Retreat

This weekend was the women's retreat at my church, which meant I got to spend the weekend in the mountains. I have some vacation days to burn, so I took Friday off and headed up early with a friend. We hit the trail and enjoyed a great hike.

 

We saw almost a whole family of deer.

Of course my only pictures are from the hike, but we had a great speaker (more to come on that once I process). I also got to spend time with some great women as we shared a house together and had a chance to discuss what God was teaching us.


The weather was perfect, and it really was a good retreat for me. Of course I'm exhausted and took a nap when I got home but hopefully I'll get through this week.

Just pictures today

I went on a hike last week, and even though it was cloudy, it was a great view at the top:

Camping adventure

This is just one of several gorgeous views from my weekend camping. I still can't believe I live just an hour from this; this weekend reminded me I need to take advantage of that more often. Camping was a blast; we went hiking, played games and ate some good food. It was cooler in the mountains, and the weather was great except for a rain shower Saturday afternoon. Here's a quick recap in pictures (there's plenty more on Facebook):

My tent for the weekend, courtesy of Katherine (very roomy and it kept our stuff dry!).

Our first hike was to this waterfall. It was gorgeous, and even though the return hike was steep, it was worth it.

I enjoyed getting to meet some new friends this weekend, all thanks to Andrea, who always seems to be connecting people.

We saw lots of deer, on our hikes, the drive and at the campsite.

The highlight of our wildlife sightings was watching this mama bear with her cubs. We stayed there for 15 or 20 minutes taking photos and just watching the interaction between the mama and her cubs. I was also very glad we saw them at a place pretty far from our campsite. Of course later we had a skunk visit us when we were sitting around the fire. It didn't spray, but we ran pretty quick.

After seeing the bears, we hiked up to this point. It was a bit hazy, but it was one of the most beautiful views. I am still in awe that I get to live in this place!