ORCHIDS---ORCHIDS---ORCHIDS

As most of you know,  George and I have season's tickets to the BILTMORE HOUSE and GARDENS in Asheville, NC.  We love to go during every season mainly to see what is blooming.  During the winter,  we make our way into the conservatory.  AND--of course, the first place we wander is into the ORCHID ROOM.

It's wonderful to see blooms this time of year --and the orchids are truly magnificent.  Hope you enjoy them today also.  Do you have a favorite?  Mine I think is the top one (above)... BUT--I love them all.

Hope  you enjoyed seeing these gorgeous Orchids today... Did you pick a favorite?  I know that it would be hard.   I really like the 5th from the bottom... Unique!!!

Three other thoughts:
1. Please consider adding an EMAIL option gadget to your sidebar.  It's simple to do--and just gives those of us who use it an easier way to get to your posts.  Thanks!
2. As you know by now,  the Google Reader is going away.. I am now using FEEDLY (on Firefox) --and it is working well.  FREE---and easy to set up.
3. Don't forget to follow my new PHOTO BLOG if you are not doing so.  I post my favorite photos on Wednesday --and you won't want to miss them.  Click HERE.  Thanks.

Questions about any of these,  email me (betsyadams@mac.com).

Hugs,

Emoticons

George's Birthday - March 9, 2013

On March 8-10, 2013,  George and I spent his Birthday Weekend near Fort Payne, Alabama.  On Friday,  we visited the Little River Canyon area.  Click HERE for more information on the area.  Then, on Saturday and Sunday,  we visited DeSoto State Park.  Click HERE for information about this wonderful state park.

Our goal (other than to just have fun) was to see lots of waterfalls (we saw 12 total during the entire weekend) and do some good hiking.  We hiked about 2.8 miles on Friday,  5 miles on Saturday, and 3.5 miles on Sunday.

Saturday was George's 71st birthday---so today's blog is all about Saturday.  I'll blog at other times about our Friday and Sunday experiences..  All in all,  we had a fabulous weekend.

The picture above was taken on our hike to find Lost and Laurel Falls.  There were so many interesting rock formations along our trail. Be sure to click on the photos (especially the collages) to see them larger.

Here is a collage of George at 5 of the waterfalls we saw that Saturday.  All of the waterfalls were pretty,  but DeSoto was definitely the largest one.  Sometimes I enjoy the smaller ones better because of the rustic area around them.  But DeSoto is a marvelous waterfall.

When we got to DeSoto Falls (note photo above),  we could only see it from the SIDE---so we couldn't get a good shot of the entire falls.   Therefore---we hiked/bushwhacked around the ridge of the mountain to see if we could get a good photo of this waterfall... AND-we DID!!!! Hope you like it.  (Click HERE for more information about DeSoto Falls.)

This collage shows my photographer at work on his birthday.   These were taken on the trail to Lost and Laurel Falls.

I do anything I can to get my man on his KNEES.  Maybe he was trying to get away from me by crawling under that big rock!!!!!!!   NAH---doubt it.  No telling what is sleeping under there!!!! Yipes!

I love this collage of George bushwhacking through the brambles --just to get a better photo of the waterfall.   I was sitting on a rock watching him---so why not take some pictures of my MAN working hard!  ha ha

George is following the path around some very big rocks..  This was a gorgeous area --and the trail was in good shape, although not marked as well as it should have been.

Here is a picture of MY HERO..  He was holding that big rock up so that his "Bride" could walk under it!!!!!!  Wonder where the red carpet was????? ha ha....  What a GUY...  (See how much fun we have!!!!!)

That evening,  we had a delicious Catfish Dinner at the restaurant at DeSoto State Park and then went back to our motel (Holiday Inn Express in Fort Payne) to open his cards and enjoy some birthday cake.

The collage above shows you his delicious  German Chocolate Birthday Cake,  complete with 71 (7 + 1) candles that he had to blow out---after making a wish of course.  Then he opened his cards  (bottom left was from his bride,  and the ones on the right are a funny card from our friends, Judy and Charlie)..   After that we both had a piece of that German Chocolate cake..... (Even I had a small piece.  YUM)

Finally,  here is a photo of the two of us taken at Lost Falls. We had such a fabulous day together ---and highly recommend this area to anyone who enjoys being out in nature.

If you missed my Wednesday blog  (my new Photo Blog),  be sure and check it out.  Click HERE.   And be sure to sign up to follow that blog.  Thanks!

Have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Hugs,

Emoticons