North Carolina

Charlotte was fantastic. It was great seeing my old friend Maggy again. Like an angel, she had pizza, drinks, Hannibal, and hair dye waiting for us. The night was filled with laughing, nomming, and turning my hair green. Since Annabell chewed a hole through her kennel in Jacksonville, we weren't sure how she would be out of her kennel all night. So we locked her in the bathroom. She whined all night. It was hard saying goodbye in the morning but now that I'm gonna be in the Carolinas more often, I know we wont be strangers.
We shifted our plans some and decided to hike Pilot Mountain then hike Hanging Rock and camp there. Pilot Mountain was great, and you could tell Annabell loved the fresh, cold air. Even though it was 49 out, we got such a work out that we were sweating under our 2 layers of clothing. We picked up some shiny rocks and made it around Big Pinnacle before heading back to the car. It only took a little over half an hour to get to Hanging Rock but the rest was needed. We bounded down the steep slopes and saw the most beautiful waterfalls (we had to pick up Annabell a few times to get her up the steep ledges) but didnt think about the walk back. The climb back to the car was agony. We really weren't prepared for that kind of physical strain, having to stop and rest a few times heading back up. We piled back in the car and drove to the camp site. It was completely empty. Not a single person was camping. We took that as the hint of the century and started the drive to Prestia's. We managed to make the 4 hour drive in 5 hours. Annabell slept 90% of the drive. When we finally got to Franklin, Prestia's horrifyingly bad directions got us lost and he had to meet us so we could follow him back to his place. His two dogs, a chihuahua named Dexter and a german shepherd named Sophie, hit it off like old friends. Annabell is still the jealous type, making sure to jump on us when we are paying attention to the others. But I passed out within 10 mins of being there while Daniel and Prestia made up a fire and chatted all night.
Its great to wake up to a view of the smoky mountains.
Pics coming soon!