rodeo rafting and hippies

This past week was a vacation of sorts. My friend and co-worker Krissie and I took off to North Carolina for some outdoor adventures. We stayed with my uncle and my brother, Brock, came over from Nashville. We kayaked, water skied, and simply lounged around on the lake that my uncle lives on with his partner who sadly was on a business trip. We had good old North Carolina BBQ at the local joint, Lancaster's.

We went to the Olympic National Training Center where you can rock climb, raft, zipline, and play on a ropes course. There were also trails for hiking and biking. All I can really describe it as was an outdoor adventure amusement park. You had to make a reservation for most of the venues, and while you could bring in your own gear (for rock climbing etc), there were still limitations, such as having to use the auto belay system. The river was man-made, just like you find at Six Flags, though with Class 3 and 4 rapids. We went "adventure rafting" first, which was just like my experiences on the Ocoee or Nantahala. Then we tried "rodeo rafting" which was more extreme than my previous experiences. The basic goal was to be in the water more than in the small, unstable raft. Props to my 52 year old uncle for going with us younger ones. He held his own. I think I got the award for the most times out of the raft, and I also have a battle scar on my arm as a souvenir. What fun, especially for a man-made river! The people were fun, too- Menonites in skirts rock climbing and screaming at the top of their lungs on the zipline... A rafting guide who was seemingly high as a kite who hit on Krissie and a few others who were hot... Funny accents that didn't sound of regional or ethnic decent...

Krissie and I went into Charlotte one night for a little fun. We ended up at a bar filled mostly with men for trivia. We made friends with 2 guys who let us join their team. They were pretty competitive and we didn't offer much in terms of answers, but we had fun. Then one of the guys started getting obnoxious. We made our exit to go to a club upstairs. It happened to be college night, complete with a bikini contest. There were others there who obviously weren't in college, but we were definitely out of our element anyway. A photographer snapped our photo and we made it on his website along with all of the other college chics.

We took off from Charlotte to spend the night in Asheville. We had great intentions of mountain biking, but it soon after we arrived. We got a little adventurous and stayed in a hostel- the guy who owns it was very hospitable and gave us the run-down on all things Asheville. I'd heard that Asheville is a funky little town. Some have even compared it to San Francisco. Well, I've been there now and can say that while there are hippies living there, the place felt very empty and not so happening. When you run into a guy at one bar and 30 minutes later are several blocks away and you run into him on the street, it's a little too small. The shops were fun and food was good, but I've had my fill of Asheville.

I told Krissie that I think this trip was the first time since leaving Atlanta for college that I've found myself homesick for Atlanta. Not in a cry about it sort of way, but a I-like-what-I've-got-at-home sort of way. I was looking forward to getting back to Atlanta. Crazy, I know!