Home of the Alamo

Last month I got the opportunity to go to San Antonio, Texas for work.  As I had never been to Texas for anything other than a layover, I was pretty excited!

And as usual for a work trip, there was quite a lot of excitement during my travels to Texas. For some crazy reason, I got to the airport super early and that turned into a huge blessing. While I was on the phone sitting near the ticket desk, I got a text from the airline saying my connecting flight from Houston to San Antonio was canceled due to weather. I had seen on the news that morning that huge storms were flowing through Texas, so I wasn't shocked by the news. When I walked up to the ticket counter to see about getting rebooked, I heard them say all flights out of Houston that night were being canceled. So, I called my office and had them book me a hotel room in Houston because I knew between the storm and flights getting canceled rooms would be going quickly (and sure enough they did - I got the last room at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport and I ran into a lady the next morning who said they had to stay at the airport!).  Once I knew I had a hotel room, I got a flight for 9 am the next morning. My first meeting was at 11:30 am and it was a 55-minute flight so that was perfect - or so I thought!

My initial flight into Houston was delayed by about an hour, so I got into town at 10 pm CT (11 ET). The first part of the storm rolled in around 2 am or so - the electricity must have gone out because the clock on the nightstand had one time, my phone had another time, and my watch had another! However, the real debacle started on my 9 am flight. We didn't even start boarding the plane until 9 am, and then as soon as we pulled away from the gate, a storm rolled in. The plane parked and the captain came on and said we would wait the storm out as it was directly between us and San Antonio and according to the radar, should only last about 20 - 30 minutes. Ha. Fast forward 2 hours later and we were finally cleared for takeoff. During that time the entire airport 'shut down' to all incoming and outgoing flights, and about an hour in they starting letting West-bound flights go (I was headed East). Once we took off, it was smooth sailing and I finally made it to San Antonio.

View from my room. The red arrow is pointing to the Alamo.

I checked into my room, where I had almost a direct view to the Alamo (a tree blocked my direct view) and grabbed a late lunch before heading to a meeting.  When I called my mom to let her know that I finally made it, she let me know that my hometown high school was competing in the National Robotics competition in San Antonio - just a few blocks from where I was staying - and was coached by a family friend!  I had some spare time the next day so I walked over and got to learn about robotics (fascinating, by the way), as well as even see them compete! It was really cool!

When worked wrapped up on Friday, it finally stopped raining and I was able to tour The Alamo, walk along the riverwalk and take a riverboat cruise before I met with some colleagues for an authentic Mexican dinner at a restaurant called La Tierra - about 10 blocks from our hotel, away from the main tourist areas. Along my walk, I passed a church that was doing a light show about the history of Texas. Someone had told me about it at dinner the night before, so I was excited to know where it was. After dinner at La Tierra, my friends and I walked up to the church right as the Light/Laser Show was starting. It was utterly fascinating- no words, just lights and sounds!

I love the sky in this picture!

San Antonio the Saga at the San Fernando Cathedral

Even though this was a work trip, I'm glad I got to have a little fun and explore San Antonio. I can't wait to go back to Texas again!

Glass Slippers

Last weekend, I went down to Disney World to participate in the Glass Slipper Challenge! The Glass Slipper Challenge involved running the Enchanted 10k on Saturday and the Princess Half-Marathon on Sunday.

My awesome mom who was my driver for the weekend!

On Thursday night, I headed to NA to stay and a little before 7 am on Friday morning, Mom and I hit the road.  My awesome mom was my chauffeur to and from Florida! Her original plans were to visit friends that lived right outside of Disney World, but due to illnesses they couldn't meet. So instead, she got a weekend away to relax!


