We’re more than a week late, but it’s time for the final recap of our mountain vacation!
Previous recap posts:
Family Mountain Vacation: Day Four
The fourth day of our fall family mountain vacation kicked off with another hike on the Appalachian Trail!
For the past five years or so, Ryan and two of his buddies have met up every fall for a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail. This year the trip got put on hold thanks to our new addition, but Ryan took the reigns on our family mountain trip and planned some great hikes for our little group.
On the fourth day of our mountain vacation, Ryan and I were joined my my sister and brother-in-law and my dad (and the dogs!) for a five mile morning hike that provided us with some gorgeous views.
(For those who asked via Instagram, my hat and vest are from Columbia and I LOVE both of them. I actually own that beanie in three colors because I love it so much!)
Our hike started out rather strenuous with a lot of switchbacks and uphill hiking, but that meant that the hike back to our car was a breeze. Work hard on the way out = Easy hike home!
Ryan made the hike extra fun by suggesting we play a few rounds of “Predators and Prey.”
To play the game, one person is the predator. They select a key word to yell out randomly (something as simple as “beautiful leaves”) and that would prompt everyone else to run and hide while the predator counts to 15. The predator then opens their eyes and must stay in the same place, but they can turn 360 degrees to try to spot people. Though the may know where someone is thanks to dogs who like to give everything away, they must be able to see the person or an article of clothing and call out the color they see. Once you’re spotted, you’re out.
The predator then closes their eyes and counts to five (“Mississippily”) while everyone who is still in the game scrambles to move closer and find a new hiding place. The predator then repeats the same process as before and tries to spot people. You win the game if you are the last one left hiding or if you get close enough to touch the predator. The winner then becomes the new predator and chooses a new key word to yell out to begin the game again whenever they want. It’s a blast and a great way to break up a hike!
During our hike, we passed a bunch of people who were hiking with backpacks full of gear to camp overnight along the trail. Everyone was so friendly and it was neat to hear about their experiences along the Appalachian Trail so far. (Ryan says he is convinced overnight hikers are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.)
We made it back to our rental house in Banner Elk around lunchtime to find my mom had bathed Chase and changed him into an adorable new Peter Rabbit outfit.
I must say one of my favorite things about having a baby boy is seeing him with his grandparents. My heart absolutely swells every time I see them cuddling our little guy, bouncing him or making him smile.
We were all ready for a few hours of downtime after our hike and ate lunch at the house before lounging for a bit. Then it was time to head out again! My mom, sister and I really wanted to pay a visit to Moses Cone Manor, a 13,000 square foot mansion built in 1901 that offers expansive views of the mountains.
The inside of the mansion features features handmade crafts by local artists and we had a great time looking at the beautiful souvenirs.
(Chase’s spiky hair got a lot of attention from the sweet ladies working at the manor. I love my little fluffball!)
Eventually we headed back to our house to meet up with the guys and settle in for a delicious spaghetti and pizza dinner before bedtime.
Family Mountain Vacation: Day Five
The fifth and final day of our vacation began with the Woolly Worm Festival. Up until our visit to Banner Elk, I had never heard of the Woolly Worm Festival before, but it is apparently quite a big deal!
The annual festival takes place the third weekend in October and includes woolly worm races!
Yes, people actually race the worms and it’s a riot!
It is believed that the severity of the winter can be predicted by the intensity of the black on the woolly worm. Apparently if the woolly worm has more brown on its body than black, it will be a mild winter, but if the woolly worm has more black than brown, the winter will be harsh. (According to literature I picked up at the festival, the woolly worms have an 80-85 percent accuracy rate in predicting the severity of the winter. Kinda cool!)
Though no one in our group brought a worm to race, we had a good time wandering around the festival, visiting with the vendors and indulging in some of the festival food!
Leslie and I each left with an adorable wooden reindeer that we both bought for $10. Ross and Ryan earned major husband points for carting them around the festival for us!
Thanks guys!
