This is your brain. This is your brain on cake.

Now, that was difficult.  Studying for my annual test.  Blood test, that is.  Once a year the docs like to check up on the basics.  I think it's a little silly, but I go in for the blood letting anyway.  Basically I just humor them.  I figure it doesn't hurt for them to know my cholesterol and vitamin D are fine.  That way they won't bug me the rest of the year.

But having it done two days after cutting into the biggest chocolate cake I have ever had - now that was tough.  I had to put the remains in the freezer, lest frosting overload put my blood in such a state that the doctors actually would bug me the rest of the year. 

December already.  After the birthday, and the birthday check up, it's straight into Christmas mode.  

But it's still early too.  So the noose of Christmas panic hasn't drawn all that tight.  Not yet, anyway.  Time to have some fun with it while there are still some choices about what I want to do, vs. what I have to do.

But first - to put up the rest of the pictures of the Appalachian trip.  October seems so very long ago and far away.  A lot of miles since.  Most all of them local.  

One last bit of time travel then, before getting down to the business of Christmas, and charging head on into January's Tour de Felasco. 

So back to DuPont. 

Even with Northstar gone, and her in-head GPS gone with her, we manage to find the covered bridge on our own.  And a whole bunch of waterfalls. 

After about a zillion miles of leafy climb'y horse'y trails, we end with Ridgeline and one long, swooping downhill.  Worth the trip right there.

High Falls

 

Sometimes it hard to tell where the trail is.

 

 

And then for a little variety, a hike.

 

We decide to drive up to the Blue Ridge

and walk to the top of Mt. Pisgah.

Looks far, but it's only 1.5 miles.

 

 

 

 

 

Once again - The view is worth the climb.

 

 

So much for Tuesday.  It would be cool to try and connect with Scrub Jay up in Raleigh, but with the hasty non-planning, we have already run ourselves out of time. 

 

On Wednesday, it's down from the heights of North Carolina for our meet up with Sailor and Cap'n Bligh at super swoopy Jack Rabbit on the Georgia border.

 

No one is allowed to get lost at Jack Rabbit.

Signs at every decision point.

 

 

 

 

Cap'n Bligh and Popeye.

Loop #2 for Popeye.  Loop#1 for the rest of us.

I believe the discussion may be something about

there being a cooler back in the car.

 

 

The next day, Sailor and the Cap'n head back to Florida to switch from mountain biking to boatyard mode, and once again we are on our own for a day before meeting our friend Sara at Blankets Creek.

 

From the Jack Rabbit area, it's a quick drive to a spot where the Appalachian Trail crosses the highway.  We decide as long as we're here...

 

 

 

 

Popeye probably would have kept going all the way to Maine, but I was bored. 

 

After a couple hours, up and down, down and up, the leafy shuffle got old quickly for me.  Trees and leaves.  Leaves and trees.  Even when we topped the climbs, there was no reward, no view.  Only more trees and more leaves.  Geeze.

 

View from the top.

 

A couple hours of that, and I was more than ready to find a real hike, with some real climbing, and a real view.    

 

Which turned out to be something real touristy.   

 

But it's touristy for good reason.  If you're going to be on foot, who wouldn't rather see Tallulah Gorge?  It's worth seeing. 

 

Tallulah Gorge is gorgeous. 

 

 

 

There's four hundred-something steps to descend, and climb back up, in a couple different places, with a cool suspension bridge crossing the gap.  So the three mile hike around the rim and down into the gorge is not quite as sissy as it sounds.

 

 

And here, unlike Dick's Gap, the view is worth the climb.    It's even worth the extra hour of car time.

 

And speaking of time, I am out of it once again.

 

It may be next year before getting back to this.  

 

So, just in case the Christmas crunch takes the last bite of my December, I'll say it now.

 

Happy Winter Solstice.  Longer days and shorter nights to come.