We made great time getting to Florida and the drive wasn't bad at all! The only time we ran into traffic was in Florida - those roads are awful!  After having the wrong address for our resort (Coronado Springs), we finally made it a little before 2 pm. We met up with KQ, her sister JQZ, and our other friends LS and MS got there about that time too!  After dropping off my luggage, saying a quick goodbye and thanks to my mom,  the Disney crew headed over to the Expo to get our bibs, gear, and do some sports shopping before dinner! After exploring the Expo, we had a 5:45 reservation at the Turf Club Bar & Grill in the Saratoga Springs Resort, which we barely made due to the bus to that resort running almost 30 minutes late!  Some more friends that arrived later that day were able to join us for dinner and after a scrumptious meal, we took multiple buses to get back to Coronado Springs so we could head to bed!

The Clemson Grads Before the 10k!

Our alarms went off at 2:30 am (ugh) on Saturday morning so that we could catch our 3:30 am shuttle to Epcot to where the 10k race would start and end. We had to get there early so that we could be dropped off, walk to the starting/warmup area, and then be in our corrals by 5am for a 5:30 am start time. Out of the 6 runners in our group, 5 of us did the 10k (3 of those 5 were competing in the Glass Slipper Challenge). We were spaced out in our corrals, with 2 in Corral C, me in D, and 2 in E, so we all started at varying times. I think my official start time was around 6 am. I wasn't too worried about the 10k race. I had been running 6.2 miles the last few Saturdays and felt really comfortable with the distance and pacing I had trained at. However, because I knew that I would need to conserve some energy for the half the next day, I made sure to walk the water stations (partly because I am not capable of running and drinking water at the same time)!  I ended up running a negative split for the 10k (meaning my last half of the race was faster than the first), including a 9-minute mile the last mile!!  Since we were in different corrals, we all finished at different times, so while waiting on each other to finish those who were done got our medal, got iced up and ate our post-run snacks Disney provided.

Of course I had to take a picture with the Glass Slipper!

After everyone finished, we loaded up the buses and headed back to our resort to shower and get dressed to go to the park. But before we went to the park, we went and got our second breakfast so we could get our Mickey Mouse waffles! We went to Hollywood Studios on Saturday, and our timing ended up being perfect! We arrived just in time for our first fast pass for the Rockin' Roller Coaster and once we got off of that, it was time for our next fast pass on the Tower of Terror.  We then went a few more places and a few more rides before we went to our late lunch reservation at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano inside the park. After lunch we did the Star Tours ride and saw the Little Mermaid show and then headed back to our hotel. We were exhausted by this time and knew it was another early morning the next day! We grabbed a light dinner back at the hotel and then headed to bed.

MS got a picture of me
running by him around Mile 5!

The alarms went off at 2:30 am again on Sunday morning so we could catch the 3:30 shuttle. Although I think we caught one closer to 4 because we were moving a bit slower that morning (I can't imagine why).  The four of us running the half marathon started the LONG trek to our corrals, as we were again in separate corrals. The Half-Marathon course starts in the parking lot of Epcot, goes to Magic Kingdom (you run through the Castle around Mile 6), back into the parking lot, with a final loop through Epcot to have you cross the finish line in the parking lot. I got a little frustrated with the course/race this year. I was in a farther corral than I was in my last Princess Half Marathon, and several portions of the race involved a narrow stretch of course, so I ended up getting caught behind some walkers and not being able to get around them the first mile.

I was also pretty nervous about the half-marathon because I never did a long run longer than 6.2 miles during my training (oops), but I did do all my runs on a course that contained a lot of hills. I also cut out Diet Dr. Pepper the month of February (well at least until after the race - I had one the Monday after I got back!) and was more intentional with my diet making sure to have good carbs and proteins for fuel. I had also planned to walk through the water stations, because again, I can't run and drink at the same time.

I kept joking that the weight of all those medals is what hurt my back!

