten from Trader Joe's while Julia and Laurie grilled delicious salmon (actually caught in Alaska by Laurie's twin sister I think). We had plenty of good eats to use as carbo loading as everyone pitched in with salad, Guglhupf rolls, cookies and homemade beer.
The hike went off without a hitch. First, we actually did get up early enough to have doughnuts & coffee (thanks Holly!) before we left at 8am for the Parkway where we met up with Susan, Ellen, Jan, Patti and Ann. We shuttled 7 folks (& Ely) up in my Volvo and the other group did their shuttle separately. We had cars stashed at the halfway point for those who wanted to hike a shorter piece or in case someone turned an ankle. The weather was about 43F at the start but hit the upper 70's with lots of blue skies and sunshine by lunchtime. It could not have been better weather, really. We all ate lunch together, and seven of us continued on to the end of our route at Sleepy Gap. Sandy's feet were a bit tender by the end, but all in all, we fared quite well. I didn't hear anyone complain much, especially once we got the pizza pie and potluck dinner going later that night. A few friends joined in who hadn't been able to hike with us and that was very special too. Again everyone pitched in and made it a delicious banquet. We had appetizers, pizza pie, various salads, chicken enchiladas, cookies, 3 cakes, and ice cream. And we had a selection of microbrews from a couple of the local breweries too.
It really was fun to have so many friends doing a physical feat to fete my good health & recovery. We had a great time and the event went off flawlessly. I have to thank everyone for pitching in with ideas, planning, food, flexibility, and enthusiasm.
Sunday the gang from the Triangle packed up and hauled out of town. We had a low key day and went to the Sourwood Inn for dinner since Kacia Duncan, the chef, was making her fabulous Country Captain dish. I know that we did alot of physical activity over the w-e, but we did alot of eating too. Fortunately, I had a great 2 hour run on Monday hitting the long course I usually run and the mtn across the way as well.
Holly and I are planning to run a half-marathon to celebrate again just the two of us. I usually do the Sunset Stampede, a 10 mile run up Sunset mtn in Asheville, but we'll be in Kansas for her niece's wedding this year. We are trying to decide on a course that will allow us to see a fun place and have a terrific run. We'll find something-maybe Chicago with 19,999 other silly fools.
Photos-with my new smaller, sleeker Canon camera: (a) the twelve folks at the start of the hike, (b) the seven of us with enough time to go the whole distance, (c) me at the Sourwood Inn dining room about to mange on (d) Country Captain made lovingly by chef Kacia Duncan
2 comments:
Sounds like a great hike!!! I have never done that one. Would parts of it be okay for me and the boys to hike? We are running out of "close" hikes that are new and different!
I'm in Kansas City at the Annual Leadership Forum for the AAFP and am homesick for my mountains and my boys. This is my third CME/work travel since our trip in Chapel Hill for the Internal Medicine conference and I'm a bit tired of being on the move. Thanks again for a great weekend. I keep planning on hand writing a thank you note, and I keep not doing it.
Good luck with your next bx---I know it must be sometime soon. A close family friend has a son with aplastic anemia and he is scheduled to be admitted May 6th at Duke for his BMT(I guess chemo then transplant). What can I do for him from a distance, or if I visited? He's mid-20's, follows edgy band around and makes jewelry for a "living" and as you might imagine, this is as far from his comfort zone that a person can get. What can you send to patients on the BMT floor? Thanks for your thoughts!
Love you, mean it...and remember our mutual friend and colleague who was going for some reproductive stuff? Twins cooking as we speak---looks like it worked! Still hush-hush, but I thought you would be interested in the follow up.
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Oh such good news that they are being blessed that way! Let me think on the gift for your friend's son. He just can't have fresh fruits, veggies or flowers. Maybe some kind of beading kit...let me ponder that one some more-tree
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