festivities

We have returned from a four day trip to North Carolina, where it is very very HUMID! We were there for a family reunion (my father's side). It was quite a bit of schlepping, but my Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Richard and Aunt Lea had never met Laurel, so I think it was really important. Aurora loved getting to play with Carsten and Hunter, we went on a trail ride and went "gemming" (polished stones salted throughout a bucket of sand and then seived in a man-made stream), and within a few moments of arriving at the resort my behind was soaked as a result of a canoeing adventure with two of my younger cousins. Tim busted his butt zip-lining through the forest and Uncle Will fell out of his whitewater raft twice. Fun times to remember. We failed to bring along any of our multiple cameras, so I will just include a few shots of Rainbow Lodge, where we stayed.

This area of NC, in the Smokies, is actually a temperate rain forest and receives 80 inches of rain a year!