My "goal time" started out as anything under 3 hours, and then I revised it to be under 2:50. (I guess I should back up and say that I am a slow runner, and my current PR is 2:34:52). However, running on hills during my training really paid off! Every time I hit a hill, I got a renewed burst of energy. I had two pace bands on my arm - one for a 3:00 finish and one for a 2:45 finish. Around mile 7, I realized that my pace was more aligned with a 2:45 finish and I was still feeling pretty good, so I started to push myself. When I hit mile 12, I was feeling really good and gave myself a bit more of a push. I ended up finishing in 2:38:51 and ran negative splits again during the second half of the race! The pace was slower than my training, but considering I had run a 10k the day before and had not run more than a 10k in practice I was pumped about my time! I actually smiled when I crossed the finish line and realized that I not only met my goal, but crushed it!

Post-Half Marathon Smiles!

After I got iced up, I got my medals (one for the half and one for completing the Glass Slipper Challenge) and waited for everyone else to finish. Once we all finished and took our celebratory photos, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and head home.  We hit the road that afternoon and stopped by Statesboro, GA on the way to NA so I could see K&J at their new house. It was fun to catch-up with them and show off my new clinkage!

Showing off my new clinkage!

After a fun weekend of running 19.3 miles, I'm ready to get faster and run it again!

The gang (minus LS&MS) before we headed home!

Persecution

During a road trip last year, I finally gave in and started listening to the Serial podcast which a lot of my friends had been recommending.  Serial is a podcast that tells one (true) story over the course of the season. Each week you get to hear a different piece of the story. So far, the stories have been somewhat controversial and the listener hears all these different sides and pieces and gets to make their own judgement/decision. This season is about Bowe Bergdahl and his capture and release by the Taliban.

While listening to this season's first podcast awhile back, something that Bowe said during an interview has stuck with me for weeks. Here is the transcript of what I heard from the Serial site:

Bowe Bergdahl

I was trying to prove to myself—I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me—that I was capable of being that person.

Mark Boal

Like a super-soldier, you mean.

Bowe Bergdahl

Yeah. I was capable of being what I appeared to be. Like, doing what I did was me saying, I am—

Mark Boal

Right.

Bowe Bergdahl

—like I don't know, Jason Bourne.

Mark Boal

Right. A character in a book or whatever. A character.

Bowe Bergdahl

Yeah. So I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world that, you know, I was the real thing. You know, I could be, you know, what ... I could be what it is that every ... you know, all those guys out there who go to the movies and watch those movies, they all want to be that. But I wanted to prove that I was that.

This exchange struck me so much so that I ended up having to pause and rewind the podcast because I had missed out on what was said the next few moments after that. I couldn't quite understand why this exchange captured my attention the way it did, so I put it to the side in my mind and finished that episode.  It wasn't until a few days later when I caught a glimpse of a news story about Christians being persecuted in Middle East that my mind went back to this conversation.

In a way, what Bowe was describing was, for lack of better phrasing, a leap of faith. He believed what he was doing was right, and he felt he needed to stand firm and take action for his convictions, to be the person he said he was, even in the face of persecution, which for him would be getting in trouble with the Army. We see and hear about Christians abroad doing this - taking action and standing firm, and being persecuted for their faith. They believe and trust in the Lord so much that they literally die for him.

As a white believer, living in the bible belt of the South, persecution is not something I'm often faced with. That's not to say, people might make fun of me, or make harsh judgements of me, but that isn't life-threatening, radical persecution like others are facing. Persecution at its essence is an attempt to eradicate, drive away, or subjugate people based on their beliefs, race, or social standing. As I sit here in my comfy Christian community, I realized i've become lazy in a comfortable situation. God is brought up in conversations daily, and those around me send encouragement and bible verses. Heck, I can even find a bible verse on the bag of a drive-through meal. In a way, I've become content not to seek out God, because it feels like he is seeking me out in the form of constant exposure in this Christian life I live.

All of these surroundings cause me to question, if and when I'm put into a position of real persecution, will I as Bowe said try "to prove to the world, to anyone who used to know me - that I was capable of being that person."  John calls us to be believers in Christ and confirms we will be persecuted. In John 15:18 - 20, he says "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."

