Mountain Days
My family and I traveled to Barnardsville, North Carolina the weekend of October 23-25, 2015. We were very impressed with this historic 1900s cabin which has now been modernized to include a bathroom!
The owners, Ann & Jay, were wonderful! They were very accommodating and helpful during our stay. One of our horses is an escape artist and got out of the paddock the first night, which gave us a heart attack when I was laying in bed and looked out the window to find she was missing. Thankfully, though, she didn’t go far and was actually beside the cabin when I flung the cabin door open to look for her! Whew! She also escaped another time to visit two neighbor geldings in the next paddock. She stretched the fence, which we felt badly about and offered to help fix, but Ann did not seem upset at all. She fixed the fence in no time flat! The reason behind her escape adventures was due to someone turning the electric fence off in the barn. This was quickly remedied, and our horse remained in the paddock throughout the remainder of our trip!
Our first ride there was actually just up the road and toward Ann’s house. The view is breathtakingly beautiful, and we appreciate that Ann allowed us to ride to her house to use the round pen. It was rather steep so our mares took several resting breaks, but it was so worth it when we reached the top!
Saturday we explored Pisgah National Forest’s Big Ivy. We walked our horses from the cabin right into the forest where we rode for hours near creeks and around the mountains!
This was my daughter’s first time in the mountains with her Pinto pony. She was nervous and excited all rolled into one! They both did a great job crossing the creeks with ease, though. Several times our horses stopped right in the middle to drink the cool mountain water from the creeks. I’m sure it was quite refreshing after traveling many miles up, down, and around the mountains.
On our last day there while traveling up the mountain, we encountered a portion of the trail that was rather steep and narrow. We hated to turn around because we were so close to the very top of the mountain, but safety won so back down the mountain we went. We didn’t feel so bad when two other equestrians attempted it behind us yet turned around for safety’s sake as well.
The view was breathtaking with splashes of vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and greens on the horizon. We timed it just right for the changing of the leaves this Fall in the mountains!
We had a great time during our mountain days and highly recommend this mountain getaway! While we’ve ridden in Dupont before, we fell in love with Pisgah!
Halloween Adventure
Wow, what an absolutely beautiful Halloween weekend! We stayed at the Saddle Pad just outside of Camelot Farms in St. Helena, SC, with our 11 year old daughter.
The cottage was warm and welcoming. We loved the horse bedding as well as the entire horse theme they had in the cottage.
They had nice sized paddocks for the horses, and we really loved that they were right next to the cottage where we could check up on the horses. It was really nice having them that close. We could literally look out the living room window and see them.
This is the first time our daughter has taken her Pinto pony to the beach, and she had the BEST time! We enjoyed having the opportunity to walk to the semi private beach any time we wanted on our horses. Thursday night we timed it just right as the sun was setting on the way back!
Friday we rode to the beach again where we had a fun time trotting and loping our horses! We had lunch on the beach as well and enjoyed the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore. Shortly thereafter, we took the trails around Camelot Farms. That evening, we went into Beaufort for a haunted carriage ride put on by CAPA. They were dressed in costumes as ghost stories for the Beaufort area were told, and on the streets different characters would startle us as they told their version of the story or appeared at just the right time during our tour. This was the BEST ghost tour we’ve ever been on, and we’ve been on several in the Charleston area.
Saturday we took the dirt roads that lead to the plantation house that was used in Forest Gump! We enjoyed the moss covered trees and had a really nice ride together. The weather was perfect hovering around 70. The people we encountered along the way were friendly and respectful to us on our horses, too, which is always nice.
While we were there, we visited the Old Sheldon Church Ruins as well as The Chapel of Ease. That was a really cool backdrop for our Halloween pictures, too! 
We took our daughter trick-or-treating at the Hunting Island State park also, which she loved! She was a hit with all of the little children as she was dressed as Mal from the Disney “Descendants” movie.
We had three beautifully amazing days on horseback! We loved that we could vacation as a family and take our horses with us! We had all of the accommodations from home with good quality time spent together as a family and on horseback!
We highly recommend this horse lover’s vacation! While we enjoyed the beach access while staying at the cottage, Hunting Island allows horses on their beach December 1 – February 1 as well. We took our horses last year and recommend it to anyone that has ever wanted to ride their horses on the beach!
Thank you for allowing us to share our Halloween Adventure with you!
Almost Through
As our Write 31 Day Challenge comes to a close, we’re reminded, too, that the year is almost through!
Where, oh where, has the time gone?
In September, many agonized over what topic they could possibly talk about for 31 days straight. Others opted to take the easy route with prompt words, just as we did here. While the words made you think, you still had the hard task of getting those thoughts out of your head and into a post that made sense and sounded decent before hitting the “publish” button. A great many others were super excited to participate in this for the very first time. Our “first” was last year, and while it seems like a lot of pressure, it is worth it! You’ve accepted the challenge, and as you fulfill the task, you feel a sense of accomplishment when you’re written every single day for those 31 days! For me, I’ll admit that this year I had help! I am thankful and very much appreciative for the help Greg has provided in writing when I was out of town several weekends. He carried the blog, and my heart is grateful. I did not want the vision and desire to die off when I did not have the ability to type my heart out … so he did, instead!
For all of you that completed the challenge, congratulations!! YOU DID IT!! And for those that fell off early on or maybe even late in the game, you gave it a shot, and you can try again next year if you desire. The point in the whole thing is to get your creative juices flowing so that you’ll share your story, your heart, and your soul with the world. What you have to say MATTERS! Your story needs to be shared because some one out there needs to hear it. They need your light, your love, and the hope that you’re offering through your words.
SHARE IT!
Long after these 31 days of October have come and gone, continue to share your story. Continue to write. You are leaving a mark on those in your path and in the world around you. Yes, you CAN make a difference by what you write, and you ARE an encouragement to others struggling … your light helps to fill the darkness they may be feeling inside.
Share …
And share some more!
You have so much to offer!
