weekend in the mountains

12.10.16 ~ cougar, Western North Carolina Nature Center

Last weekend we flew to a different part of North Carolina, where Tim’s brother had rented a vacation house in the southern Appalachians. So we had a little family reunion and an early Christmas there. We spent the better part of Saturday at the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville. It was very cold there in spite of the welcome bright sunshine!

Katherine was very much interested in understanding and using the map

We bundled up and enjoyed seeing many animals native to the Southern Appalachians. All of the animals there are rescues and could not survive in the wild. Katherine especially loved watching the river otters gliding in and out of the water, but I couldn’t get a good picture of them. They were moving too fast!

12.10.16 ~ Katherine studying the brochure
12.10.16 ~ sunshine made the bitter cold easier to bear
12.10.16 ~ Western North Carolina Nature Center
12.10.16 ~ watching other children play
12.10.16 ~ sunlit beauty
12.10.16 ~ let’s see, where should we go next?
12.10.16 ~ let’s proceed!
12.10.16 ~ taking in a bit of rock climbing
we didn’t take this trail but I thought the sign was beautiful
12.10.16 ~ deserted picnic area – too cold for a picnic
12.10.16 ~ coyote, Western North Carolina Nature Center
12.10.16 ~ another beautiful sign
screech owl, Western North Carolina Nature Center

This little screech owl is blind in one eye and is being used to educate the public about rescuing wildlife. Katherine was paying close attention.

Katherine in Mama’s arms, watching the screech owl and listening attentively to its handler

We stayed in Asheville for dinner out at the Tupelo Honey Cafe, “a southern restaurant with mountain south roots.” Tim enjoyed the food so much he bought their cookbook! And after dinner we took in the Christmas light and music extravaganza at Shadrack’s Christmas Wonderland. There were so many light displays it took us a full hour to drive through the two-mile maze, synchronized holiday music playing on our car radio! It was a pretty dazzling experience.

Sunday we stayed in the cabin, enjoying each other’s company by the fire. Dima, Larisa and Fran whipped up some scrumptious dishes for us. A perfect weekend!

18 thoughts on “weekend in the mountains”

    1. Thanks and you’re welcome, Tai! It tested my patience waiting for that cougar to look my way. πŸ™‚ *hugs*

  1. What a wonderful time, Barbara! Katherine is adorable–not only beautiful, but so intelligent and vivacious, too, qualities that come out clearly in your photos. All your pictures are so good, they make me feel as though I had been with you! πŸ™‚

    1. Thank you so much, Timi! Katherine is a huge animal lover which is why we picked the nature center to explore that day. And she is definitely one smart little cookie – talking in sentences now. I’m happy you enjoyed the pictures so much. I do love photography! πŸ™‚

  2. We’ll have to put this place on our itinerary for the future. It looks lovely, as does your littlest subject!

    1. I think you would love it there, Susan. The nature center clings to the side of a mountain so there is a lot of walking up and downhill! The enclosures for the animals are large so at times it takes a while to spot them, but I’m glad they have some room to roam and plenty of hiding places.

    1. Thank you, Sheryl. Katherine was so into the animals that she never complained about the cold, even though she traded her mittens in for that brochure. πŸ™‚

  3. Beautiful nature pictures! And lovely to see Katherine again. She reminds me of my 2 yo Cayleen. Happy you had a chance to have an early Christmas together. I so look forward to seeing my two girls in a couple of days. Happy Holidays!

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed the Nature pictures, Tiny. Coming from you that means a lot to me as I am dazzled by your nature pictures! Happy Holidays to you and your loved ones! Probably your little Cayleen’s eyes are full of wonder. πŸ™‚ I hope Dylan is enjoying himself, too.

    1. Not sure what she actually understood the map then but her interest was very keen and has continued to grow over the years. We had a wonderful time at this nature center!

Leave a Reply to Barbara RodgersCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.