North Carolina

A crazy winter storm blew in through the east and we spent the next 5 days running away from it. We spent 2 days in Boone, North Carolina which I'm sure is lovely during the spring, summer, and fall months. However, this time of year it is c r a z y up there. We later found out that it's the only place in North Carolina that receives constant snow the entire winter season. And a LOT of it. We stayed with a nice guy named Ben who lived a few miles out of town on Chigger Mountain. My mom would have died if she saw the driveway we climbed 3 different times. It was snow covered, close to a 60 degree angle, curved sideways with drop offs into a frozen river on both sides. If our Subaru didn't have 4-wheel drive, we would have never made it. I held my breath each time we made the 2 mph venture. The weather was literally freezing, with the high temperature around 9 degrees both days. There were a lot of attractions that caught my attention in Boone, like the meditation mountain trails and the organic grocery stores. The town seemed very likable, but the only way I'll make it back to Boone is if it's late July.

This picture we took of the Smoky Mountains is nothing compared to the view Jake and I enjoyed. There were just layers upon layers of smokey grey and blue ridges... a lot different from the Rockies where you're always looking UP at the mountains. We were looking out across the TOPS and it was breathtaking. Our car on the other hand... I'm pretty sure that's the most salt it's ever encountered. Even Utahns don't use that much salt!

The following night we stayed with some CouchSurfing hosts in the Arts district in Charlotte. They took us out to Revolution Pizza where we ate amazing Chicken Pesto pizza with sauteed mushrooms and artichokes! Really, really delicious. But there was a bigger reason behind going out for pizza that night, it was Trivia Night! Our hosts quickly adopted us as teammates and after three rounds of off-the-wall trivia we came in second place out of 15 teams! We hardly took any pictures in the Carolinas.... and I'm afraid South Carolina is going to be all story and no pictures. That's just what happens when you're having fun!