getaway

It's funny how people are so good at adapting to situations. I'm a restless type. After a year (or even 6 months) of the same routine I start to get a little stir crazy. I start wanting adventure and change! Perhaps this is a remnant of my days in school, where every 4 or 5 months you switch schedules/living areas completely. Even the extraordinary, like teaching English in South Korea or living in the slums of Cambodia, falls victim to this.

Every once in a while, you need a getaway. Which is what the husband and I did with our friends a few weeks ago. It may surprise you to know that South Carolina actually has mountains (in the itty, bitty top corner) and that these mountains are actually tall enough to provide a semi-strenuous hike!

Though I was born and raised on salt marsh and sea, there's something about the mountains that tugs at my heartstrings. The air is crisper. The trees are lusher. The horizon rolls on and on with blue hills. Every single time I'm hiking through the mountains stories jar to life in my head. Stories that make me want to capture the feel and life and wildness of the land I'm in.

Table Rock (where we ended up hiking) is actually very close to the Asheville/Charlotte area where The Hunger Games was filmed, so the landscape looks very similar to the arena that Katniss was thrust in. This meant I was leaping around the trail, pretending to shoot arrows and wishing that my hair was long enough to throw back in a braid.

We also tossed cheese puff balls on top of the mountain and tried to catch them in our mouths. (Husband's secret video project... don't ask). Several cheese puff balls were harmed in the making of that film...

Look! We got to the top!

We made some new friends along the way.

The view (and an old friend with his walking stick).

So here's to getting out and being inspired by the things around us. Be they mountains, marsh or anything between.