Cheekwood Night & Light

Last Thursday we went to Cheekwood for Family Night Out.  It was a hot day (high of 96F) but the Zinghoppers were playing that night so we had to go (Conductor Jack wasn't there but DJ Kitty and two of the animal characters were).  Luckily the shows are always in the shade so it wasn't too bad.

We packed a picnic dinner and ate before the music started.  At least Brian and I ate - the boys were so excited that they wouldn't sit still and were running in circles near us.

The boys enjoyed the first half of the show but had worn themselves out so much in the heat that they couldn't move the second half.

There was lots and lots of jumping.

After the show, the boys found some energy and ran around for 30 minutes while we hung out on the picnic blankets.  Since the boys were going strong again, we decided to stay for the Light exhibit.

Here's a description of the exhibit from Cheekwood's website:

Cheekwood is thrilled to host the second-ever North American exhibition of LIGHT, a stunning outdoor art installation by acclaimed British artist Bruce Munro. Using an inventive array of materials and hundreds of miles of glowing optic fiber, Munro will transform Cheekwood’s beautiful gardens into an enchanting, dream-like landscape. This site-specific exhibition follows a wildly popular U.S. debut at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and has been uniquely designed by the artist to incorporate Cheekwood's gentle hills, expansive views and magnificent gardens.

While we waited for it to get dark, we explored some areas of the garden around the mansion that we hadn't been to before.  And caught lots and lots of fireflies.

Eventually, the lights came on!  I tried to take some pictures of the different exhibits but need to return when it's darker and when I have my tripod!

"Fagin’s Urchins" in the Reflection Pool:

"Field of Light" on the Museum of Art Lawn and surrounding area:

We had planned to visit Light a few weeks ago for the members-only preview but that was the day Carter got an ear infection and was too sick to go.  But we had bought some Alien glow sticks back then that the boys finally got to use.  The boys loved them but all the other parents probably hated us because almost every kid we passed asked their parents for one.  And there were a lot of people there.  We often had to wait a minute to get through crowds walking the opposite way on the sidewalk.  Heather told me that Cheekwood was having to shuttle people in from a grocery store parking lot a few weeks ago (I can't even think of close grocery store so I'm sure that was quite a hassle).

"Light Reservation" in Mustard Meadow:

"Candlelight" in the Japanese Garden Pavilion:

"Water-Towers" in the Robertson Ellis Color Garden:

These water bottles change colors to music playing in the garden.

The exhibit was pretty cool and I'm sure we'll return again a few times before it ends in November.

Mountain Trip - Day 5

We left the cabin in the mountains early on Sunday morning.  We decided to do some more hiking before heading back to Nashville.  We hopped onto the Blue Ridge Parkway (which was only a mile or two from our cabin) and headed south.  The boys actually really liked the drive when we got higher and the views opened up.  They kept pointing out the mountains and saying they were so big.

Our first stop was Linville Gorge.  We spent a lot of time hiking and camping up here while we were in college.  I found some old pictures from when we were there in 2000 (the first year that Brian and I were dating).

These first two were taken on July 4th weekend.  A big group of us camped in the Linville Falls Campground.  Here is Jason (Jason and Dana are our friends that also now live in Nashville), Brian, me, and Keith (he still lives in Cary, NC).  This photo was taken at the upper falls viewing area.

And Brian and me at the upper falls viewing area.

Brian and I went back to the area in the fall of 2000.

Our friends Johnny and Anakah (who rented the cabin with us) were also in the area that weekend and took some pictures of us when were climbing.  The things we did before having kids :)

Over the next couple of years, we returned Linville Gorge multiple times to hike, backpack, and climb.  It's a great area.

Now back to the present, we hiked the Erwins View Trail which is the most popular trail in the falls area.

Much to Brian's pleasure, Carter started off hiking.

He didn't make it all the way up to the upper falls overlook, but it's always nice when the kids hike some!

This split fall is the smaller one.  But with all the rain we'd had over the last few days, the Linville River was running higher than normal.

Brian and Carter checking out the top of the lower falls ...

This is what they were looking at ...

It was about 1/2 mile to the upper falls and then we continued another 0.2 miles to the lower falls overlook.

The sun was harsh, but I tried to get a few photos with the waterfalls in the background ...

Love this picture of the boys!

We headed back down the trail after snacks at the overlook.  Everyone was hiking at first and Carter and I had to wait for Rylan and Brian.  Carter sat on this stump and when I decided to take his picture, he posed in a very formal sort of way - it was really funny at the time.

Of course the hiking didn't last long for Rylan and he got in the carrier (which is sometimes better because we are much faster then).  (Brian took a few pictures since I had him hold my camera for a minute ...)

As we were walking, I stepped right over this ringed-neck snake.  The boys were so excited that we had found a snake!

The rest of the hike back to the car was uneventful and when we got to the trailhead, the visitor's center was open.  Linville Falls is right off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the falls and Parkway are part of the National Park System.  The visitor's center has a park passport cancellation stamp so we were able to get the boys' park passports stamped.

We had plans to stop at another few places along the Parkway to hike, but there was a lot of rain in the area and we ended up only making one more stop.  Even though there were a lot of clouds in the area, we decided to drive up Mount Mitchell to see what we could see (and have a picnic).

I think we'd only been up Mt. Mitchell one other time so I wasn't terribly familiar with it.  The picnic area is amazing.  There are tons of picnic tables isolated for one other in this beautiful little knob off the peak.

The clouds were rolling in so we ate quickly so we could walk up the short paved trail to the peak.  We stopped first to take a few pictures in the parking lot.

You can see the clouds rolling through.  Carter always wants to touch a cloud.  When we told him he was, he was a bit confused because it wasn't what he expected (I think he thought a cloud is thick).

The boys weren't too thrilled that we were making them walk some (it's only about 1/4 mile).

We made it to the peak though.

I found a picture from December of 2001, the last time I think we were at Mt. Mitchell.  The peak was definitely covered in more clouds then ...

And there has been a lot more built on the peak since then!  The background behind this sign is completely different now!

We spent a couple of minutes on the peak and then returned back to the car to head home.

It started pouring as we continued on the Parkway to Asheville.  There we got on I-40 and drove home.  We got in about an hour before the boys' bedtime and unpacked the car.

We also checked on our baby birds that had hatched about 16 days earlier in the nest above our garage.  All that was left of them was a bunch of poop on the ground under their nest.  I'm guessing their first flights were successful and they probably look just like their parents by now.  It was amazing how quickly they grew.  Hopefully we get a nest around the house somewhere next year again because it was fun to watch them everyday!

We had a great trip.  It was great to see old friends, make new friends, try out camping, and visit a place we loved to go to so much a decade ago!