We spent the rest of our Saturday at the house, playing Scattergories and corn hole and sipping on hot chocolate that Leslie and Ross made from scratch. It was so, so good and I made sure to keep my marshmallow-to-hot-chocolate ratio on point.
Chase celebrated the end of a great vacation by throwing himself a No Pants Party.
Our fall mountain vacation came at the perfect time for us and it was such a wonderful vacation – Chase’s first! – that I’ll remember forever. I am missing my family already but counting down the days until I see my parents again at Thanksgiving!
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What an awesome vacation. I actually know someone from high school who spent the summer after graduate college hiking the entire trail. He says it was amazing! Love those last pictures of Chase! Too cute!
How fun, looks like a great time and memorable first vacation for Chase! Just curious, I’m guessing chase takes a bottle pretty well for you guys? That makes it so much easier when trying to do things and for your mom! Isn’t it hard though when you are all bundled up like you were, and then you have to nurse?! I swear there where times I felt like I was basically stripping off half my clothes:-)
What a beautiful family vacation! Im curious, did the worms have a lot of black? An 85% accuracy rate is pretty high! Also, where is that cream colored shirt with the chambray shirt underneath from? It looks really cute.
Pb Fingers I loved reading your recaps from your mountain vacation and have been a long time trader. I currently have been exploring hiking trails in western NC and was wondering where y’all started your home from?
We actually parked along the side of the road at a spot Ryan knew of but it wasn’t really a marked trailhead. I’ll ask him tonight to see if he can give me some more specifics!
Stunning photo’s. I love cementing those memories with pictures. I was reading once…if you don’t have a photo of an event….did it even happen? Well. Yes. But doesn’t feel like it. Photo’s bring back so many memories. My aunt was sorting her photo’s from her days living in the Philippines and it was exciting to see her life through this lens.
Awww I have loved reading these recaps, my uncle has a house in Boone and we spend every Thanksgiving there. This is the first year since we began going that we won’t be able to go and it makes me a bit sad.
I am loving reading your posts about you and your family enjoying the area together 🙂
What a beautiful trip! I loved all of the recaps. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to visit there in the fall. I am so happy that my fiancé and I moved to Raleigh- it seems like it is just ‘a couple of hours’ from the ocean, the mountains, and a lot of other fun things to explore!
Here’s to great family time! It can be hard to come by when you don’t live close, but that definitely makes it more special :). I also must try that predator/prey game the next time I go hiking, it sounds like a fun way to break up the monotony of a trail!
Looks like a great vacation. Glad you all had a wonderful time. Can’t wait to meet little Chase!
omg those banana diapers are killer! 🙂
looks like such a great time with family!
What a fun family trip! Glad you all had a nice time. 🙂
Looks like y’all had a wonderful vacation! I had my baby boy just a few weeks after you and I agree. Seeing my parents as grandparents has been so wonderful. They just absolutely adore their grandson, and it’s so fun to see them with him. 🙂
How much fun! I’ll have to try that hike sometime. I’ve never done the Wolly Worm festival– but everyone talks about it around here! Asheville just popped to peak leaves this week too– perfect for a day trip!
Where is your second beanie from (the one you wore to the festival)??
Wow, such beautiful photos of your family! I love the Fall foliage in the background, too!
Love the Friends reference!
The Tanning Salon Guy: Mississippi? I said count to five.
Ross: Mississippilessly?
ah that game sounds so fun!! 😀 I love playing games well after the age of 10 😀
Also your hair looks absolutely amazing! Have you done anything differently with it or is it just I-woke-up-like-this-thanks-to-pregnancy-hormones? 😀
Okay, I am so going to use the Predator Prey game with my residents. I’m an RA for freshman at a university, and they would love this! Thanks for the idea, Julie. 🙂
Where did you get the hat that you wore to the festival? I love it!
Mississippily. Haaaaaa. Ross!
This looks like so much fun – LOVE that you guys had fun activities planned for everyday! A more grown up Fall break, if you will, ha! Chase in that Peter rabbit outfit is too much. 🙂
Which Wooly Worm won, by the way? We’re prepping for ski season out here in Denver (starts Thursday, VT won this year and already has some slopes open), so I’m trying to accurately prepare myself!
