Since we have moved out East we have made it a family tradition to take a trip to the mountains to enjoy the lovely beauty and splendor of the Autumn colors from the Lord.
This year we are going with a few others from our church. We plan on spending the afternoon hiking and capping off the day with a shared picnic and family worship all together. We are so excited!

The forecast is for a beautiful, but cool, sunny day.  It brings back memories of another mountain trip where the weather wasn’t quite so splendid. In honor of our yearly tradition I thought I would share a post from 2009. It was truly a year to be remembered.

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Warning: This recipe may vary for each family, but I encourage each of you to try it at least once in your life.

Recipe for family memories:

1.Create a once a year tradition of going up into the mountains to see the fall colors.

2.Plan your trip on the rainiest, nastiest day of the week.

3. Pile in the car with your coats in hand and adventure in your pockets.

4. Drive up to the mountains amidst the rain and fog.

5. Enjoy some beauty in spite of the weather on the way.

6. Climb the mountain with the clouds descending upon you (or maybe you are ascending up to them).

7. Continue driving while mother grips the side of the side of the seat and suggests (er rather begs) that this might not be a good idea.

8. Continue up in the clouds as you go right and left on tight switchbacks up the mountain.

9. Console yourself that there are a few people coming back down that have somehow lived to tell the story.

10. Arrive at the top and breathe a big sigh of relief.Call your father-in-law to let him know you are at the hightest point east of the Mississipi. He asks is it cold out? Daddy responds “No”….uhh, no?

11. Step outside the car to be met by Canadian weather with wind and rain to hurry under a shelter to compose your thoughts.

12. Shiver under the shelter and weigh whether you really DO want to dash uphill another 300 yards to say you really reached the peak.

13. Decide to take your six little ones and go for it!

14.Huff and puff, blame it on the high altitude (over 6,000 ft) and barely make it to the top.

15. Each of you put your foot on the little brass marker to attest that you had done it! And you look out 6,000 feet to see the beautiful view of … clouds.

16. Hurry back down, dripping now with rain, wet and cold.

17. Head to the bathrooms and into the museum and gift shop to warm up and buy a magnet and bluegrass cd to commemorate this momentous occasion. Notice that they compare Mt. Mitchell to Canada and that it once got 50ft of snow.

18. Go back to your warm car to strip as much clothing as you dare, to dry out.

19. Have mama tell daddy that he better not get into an accident on the way down, because she is sitting there in her slip.

20. Drive the rest of the afternoon around and truly see spectacular beauty in the leaves.

21. Have momma put her wet skirt back on to run into a thrift store to look for skirts for her and the girls (she only finds a couple things for H)

22. Drive to Montreat to see where daddy worked as a camp counselor as a young man.

23. Stop and eat dinner at Fatz café.

24. Tummys full and warm, arrive home very late at night, to dream of mountain beauty.
We had a great time and made so many memories! We want to go back again when we can see.