sulabor day with the rats

Changed things up from our traditional camping/kayaking Labor Day in Tennessee to go to the mountains with Katie and these 3 soon to be friends. It was one for the books! Filled with good food, laughs, adventure, and outdoors. What more could you want?! 

Sunrise in Blue Ridge

campfire chats

a jaunt in the woods

such children

an array of milk flights

i like to ride my bicycle

Us three musketeers ventured out for a miscalculated bike ride. We found some overrated "hot springs" and some beautiful lake side resorts. Seeing as how lazy we are, we opted to hire a little guy to boat us and our bikes to the other side of the river. Turned out to be a beautiful day out on the water. 

don't be deceived. that's petrol, not water

to market

I awoke to this:

fresh squeezed OJ from the garden. am i lucky or what.

Then it was to the kitchen for a delicious leisurely breakfast of crepes, fresh bread left at the gate, and goodies from the garden. 

Once we finally got our day started, Ben dropped us with bikes at the market. We perused the market which had everything from bras and belts to fish and flowers and everything in between. After collecting some goodies, we wandered the town to see what it was all about. Not much it turns out. Pretty quiet place. 

managed to drop our precious bottle of €2 wine

Finally settled upon a perfect little spot on the water. It was a beautiful day! Made even better with great company and a picnic of wine, cheese, bread, and cherries. 

Once we realized the time we hopped on the bikes and headed back for Ben's. It was spectacular. Peddling hard up hills only to fly down past grape vines and cows and obnoxious dogs. 

naturally the clothes came off to reveal his Michaelangelo biking shorts...

 And eventually we made it back to Ben's!

Perfect timing to take a rather refreshing shower and to stuff ourselves yet again with Ben's mum's culinary creations and local wine. 

funday quote

In honor of this weekend's time well spent in the great fall air... 

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air." 

Nathaniel Hawthorne

And, well my sunday was spent downhill mountain biking {new favorite hobby} in some beautiful country.  My ass is quite sore, but I'm still super pumped from it.  We like to think we looked something like this: {and this video is actually from the same trails we rode today! super cool, eh?}

Btw, I've decided that I am going to live in Queenstown. Post and pictures to come

fool's day

Despite our wild birthday night last night, we were all (Erin, Lindsey, Katie, Joshy, Cory, Bryan and I) up for some downhill mountain biking today.  I'm actually quite jealous of Erin and that she got to spend her 21st birthday like this!

After a hardy breakfast, we suited up into armor and hit the gondola. It was really one of the coolest things I've ever done. I'm so hooked!

so. excited.

gondola ride up

ready to hit the trails!

Lindsey and Katie weren't such fans of it... instead, they had photo shoots with the incredible backdrop. Lindsey had a wipe out on her face and completely bent her left brake handle... then threw her bike in disgust at the bottom of the hill– totally epitomized the experience for her.  She and Katie headed in after a couple of laps down the mountain and opted for ice cream and a nice sunny nap instead.

The rest of us exhausted our gondola passes up to the last chair.  You know that great feeling of skiing all day– legs too tired to walk properly, but you keep going anyways because it's too great to pass up? That's exactly how this felt too.

Met some pretty neat people on the mountain too... well, of course. Who here wouldn't be cool? One guy is here on a work conference and came a few days early to play– expenses covered by work. Now that sounds like a sweet deal.

one of the lookouts

 Then back to Fergburger for round 2! 

what katie gets for leaving her camera with us...

 Before hitting the road for home again... :(  

We've all agreed another trip to Queenstown is a must before we leave. Hopefully during the ski season!

grace

My solution to riding a bike with a skirt: safety spandex.  

But I suppose this girl's a bit more graceful: