Weekend Recap - Mountain Edition

We had an absolutely amazing weekend in the gorgeous mountains of NC this past weekend.  Our small group from church decided to have a little retreat so we could spend more one-on-one time together and really strengthen our friendships.  Unfortunately there were 3 couples that weren't able to make it (and we missed them!) but we had 4 couples that were able to get babysitters for the weekend and go.

After a 5 hour car ride and newly formed "bromance" between my husband and Nick (which all started over Bojangles biscuits...seriously), we finally made it to Maggie Valley.  We met the other 2 couples at the grocery store, got a few things for the weekend and headed straight to downtown Waynesville for a little lunch and shopping.  We eventually headed back to the house to get ready for dinner (and so Jennifer and I could change out of the pajama pants we had on).  We cooked an AH-MAZING dinner the first night and got a fire going for stories and s'mores.  The weather was cool, but not freezing.  It was perfect.  After a few rounds of Catch Phrase we were out for the night.

The 2nd day was our hiking day.  We got up (way too early, thank you Randy hahaha) and drove to Cherokee to hike a trail in that area.  Our 4 mile hike ended up being around 8 miles...no kidding.  The weather was perfect yet again thankfully because we obviously weren't very skilled at reading signs on the trail.  Even though the hike was about 2x's longer than we had planned, we enjoyed every minute...except maybe the last 30. 

We went to Bryson City after the hike to finally eat.  I'm not sure we picked the greatest place to eat because EVERYTHING was beer battered, fried, and slathered in butter.  And I mean everything!  Edwin and I got the absolute only thing on the menu that wasn't fried...the ham and cheese sandwich.  After that we all got ice cream and headed back to the house for naps and showers.

We had to force ourselves to get some dinner around 8pm since we had such a late lunch and weren't very hungry.  We went to a great pizza place in downtown Waynesville and somehow managed to pig out yet again.  We spent the rest of the evening talking...with the TV off.  It was a nice change from the "real world".  We talked about how we all met our spouses, told funny stories and just enjoyed each others company...something we don't do nearly enough. 

I really hope we do this trip again next year.  I sure missed my little girl, but feel like I came away from the weekend with stronger friendships within my church family.