Will I stand firm in what I believe when the time comes? Will I as Bowe continued on to say, "prove that I was that?" Will I prove that my love and belief in Christ is true and not just due to my surroundings? My prayer for myself and others who find themselves in the same situation in me is that we stay rooted in our faith and find joy in suffering and persecution when the time comes. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10 "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

When I think of Christians who have shown love, compassion, forgiveness and grace in the aftermath of tragedy, my prayer is that when in that situation, I could continue to glorify God. My challenge to myself and other believers is this - don't grow content in our American/Southern Gospel lifestyle. We need to continually seek God out through his word and prayer. We need to be willing to be persecuted for our faith so that we can bring glory to God so that those around us can see Him in us.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice, insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Sprit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.                                                     - 1 Peter 4:12 - 16

Pictures from the City

As promised, here are the pictures from our epic NYC adventure! Photo credits belongs to MS, JL, and KB.

 

 

Times Square!

So Gorgeous - it made our long, hot walk enjoyable!

We were struggling to take a selfie on the High Line!

The city at night from the Hudson

Lady Liberty

Bikes in Central Park - before JL says I tried to kill her!

On the steps of the Met!

I don't know what we were talking about, but we were serious about it! (Dinner at Bryant Park Grille)

We entertained the people around us trying to get this selfie!

We just got our tickets!

Waiting on the show to start!

Welcome to New York

Last weekend, I had a work meeting in NYC, and since I had never been to the city before, I decided to go up early with a coworker/friend to explore the city!

We had a 6 am flight for the trip up to NY. When we booked our flights about two months in advance of the trip, 6 am sounded great! That meant an 8 am arrival and all day in the city!  Well, after the week we had leading up to the trip, we both greeted each other at the airport Thursday morning with a "what were we thinking!"  And of course, as with any time I have to fly for work, there was an issue with our flight.

After the entire plane boarded and was settled, the pilot came over the intercom to let us know there was a hydraulic leak on our plane, so we weren't going anywhere! After everyone piled off the plane, they came back out and said it was a bad leak and they were flying a part out to Greenville and it should arrive at 10:30.  Considering JL and I wanted to be already exploring NYC at that time, we decided to go ahead and get on another flight. We ended up leaving Greenville at 8:30, had a layover in Atlanta, and then landed in NY around 2.  (We found out while we were in Atlanta that our original flight got the plane part sooner than expected and left at 10:30 and arrived at 12:30. We found this out because our bags took that flight!)

Because of our late arrival, we were able to go ahead and check into our hotel on Park Avenue. After a quick refresh, JL and I met back downstairs for what we have now dubbed our Speedy Gonzalez tour of New York!

We left the hotel and walked the two blocks over to Grand Central Station - it was beautiful! Then, we headed over to Times Square. We saw some very interesting sites and the crowd was insane. This reaffirms my desire to never be in Times Square for New Years Eve. While we were there, we of course headed over to Broadway to see what shows where playing and to check ticket prices. From there, we then walked about 30 blocks over to a restaurant in Chelsea (the Cookshop - I highly recommend it!) to go meet a friend who lives in the city. Of those 30 blocks, about half were spent walking the High Line, which is an old railroad track that the city converted to a walking path/garden. That made the walk much more enjoyable!

After a delightful dinner with our friend MS, he surprised us by taking us over to Chelsea Piers for a night time sail to the Statue of Liberty! We could not have asked for better weather and the statue at night was breathtaking! Our sail was from 9 - 11 pm, and since being up at 3 am to catch our flight, JL and I were exhausted!

