Interesting stats

According to LifeWay Research, the top reasons young adults are dropping out of church these days:

1. They simply want a break from church (27%);

2. They felt church members are judgmental and/or hypocritical (26%);

3. They moved to college and didn't find another church (25%);

4. They have work responsibilities that keep them from attending (23%);

5. They moved too far from church (22%);

6. They just got too busy, even though they’d still like to attend (22%);

7. They didn’t feel connected to the church in the first place (20%);

8. They disagreed with the church’s political/social stance (18%);

9. They decided to spend more time with friends (17%);

10. They were just going to church to please their parents (17%).

(Thanks for sending along cousin Chad. These are interesting, slightly depressing and good food for thought.)

Sliding Rock & Mint Mango Mojitos

Up through the Pisgah Mountain is the Davidson River featuring the NC-famous Sliding Rock. Although not caught on camera, I did go down - yeah for me. The water was FREEZING so I let the boys go another time to take a picture.

The Davidson River also has a number of waterfalls. This one was specifically popular with kids looking to cool off in the freezing water.

Mint mojitos after a wonderful afternoon!

The Lost Sea

After our trip to Big Creek, we kept driving to Ten Mile, TN to visit Zac's grandparent's and their cabin on Watts Bar Lake. On Wednesday morning, we drove to Sweetwater, TN to tour the "Lost Sea" - the world's largest under ground lake. Zac and cousin Ben in the tunnel into the caverns. 

Great Smokey Mountains National Park

On Tuesday morning we drove just over the NC/TN border into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park to the Big Creek area. Big Creek includes campgrounds, hiking and some pretty good river walking. The reason for the trip was the famous Midnight Hole - a collection of big rocks perfect for jumping into the (freezing cold) water below.  A few natural water falls were also found on the trail. 

In the mountains, the air temperature was just about 70 degrees - the water - as you can imagine was quite cold. Aster didn't seem to mind. 

Zac didn't seem to mind, but quote "holy crap, that was so so so cold". Both dog and man shivered like babies afterwards. 

Looked like paradise in the mountains - with blue water all the way to the bottom. 

Nature dog - back at it! 

Dupont State Forest

Dupont State Forest, the largest in NC, boasts some of the state's best waterfalls. Today, we hiked up to Triple Falls and Hooker Falls. On the way down the mountain we grabbed some fresh S. Carolina peaches in Hendersonville. Good day all around. 

On a side note, Aster Pup woke up last night vomiting on the bed. Yeah, that sucked. Zac managed to catch a large portion of the dog barf in his HANDS (gross!) but we had to change sheets around 1:30 a.m.. Another round of barf at 6:30 and then at 10 a.m. - the pup looked so hangdog through the morning it was sad to watch. After a low-key day at the house and a small bowl of rice and chicken, he seems to have snapped back. Hopefully nature-dog will be back at it in the morning so we can hike up to Big Creek and continue on to Tennessee. 

Black Balsam

Black Balsam, one of many, many sections of mountain off the Blue Ridge Parkway was our first vacation adventure. Up to an elevation of about 5,000 feet, the views were amazing! Obviously, the pictures speak for themselves. 

One of many places just to watch the clouds go by. Uncle John & Aunt Marty to the left - our expert tour guides. 

Zac and Aster (nature dog) - who loved every minute of it! 

The climb up the mountain and across the ridges included sandy trails, wooded areas as well as sparkly rocks like this one. The rocks and all other sandy/dirty areas sparked with minerals. I'm not sure if the picture does it justice, but the whole ridge top sparkled as if it were dusted with glitter. 

 

Vacation Day 1

The drive to North Carolina went well yesterday. Leaving at 7:30 a.m. put us in N.C. around 4:30 in the afternoon. The drive was beautiful through OH, WVa, Va, TN, NC. Aster pup appreciated the anti-nausea medicine and did well through the trip. He most especially enjoyed when I sat in the back seat with him so he could sit on my lap and stare our the front window.  We figured that since they don't exactly design back seats to help dogs from sliding back and forth through the winding mountain highway, he would at least like something to hold on to. 

Vacation ...4 days and counting

Zac, Aster and I leave for our trip to North Carolina in 4 days!! I promise to TRY and start this blog back up while we're relaxing in the mountains. ; )