On saturday my friends Rob and Lauren are getting married and I’m super excited for multiple reasons. 1. I haven’t seen them much at all since moving to Cinci - or even a bit before that, since they’ve moved a few times as well. 2. I get to see and catch up with a good amount of other friends I never get to see anymore. 3. It is a destination wedding in the gorgeous mountains of western North Carolina - which basically means that I get to go on vacation and see good friends all at once!

Two of the best people on earth - the lovely Steve Hart and Sue Jones – are coming down tomorrow to meet up with Kathy and I here in Cincinnati. Then we’ll all take off bright and early the next morning for our little mountain cabin that we rented for our Wednesday-Sunday stay. I can’t express how much I’m looking forward to a good road trip (about 6.5hrs to NC), a scenic setting, and some relaxation tossed with a healthy dose of adventure.

The plan currently is to climb Grandfather Mountain - about a 2000ft climb over 3ish miles and then back again. This makes for an almost 7 mile day of legitimate hiking goodness. I know if you are a real hiker and have been doing this for a while you may say to yourself “Wow that’s not that bad…” But, I’m still fairly new to this thing – so I’m hoping all of our legs and feet hold out for the long haul. I also hope Steve and Sue have at least some clue of what they signed up for when 2 months ago they said “Yeah we’re totally in for hiking a mountain that sounds like fun!” Hah!

Kathy and I did take about a 12 mile hike through the various gorges and falls in beautiful Hocking Hills a few weeks ago – but we weren’t as well prepared as we needed to be on the H2O front… so we made it, but it was rough and we immediately packed up camp and came home afterwards. That was our intentional, lesson-learning trial run. So I say full steam ahead! Grandfather Mountain here we come!

So roadtrip Wednesday, mountain on Thursday, relaxation/pre-wedding welcome party on Friday, wedding on Saturday, and back home for Echo Church goodness on Sunday evening. Then Monday off for recovery at home. I’m so ready.