Raige Creations

It is not for everyone....watching the sunset. It is bit cliche, romantic types revel in the ease of this tool. It is boring to some, not worth the effort to get to a great vantage point.   And normally, it is not on my list of 'must-do's. (I have seen more than my fair share of beautiful sunsets when we lived in the Caribbean, yes with my love too.) But when my daughter's friend was visiting us from our old hometown, after days and days of rain and not being able to do too much, and worried she wouldn't get to enjoy the nature and beauty of the area (an important part of being here in my humble opinion) , we decided to head up to Craggy Gardens to catch the sunset. We couldn't convince the boys to join us. I was doing it for the girls, and hoping to get a little enjoyment for myself. That is my attitude going into it. But once we were there, something happened. I could not avoid the feeling once there that I was so incredibly lucky to have this in my ba...

I know it's hard when you're falling down And it's a long way up when you hit the ground Get up now, get up, get up now.  A good sunset hike last week gave me the peace and energy I didn't even realize I had been missing.  I didn't realize how nature, quiet (real quiet that can only be enjoyed far away from houses, streets, buildings, people) and natural beauty could make me feel like I was on top of the world. And of course, this song popped in my head. A sense that I had been missing something in my life hit me, about when I had found what it was that I had been missing! I  had found it in the time I was out there hiking, seeing, feeling nature. The waterfall, the sunset, the streams and trees. This is what I loved doing, and lately that feeling had been avoiding me.  I found found what had been missing out there, and that alone made me feel like I am on top of the world.  Like Imagine Dragons says: I've had the highest mountains I'...

Yesterday, I talked about Craggy Gardens  (read it here) , right off the Blue Ridge Parkway , about 9 miles from our house. It was beautiful, and we met some great hikers and Tiny the Inchworm. They told us about the Craggy Pinnacle Hike and we were on our way there when I left off. Tiny was pointing the way. He joined us in the car for the ride to the parking area. Tiny the Inchworm pointing to Craggy Pinnacle, the pointy mountain in the background. We drove through Craggy Pinnacle Tunnel, one of the shorter tunnels on the parkway. I couldn't take a picture while driving, and didn't think about stopping to take a picture at that time, still resting from the previous hike and thinking about the hike to come. I now wish I had, but I was lucky enough to find this picture, just where we drove, on Flickr.com.  Craggy Pinnacle Tunnel via Mike_tn on Flickr.com Once we got to the parking area, Tiny the Inchworm was left at his new home in one of the bushes, and we turned out at...

It isn't every day you can say 'I'm on top of the world' and literally be a mile high, completely feeling like you ARE on top of the world. We got to last Saturday. View from Craggy Pinnacle The kids were on Spring Break last week, and I wanted us to do something fun, something cheap if not free, and special. Since we can't take a trip for vacation (see cheap mentioned above) due to limited funds, and my oldest having to work several days of the week, it had to be local. Luckily, we happen to live in a mountain range that offers hikes and views that are incredible. We went for a hike last fall and that was such a wonderful day everyone was willing to hike again, but this time wanted to try a different hike.  We decided to pick an easy hike close to home. Craggy Gardens.   It is almost like going on vacation, but is only 9 miles from our house. Tunnels through the Rhododendron's The trail was said to be an 'easy' one, and only 1.4 miles, a...