Mile High Swinging Bridge

While waiting for our table at Melanie's on Sunday we came upon an ad for Grandfather Mountain announcing "Dollar Days"!!! This only means something to locals since it really only applies to us or those who work in the surrounding counties; to say the least we instantly knew what we were going to do with ourselves on a semi-gloomy Sunday afternoon. After eating a delicious breakfast at Melanie's we made a quick stop back at the house so Cody could get some shoes fit for hiking. This visit was the first time we were actually able to hike one of the trails on Grandfather Mountain, which I was very excited about. Just so you know how awesome Dollar Days are at Grandfather I'll tell you that when we first pulled up to the little ticket station the lady had us wait a moment, then very pleasantly said that'll be $28 dollars, along with a $10 bill I handed her my id and she said oh, you're locals, in that case it will be $2.00!!!! I mean that's a deal otherwise we probably wouldn't go to Grandfather as cheap as I am. The above photo is doctored up if you couldn't tell, I didn't spend time setting up the tripod or else I could have gotten some better exposed photos, I'm finding myself getting really comfortable with my new Corel Paintshop Pro software.............I even commented to Cody that I hope I don't become a crappy photographer because of it. I did get some shots yesterday that I really like with only slight adjustments made to brightness and/or contrast..............I'll share more as the week continues.

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

Anne Frank (1929 - 1945)

Maybe you've had enough cemetery shots, so I thought I would leave you with this beautiful and dainty cluster of purple flowers. Yesterday was pretty uneventful except for our trip to the Walmart (woo-hoo). This morning we are going to go eat breakfast and then possibly go for a hike. It's sort of gloomy but the sky is still blue which may make for a great day of shooting. If you haven't noticed on the last 2 sunset pictures I uploaded when you click on them you get a download box, that was really urking me and I finally found out that it is a problem everyone is having within blogger. The last two photos I have posted are linked to my Flickr account which I like much better.

FOREVER GREEN


See my favorite Evergreen Cemetery shots here.

I have really enjoyed these cemetery photos taken while back in Jacksonville, I wish we would have gotten there sooner and stayed longer. Walking through you find some of the neatest things that otherwise would usually go unnoticed. We barely scratched the surface here at the Cemetery because later I found out that it was 167 acres which honors 70,000 lives. As far as I know only one person that has been a part of my life now resides there, Angie. Angie was a childhood friend of mine and my Sisters who's life was not nearly long enough - the day we attended her funeral will forever be etched in my memory. When we were kids we would have these massive sleepovers and watch the scariest movies and play made up games like dookie, dookie man (don't ask!) we practically lived at each others houses. It was always so much fun, we played together, got in trouble together, and eventually grew apart once we all got older and began to forge new lives for ourselves. Those days are long gone but not forgotten............

*I had to sort of smash the photo so it would fit into the blog :( although if you click on the photo it will take you to view it in Flickr.