On Friday, we slept in a little bit and then met downstairs for breakfast. Another one of our coworkers had flown in late Thursday night, so she met us and we did some prep-work for our meeting on Saturday. Then, we headed our separate ways for the afternoon. JL and I headed over to Central Park and rented bikes to explore the park. We essentially rode the entire perimeter, stopping at various sites through the park, such as the Bird Lady Statue, and the castle! Then, we started walking back towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art (we biked past it on Museum mile), looking for a cab to take us the rest of the way. We finally found an empty one, but had to hop a caution/construction barrier to get to it in the street. The cabbie was very impressed with out hopping skills.

As we had a reception that night, we only had about an hour at the Met, so we walked in, grabbed a map, and planned our route down to the minute! They had three exhibits we wanted to see and we got to see all of them. One of the exhibits was Van Gogh: Irises and Roses. It was the first time that all four of those paintings had been united since his death. That exhibit ended the Sunday after we left, so we were very fortunate to see them! We also saw a special collection of paintings by John Sargent, and the final exhibit was China: Through the Looking Glass. That exhibit was very large and very unexpected. JL and I were not expecting what we saw, but were equally in awe. As there were many Asian tourists in that exhibit, I thought how interesting it must be to travel to a different country to see an exhibit on the history of your homeland and culture.  When we left the museum, JL and I were getting hungry (it was 3 o'clock and we still hadn't eaten lunch, even after our long bike ride) so we grabbed a hotdog off the street, or as the locals call it, "a Dirty Waterbird." It was delicious!

After heading back to the hotel and cleaning up, we then went to our reception for work. By now, the rest of our staff had arrived and our trainers were here too! It was a great time spent catching up. Then, the staff went to dinner at Pera, a Mediterranean restaurant. That was my first experience eating Mediterranean and it was delicious!

On Saturday, we had our meeting (see, I did go to NY for more than just tourist sites) all day long, from 7:30 - 5. It was a fascinating experience, as I don't get to participate in this aspect of the company very often.  After wrapping up for the day, the staff headed over to dinner at Bryant Park Grille. The great thing about our hotel location was that we were in walking distance of everything! (Which after all those good, big meals I needed to walk!) After dinner, around 11 pm, JL and I headed over to the Empire State Building. Again, the night air was perfect and the views amazing!

MS hold told us about "rush tickets" for Broadway, where you can go to the Box office at 10 am the day of the show and get discounted tickets. So Sunday morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel, and walked over to Broadway to see if any were available for Lion King. The box office was closed until 12 (or so the sign said), so JL and I instead went to see the Freedom Tower and World Trade Center memorials. It was such a humbling experience to be there, to think about what happened that day and reading the names of all who died. It was absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking all at once.

From there we decided to head back to Times Square/Broadway to check out the Box office again. When we got there, people were lined up inside to purchase tickets. JL and I had a price in mind that we were willing to pay, but when we got there, it was a bit more than what we wanted, but both agreed we would pay more to see Lion King on Broadway!  When we got to the ticket counter, the guy first showed us tickets up in the balcony. When we mentioned that we wouldn't mind sitting apart, he then found some discounted single tickets one row/seat apart in the Orchestra Level!!!!! We were so excited- literally the ticket guy chuckled at our reactions. And oh man, those seats were amazing- as everyone kept saying, there is no bad seat on Broadway!

We had about an hour before doors opened, so in keeping with our food of NY tour, we decided we needed some authentic NY pizza. We turned to our trusty advisor, Google, to search the best NYC pizza in Times Square and it took us over to John's pizzeria. We both agreed that it was great! We split a Margherita pizza and then headed back to the Minskoff Theatre to watch Lion King!

Oh man. I've seen musicals before, but never Lion King and never on Broadway. It. Was. Magical. Its been a long time since I've even seen the movie, so seeing it again in Musical form and seeing it as an adult with all the imagery of redemption - just beautiful. They had even updated the show to reflect modern times - instead of Zazu singing "It's a Small World" to annoy Scar, he instead sang "Let it Go." I think every parent in the theatre could relate to Scar's reaction of any song but that song!

