Spring Break in the Smokies

I'm back in Baltimore after a great Spring Break trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina/Tennessee.

Alex came down here from NYC on Friday, which was the first time he'd visited since I moved from Minneapolis. We had a spring break "martini party" at my house on Saturday instigated by Femi, which was fun and relatively low-key. On Sunday Alex and I drove down to Chapel Hill to meet up with Matt and Risa...it was quite relaxing staying at their house on either end of the camping trip. (Minus the episode where Alex awoke to find their hamster had escaped and was running around on his leg.)

We camped Monday through Wednesday nights at Big Creek campground at the northeast edge of the park (and the only campground you can drive to that does not allow RVs). It's pretty, lying next to the eponymous large creek. We took hikes each day: The first day we hiked up to the Mount Cammerer fire tower, which was pretty strenuous (~15 miles RT, more than 3000 feet up) but worth it. The second day we took it easy and hiked up Big Creek a bit and hung out along the creek. Partly on Stephen's recommendation at the martini party (he grew up in Tennessee), we drove to a trailhead on our way out of the park for a fairly substantial hike to Charlie's Bunion. It's a pretty spectacular spot, and thanks to our late start, we had it to ourselves. And it only drizzled on us on the hike back, instead of pouring, as it looked like it would.

I've posted a set of photos from the trip on Flickr.

Along with the outdoors activity, I also got to go 10-pin bowling (141 and 125, in case you're interested) and play Beetle Battle with Alex, two things I haven't really gotten to do since moving to Baltimore.

Now, back to work on my thesis, which needs to be wrapped up by the April 6 library deadline. After that I'm home-free. And the new Modest Mouse album comes out on Tuesday!