I was wondering the same thing( about the Wooly Worms). 🙂
What a fun family vacation! Chase is so cute! Never heard of a worm festival like that but that sounds fun.
great hiking photos!! don’t you love wearing chase?!?! william is too big for my front now – i have to learn how to wrap him on my back!!
What a beautiful and rejuvenating time with your family. Congratulations on such a cute lil man; Chase is adorable. Just wanted to thank you for sharing this post as I has not heard of predator and pray and sounds like a fun thing to do when hiking with my family too. Blessings to you.
Chase is just too cute – love the Peter Rabbit onesie! I’m sure he is very popular wherever you go 🙂
What a great vacation! I’m sure you guys had a fantastic time–love all the photos too!!
Chase is so cute!!! Your vacation sounds wonderful, you might have convinced me that a mountain vacation would be fun. I’m usually a beach only girl 🙂
PS any chance we can get the hot chocolate recipe on the blog?
I think they just Googled a recipe and used one of the top ones from AllRecipes.com! 🙂
I’ve never heard of that predator and prey game before but it sounds like it would be fun.
What a fun vacation! It’s so hot over here in CA, I can’t imagine wearing all of those layers!
This looks like an amazing vacation. I can’t get enough of little Chase!
That looks like a great trip! I love touring old houses so that would have been right up my alley! What baby carrier do you use, and do you like it?
I’ve been using the K’Tan and really like it a lot! I watched a video to learn how to use it properly and Chase seems to enjoy it a lot — he usually falls asleep in it, but sometimes has fun looking around and looking up at me when we go for walks!
I have been looking at the K’Tan! I’m glad to know you like it and recommend it!
He has the most adorable hair!!! Such a cutie!!! Not that you need telling! You guys looks so cosy in your wollie hats! Haven’t had mine off my head today, hasn’t stopped lashing rain since yesterday which meant hat hair was on the cards!
oh how i miss the festivals to obscure insects. you should try to hit lazy daze in cary next year.
Looks like you had a wonderful family vacation! We almost always head to the beach if we do a big family thing, and while that’s fun, I’d love to do a family mountain vacation sometime. Beautiful pictures!
I am wondering what kind of black baby carrier or wrap that is you are using?
It’s the Baby K’Tan! I like it a lot!
A no pants party is what I call porky piggin! LOL I also love the Friends reference…Mississippily! hehe Glad to see you all had a wonderful vacation!
Did a nice long hike this weekend, so gorgeous with all the fall colours 😀
And Scattergories! LOVE that game! My friends and I played it all the time in high school 😀
How do you do your hair to get loose waves like that? So cute!
Thanks, Kelsie! I think maybe sleeping on the waves helps them soften a bit… This was on day two or three of no washing! I wrap my hair around the outside of a curling iron and hairspray it before brushing it out. I think brushing it out helps loosen the waves a bit as well!
Looks like a beautiful trip! That is so great that your family is so outdoorsy and active 🙂
What a beautiful hike!
Love your cute family! I think I need to move to North Carolina. Looks amazing and so green compared to AZ 🙂
The autumn fall colours look amazing! A few years back we holidayed with a road trip in through the Smoky Mountains, (we stayed in Charlotte for a few days before the Smokys!), to Nashville for a night then to South Carolina for a few days. We hiked part of the Appalachian Trail near Nantahala Outdoor Centre (they have a great mountain biking trails!) when the colours were just changing in early September. I’d love to go back one day!
Love Chase’s mohawk he’s got going on!
Hi Julie,
I LOVE those hats! You girls look so cute! Would you mind letting me know where you bought your second beanie? I absolutely love it! Thank you!!
Zulily!
Hi Julie! LOVE y’all’s pom hats! I ordered yours for some Christmas presents. Where did your sister get her’s? Thank you!
Where are those hats from??
The hiking beanies are from Columbia and the one I wore to the festival is from Zulily!
Where did you get your beanies? The red one and beige one? So cute!!
Oh sorry just saw that you mentioned it up above!