After the show, JL and I headed back to Bryant Park to meet one of our coworkers for a drink before we had to head to the airport. While we were at the Lion King, we had started getting notices that our 8 pm flight home was delayed. First it was 30 minutes, then an hour, and at one point it didn't have us leaving NY until 10. I had previously warned everyone of my work travel flight woes, so everyone blamed me for our delays!  I had an early morning meeting with clients in NJ on Monday morning, so I kept saying that if our flight got delayed any later, I was going to rebook to a Monday night flight and take my meeting in NJ in person!  Luckily, our delay decreased and we finally left NY around 9 and got home a little after 11.

My first trip to NYC may have been a whirlwind trip, but you can't say I didn't make the most of it! I had made a list of everything I wanted to see/do before I left and even with a shortened day on Thursday, I still got it all done! Now, I can't wait for my next trip!

(Since I rambled so long, (but really, who can blame me since we did so much?) pictures will follow in a separate post!)

Streaking.

Don't worry I haven't been running around naked, just running!

Sometime in the month of June, I became very frustrated with myself. I used to love running, still called myself a runner, yet I couldn't tell you the last time I had gone for a run. I had gotten an email that registration for the Disney Princess Glass Slipper Challenge was opening up on July 14. (The Glass Slipper Challenge is the 10k on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday.) Some friends and I had all run the Princess Half Marathon before and had decided that we were going to do the Glass Slipper Challenge in 2016. After my last half in April that wasn't great, I realized that I needed to run, especially to be able to complete the Challenge.

Therefore, I challenged myself to run everyday in July. For thirty-one days straight, I ran outside in the heat in a hilly park near my house.  I ran in the rain, at 9 o'clock at night after getting back late from a day trip, and even left work a bit early some days so I could get my daily run in when I had evening commitments. I ran between 1 and 3 miles each day, bringing my total mileage for the month to 62 miles!  It was so rewarding to write that number down on my calendar on July 31!

 If you don't know, I live in South Carolina, where it tends to be a bit hot in July (there were a few days when I went out to run and the temperature gauge was in the 100's).  This played into why I was sticking to low mileage, as well as due to the fact that I hadn't run in so long! My goal was to build my endurance back up- which I did! In the beginning, I was mostly running 1-1.5 miles each day and that was miserable. I was hot, out of shape, and ending on a steep incline, all things that made for a poor re-introduction to running. By mid-month, I told myself I couldn't run less than a mile and a half, and I never felt that I needed to run that little again! Even on my "rough" days, I was able to meet my mileage goal.  I mostly ran 2-2.5 miles each day, and for the last 7 days, I ran 3 miles.  The last 5 days, I tracked my pace and time to see how it was going - I could see how I was getting faster, which was so encouraging! Don't let me fool you though, I'm still as slow as a turtle in peanut butter, but now faster than a snail in molasses. Progress, right?

It was hard, but fun as catalogued by my Twitter feed in July:

"Tonight's run-tertainment was a man playing a bagpipe in the park. Felt like a Scottish lass running up the grassy hills" - July 6

"A bad run is better than no run, right? At least the bagpipe man was back again"            - July 7

"Omg. I need to wait this late to run everyday. It felt AMAZING out there. #summernights"  - July 16

"My speed training: waiting to run before a storm and then sprinting when the lightning starts popping & i'm a mile away from the car. #yikes" - July 18

 "This bad boy was in my shoe. No wonder my feet felt weird! Today's lesson - check your shoe soles before you run!" - July 23  

By the end of the month, not only did I look forward to my run each day, but I craved it. It was a time to de-stress from my day, whether that was spent getting lost in the run and enjoying the day, or spending the entire time in prayer.


July may be over, but the streak is not! I still have a long way to go before I'm ready for the Glass Slipper Challenge in February, but I'm looking forward to every mile of it!

