Mountain Get-Away

Crystal Mountain in the summer is just as beautiful as those cold, winter months. Albeit the trees were without snow and the air lacked that familiar bite, but the mountains were full of life and the rolling clouds that reminded me of spun cotton candy looked more like the work of a paint brush, and the sky, more like a canvas.

My sister and I and two of our girlfriends packed up the Jetta and drove the hour and a half trek up to our condo, tucked at the main basin of one of the most picturesque views I've ever seen. Once we were up there, I wondered why we hadn't made this trip more often during the summer, I was imagining the drive to be stressful and/or strenuous but that was not the case.

However we ran into our first obstacle when we opened the door and (tried) to turn on the lights. Power status: "that would be a, no." Although this caused Liz's eyes to widen as she was carrying two bags of groceries full of pizza dough, fresh ingredients (& perishable cheeses) we gathered all the candles we could find and played Little House on the Prairie for the remainder of the night. We cooked the pizza's on the propane bbq's outside and ate over candle light. Liz works like a tornado in the kitchen; I just wanted to drink my wine and fashion her her very own wonder woman costume. The pizza's were to die for, I could have eaten the pear, gorgonzola, and balsamic one every day, at every meal, for a week straight. It was not the night we had planned (far from it) but it was hilarious, refreshing, and quite the adventure. (...the power did come on at ten thirty, so My Big Fat Greek Wedding was watched and the refrigerator kept our days worth of yummy food cold and happy!) :)

The next day we hit the outdoors, hiked up a pretty intense incline (at high altitude, it felt even steeper...) and explored various trails. We had a map! Megan and Liz took to titles as lead hikers and Bailey and I happily complied. (ha) Pretty waterfalls, some not so pretty construction areas, and meadow frolicking later, we were four tired, sweaty & ready for lunch girls.

That night we took two chairlifts up to the Lodge for dinner.

Fondue,

GOOD CONVERSATION,

& warm desserts

can make any girls night, and we left happy and full. The chairlift back down was a little different. Instead of flying through rolling fog and snapping shots of the sun break through the clouds, we were hurdling into the abyss. Literally. Megan's coat had no pockets, I was shivering, the blankets they provided reminded me of the ones you get at the Puyallup fair to go down the slides, and Liz's vertigo was kicking in. Needless to say, the cabin and a pj's sounded wonderful and we almost sprinted the walk back home.

This time I remembered my camera, so enjoy the pictures that fill in all that my words cannot.