Chin Scritches by Laptop Light

 

As you know, dad and I like to sit together most early mornings.  That's when dad gets his computer & blogging stuff done, and of course he needs my assistance most of the time. 

On this particular Sunday morning we were posting our comments on all y'all's blogs, dad tapping away and me, well, doing what I do best, and I managed to get in some tantalizing chin scritches. 

We apologize for the poor focus on this last one.

  Either dad had had his fill of his maple flavored liquid jolt or the motion of him giving me my scritches caused the fuzziness.  Here we are, almost a month past Christmas and as you can see their little Christmas shrub is still alive.  Dad's oldest daughter sent out a Christmas package that should ordinarily have arrived in time for Christmas morning, but didn't show up until a few days ago.  Luckily, the shrub is for year-round enjoyment, so they had a place to hang the grandkids' special handmade ornaments to display post-Christmas.

Bridge Architecture 101

 

Not funny.  Okay, will someone PLEASE help me keep him away from the computer?!  I swear, I'm gonna enlist mom's help for an "Idiot 101" post.  I know she has some interesting pictures of dad somewhere.  So it's hard to tell, but my butt was on the arm of the chair and my front paws were on dad's leg, leaving a gap beneath my (careful, dad) undercarriage.  I guess he's just easily amused and thinks he's funny.  Whatever.

More Exploring

 Here's another post dad's forcing me to narrate that has nothing to do with me:

Yep, the wandering dorks

So back around Thanksgiving when mom and dad had mom's friend from Pittsburgh visiting for the week they explored our area a little more in-depth.

  We've already shown you the photos from Frying Pan Lookout Tower, and dad's finally gotten his lazy, procrastinating butt around to posting pictures from their other adventures during the week. 

I won't get too specific with details since you can find plenty of information and cool photos online, (or see notation about dad's laziness above) but they went up to Marion to check out Linville Caverns for starters. 

Though smaller than some more well-known caverns, Linville was a very cool place to see, especially if you haven't ever explored such things. 

There is a 30-or-so-minute guided tour, and the group was kept to a strictly limited size due to COVID-19, and as with almost everywhere else these days face masks were required (yes, required, not recommended). 

The formations within the caverns were stunning, and the history provided was interesting and educational. 

If you ask me, the cavern looks a little more like scenes from that "Alien" movie than the stalactites and stalagmites I'd expect to see. 

Anyway, a portion of the caverns was closed off due to the tightness of space and confines of smaller areas as a precaution, but what they did get to see was amazing.  

They also went for a hike up Hawksbill Mountain Trail, situated on the eastern side of Linville Gorge. 

The 2 mile +/- hike wasn't too strenuous, but they did have to stop once or twice to catch their breath. 

The reward at the summit was some of the most beautiful views anywhere, including looking down into the gorge and seeing other ranges in all directions. 

Supposedly on a clear day you're able to see the Charlotte skyline as well. 

 They said the long, winding gravel road leading to the trailhead was a little, umm, intimidating, but they obviously made it back home so yeah, not much of an exciting element there.

So there you have it.  A big dark hole in the ground that humans can go traipsing through and some hills and rocks.  Wow.  Cool.  I can barely contain my excitement.