Into the Woods

This past Memorial Day weekend, I ventured into the woods with my dad. It was supposed to be a weekend camping/hiking trip, but just ended up being a hiking trip. 

Dad didn't arrive until after 5 on Friday night, and it was going to take us an hour and a half to get to Burrells Ford to go set up the tent. We weren't even sure if there would be any spots, so we decided to try the local/closer areas first. We went to Paris Mountain first, saw there wasn't any camping spots left, then decided to head over to another park. As we were driving away, we started discussing our options. We didn't have a reservation anywhere, most places I had checked were full, and by the time we got to Burrells Ford, it would be close to 7 and we still weren't sure if they had any open camp spots. So, we decided we wouldn't camp and would just go back to Paris Mountain to go hiking instead since neither of us had ever been to Paris Mountain. As a Greenville resident, I felt it was past time I went there!

Dad and I returned to Paris Mountain State Park and hiked the Mountain Creek Trail and part of the Sulphur Springs Trail. According to my GPS watch, we ended up hiking a total of 4.5 miles. Even though we ended up not camping, we still ate our planned camping dinner of hot dogs!

On Saturday we had a late start to the day and headed over to Jones Gap. We got there right about 10:15 am and there was a line of about 4 or 5 cars in front of us. The park ranger came up to our car and said it was a "one car in, one car out" rule as the parking lot was full already due to the holiday weekend. He said it would only be a 30-45 minute wait, so we thought why not.  Neither Dad nor I had ever done Jones Gap before and we wanted to try it out. While waiting, we looked over the map and planned our day. We waited and waited, while 2 cars in front of us gave up and left. After 30 minutes, a car came out and the car in front of us got to go in. We waited some more and still no cars. Then, a car came out, but it was only a tease as it was a camper and not a hiker. At the 45 minute mark, Dad left to go to the restroom and we decided that once he came out we were going to leave.  After he returned and we talked to the ranger for awhile, we had been there almost 1 hour and 15 minutes and still no sign of another car leaving. We asked the ranger about other options near here where parking wouldn't be a issue, and he recommended Trail #23 of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area - The Mountain Bridge Passage Trail. It was off a side road about 5 minutes away from where we were. As the ranger explained how to get there, one more car came out but was a camper again, so that sealed the deal for us. On to our next location! 

The Mountain Bridge Passage Trail is considered to be one of the "very strenuous" trails as it is a one-way 4 mile trail that heads up Campbell Mountain. It is a newer trail to the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area and is actually part of the Ashmore Heritage Preserve/Wildlife management area run by the SC DNR. Once we made it to the top, we then headed back down to do the loop around Wattacoo Pond. The full pond loop was 1.46 miles, but we couldn't quite figure it out and went back out the way we came so only did about 1 mile. And just like any trip into the woods with my dad, I learned something - how to identify Yellow Poplar trees by their leaves and flowers. We also spotted a gorgeous Scarlet Tanager (bird) and a Mountain Pitcher plant. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a clear picture of the bird, but it was absolutely gorgeous. In all, we did about 9 miles on Saturday.

We learned our lesson on Saturday, so were up early and arrived at Jones Gap by 8:30 on Sunday morning. We were the second people in the parking lot and feeling good. We were a bit sore from yesterday, so we decided to take it fairly easy on Sunday before Dad left to go home. We hiked into Jones Gap and then up to Rainbow Falls. We stopped for a snack and photos at Rainbow Falls and then headed back down to the Jones Gap trail. Back at the trail, we decided we would head up to Jones Gap Falls and then call it a day.  We were the only ones at Jones Gap Falls, so we took some more pictures and then ate lunch.

All in all, it was a great weekend to be in the woods!

Some falls along the Mountain Wilderness Passage Trail

The Mountain Pitcher Plant

The Yellow Poplar Leaf

 

Selfie at Rainbow Falls

Jones Gap Falls

Dad was fascinated by this tree along the Jones Gap Trail.