Nate Day 2013

I know, I know - I missed last week's Wednesday Gif Party.  Actually, I have one saved in my drafts but I'm 3 gifs shy of my usual "party".  There was A LOT of stuff going on last week - including preparations for Nate Day.  Nate Day was yesterday.  Can you believe it has been 4 years already?!
Nate's sister, Alysia, arranged for us to go camping near Brasstown Bald and because I usually can't make it to Nate Day celebrations, I wanted to commit to this year.
We met up with Alysia at the Enota Mountain Retreat.  She texted me and told me "Don't let the name fool you".  I didn't know why she messaged that...until we drove up to our campsite.

Welcome to Fort Katrick!



Yep, we went for real camping.  I say "for real" because, according to the old man, backyard camping doesn't count.  But you know what?  It was great!  We went to Helen to get Alysia's dog (a bullmastiff) a collar and stayed for a funnel cake and beer.



And then we started our campfire - with the help of our awesome campsite neighbors.  I keep forgetting their names (sorry!!) but they were GREAT!  They helped chop the wood and get the fire going so I tried to repay them with all the S'mores they could handle.
I didn't stay up too late with them but I did enjoy some lively campfire conversations!  It was great!  Even greater - I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Why was that great?  Because on the way out of the tent, I looked at my surroundings - including up towards the sky - and it was BEAUTIFUL.  I don't think I can remember the last time I saw that many stars!  If it hadn't been so chilly, I would've dragged my sleeping bag out of the tent and slept under the starry sky.  It almost felt unreal!  Isn't that a shame?  So much light pollution...
Anyways - the old man and I got up at around sunrise and walked around the grounds a bit (and found bathrooms!) and when we came back to the campsite, we packed up the tent and were ready to go.



We tried to stop at Brasstown Bald but it's closed because of the government shutdown - which pissed me off because that's where they spread Nate's ashes and I wanted to have a moment of silence in his honor where his ashes were.  Oh well.  Maybe next year?  We were talking about camping again next year - which would be great because I'm hoping to be a camping pro!
The old man and I were talking about camping near the coast in Florida somewhere or going back to Asheville and camping there.  Who knew I'd enjoy it so much?!

Since I didn't get to pay proper respects to Nate, I'll light a candle for him and Tim and Justin and everyone else I miss on El Dia de Los Muertos this year.

Hope you all had a great weekend!