Jason and I took a week long vacation to Cincinnati, Gatlinburg, Asheville, NC and Durham, NC last week.  We had such a great time.  We have a lot of pictures so I will make a few posts to show our favorites.

I would say this was the highlight of our trip – a 5 mile hike on the Alum Cave trail in the smoky mountains.  It was a a beautiful, not too hot day and the trail was beautiful.  We started the day by having a big breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, then we were on our way.

A map of our trail.

We hiked next to this creek most of the way up.

Stopping to enjoy the scenery (and take pictures).

There were several of these “bridges” we had to cross.

This was crazy.  Almost straight up stairs through a cut out of a rock.

Looking down through the stairs at the top.

Beautiful mountains.

Flowers growing out of the rock close to the top.

On our way back down.  I don’t know if you can tell, but I kind of feel like I might not make it at this point!  The way up was hard because it was so steep close to the top.  Luckily walking downhill is much easier!

Our views on the way back down.  This is why they are called the Smokies!

More to come!

Jason and I have been enjoying the beautiful weather here lately.  We decided to get a grill now that we have a balcony and have had lots of fun with it.  The first night we grilled, Jason forgot to put the wheel brakes on and it blew across the patio!  A storm was blowing in, but luckily the rain held off, because we had the best rib eye steaks we’ve ever had in our lives!  We also had several friends from church over this past weekend for a cookout and that went very well.  We (Jason) made a great grilled pork tenderloin.  We also made some yummy grilled pizza.

Here are some pictures of our outdoor festivities.

Grill master

The cats love sitting at the screen door Jason put in for us.  Sometimes they even run right into it because they think the door is open!

Baby peppers.  My garden is getting a slow start, but miracle gro is helping!

My herbs are doing the best.

Our view of the newly constructed Primrose School.

….and our view of the playground.  I’m hoping this doesn’t get too annoying.

Jason and I spent last week on a much needed vacation in Ft Lauderdale.  It was our first vacation since our honeymoon and my first vacation from work.  It was very relaxing.  We spent a lot of time in the sun and ate a lot of good food.  Here are some highlights:

Our hotel was right across from the beach

We were upgraded to a suite – King Size bed, separate living room with kitchenette, huge bathroom with separate tub and shower, and a balcony with ocean view.  The hotel was awesome.

The weather was awesome – in the 80’s and breezy

We took the water taxi to get around the intracoastal water way – there were a ton of huge million dollar houses and boats.  All of the houses had interesting stories.  We saw a house built by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, a house built/owned by the founders of Taco Bell, Firestone, Kohl’s, local car dealers, and others.  We also saw a lot of boats owned by big corporations like Yankee Candle (the boat was named Parafin), Amway and others.  I think the most amazing boat was a 130 million dollar yacht owned by “the mexican Ted Turner.”  It was amazing.

I was fascinated by the draw bridge (we don’t have those in Indiana)!

This house is being built by the CEO of Circuit City! (His boat “megabyte” is parked next to the house)

Huge sailboat

We had a great time, but we were ready to come back to our house and our kitties.  They have been very clingy every since we came home.  Luckily our wonderful friends Christine and Stefan took great care of them!