Vacation 2019 {Part 1}

| Allison

Hello, dears!

Last week, my family and I went on vacation to North Carolina. We had a lovely time, both staying at our vacation house, and visiting my friend Aria and her family (but more on that next time šŸ˜‰ ). Today I’m going to be posting about the first couple of days, including some photography from the beautiful space where we stayed and a bunch of pretty pictures I got when we went boating on the lake behind the house. Enjoy!

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Let’s start with a picture of our welcoming committee. This cute black bear ambled across the road as we drove up to our vacation house. Megan wanted to hug him. XD

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The vacation house was more like a cabin, with VERY cabin-y decorations, like pine needles imprinted into the plaster-y wall instead of wallpaper. O.o Not my style of interior decor, but it was fun for different. The outside was more to my taste, with a couple of pretty paths leading down to a lake.

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Ferns grew everywhere in this woods! I couldn’t resist photographing them with the sunlight shining through. ā¤ It was nice to see so much lush greenery and soak up the cooler air since it’s awfully hot and dry here for us.

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Ferns are one of my favorite woodland plants: I love their delicacy and form.

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I also found PURPLE!

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And mushrooms! All my favorite things here. šŸ˜› I like the way that one little leaf is kind of “petting” the mushroom’s head in the photo, hee hee.

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My favorite path included this rustic bench beside a perfectly mossy stump. It looked really photogenic in real life, but was actually kind of hard to photograph…

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I love outdoor staircases like this! Isn’t it neat-looking?

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The house came with two canoes and several kayaks and smaller boats, which was perfect for a family of seven.

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After supper, we made a bonfire and had s’mores. It took FOREVER to get started since the wood was damp, but with the help of my mom, sisters, and perseverance, we got it going. šŸ˜‰ Do you like building fires? I do, partly because I have so many fond memories of fire-building in past road trips when we stayed at campgrounds and had one most evenings.

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Heh, it was mostly dark by that time so this picture is terrible quality, but LOOK AT MEGAN. It looks like she’s holding some sort of glowing stick in her foot. XD XD

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Before we went to bed, some of my siblings played this HILARIOUS game called “Watch Ya’ Mouth.” You put in a plastic retainer-type thing and then try to say the words on the cards so people can understand you. It’s harder than it sounds, and way funnier. Not to mention the person talking just looked… well, like this. :’D

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We were nearly in hysterics sometimes, especially my parents. :’D Dad kept collapsing with laughter.

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Heh heh. Anyway. I spent part of the next morning photographing various wildlife from the porch, like a doe and her fawn that showed up behind the house.

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Fawns are some of the cutest baby animals, don’t you think? And my, can they run!

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I also sat on the porch for… I don’t even know, probably at least half an hour, trying to get a picture of a hummingbird that came to this feeder every ten minutes or so and left almost immediately when it saw me. But I did get ONE decent photo.

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After lunch, we all decided to go down to the lake and explore with kayaks and canoes. My siblings and I got in before my parents were ready to, so Dad took pictures from the shore meantime. šŸ˜‰ I really like how this picture looks!

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I think we used two canoes, two kayaks, and a paddleboard or some small boatish thing. XD

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Carmen sometimes swam alongside and sometimes rode or paddled her own boat. I’m quite grateful she didn’t tip the boat getting in and out while I had my camera around my neck. O.o My poor camera has been in many dangerous situations, but so far it has survived…

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The lake was rather muddy and scuzzy behind our house, but quite pretty once we turned the bend.

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Boating is great because you can be surrounded by water and have the feeling of being IN it without actually doing so. Still, you always get wet somehow, whether by putting your hands or feet over the side, or just getting dripped on by the oars. XD

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Hee hee, I like this one! The sunglasses add a nice touch, don’t you think? šŸ˜‰

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I quite liked the way the bright kayaks and paddles looked with the water!

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You could see this beautiful spot from the dock behind our house. The lake was practically coated with vacation houses like ours all around the shore, many of them with their own dock leading down to the water.

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GUYS. Can you imagine walking down these stairs… and then UP? It might not look quite as steep in the picture, but I’m telling you – the hill was more like a cliff, and the stairs were more like a ladder with a few horizontal breaks. XD

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Ahem, back to the river.Ā  I love the composition of this photo, with the bare pine on one side and the kayak on the other. Logan looks tiny!

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Unfortunately for me, we went boating shortly after noon, which meant the lighting was NOT ideal. Especially out in the middle of the lake when it was full sun. -_- Oh well – more importantly, it was good weather for boating!

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Ooh, now we’re getting to some fun, more artistically edited photos. I think this one may be my favorite of the entire post! I usually go for more of a bright, light style, but I love the dramatic lighting here. I did enhance it, but the actual photo was dark already since the water looked almost black here in real life.

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It looks like Carmen is swimming in the Amazon river, or at least in a jungle river of some kind. XD

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I’m so used to seeing Carmen with glasses that she looks quite different when she takes them off for swimming. I’m doubly glad she didn’t tip my canoe because she put her glasses in a cooler in the middle. O.o

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Hmm… is this aesthetic? Or just gloomy? šŸ˜›

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We shall end with a nice black and white of Megan rowing us back home while I took pictures. XD Don’t worry, I didn’t photograph long until I helped her. šŸ˜‰

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Ahh, fun times! šŸ™‚ It was nice to get away from normal life and have a chance to do even more activities as a family, especially in such a beautiful spot. Exploring nature is our kind of vacation. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures, and stay tuned for more!

Which picture was your favorite? Do you like boating? Does the huge staircase look fun or exhausting? Have you ever played the “Watch Ya’ Mouth” game?

Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. Photos taken with my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm + 50mm lens. Edited with picmonkey.com.

42 thoughts on “Vacation 2019 {Part 1}”

  1. AHH FUN. It’s so weird to think of you guys vacationing HERE! And oh my those stairs. O.o HAHA MEGAN WANTED TO HUG THE BEAR. And ooh, I love that mushroom picture AND the hummingbird one!

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  2. That looks like the PERFECT spot for a vacation! All the trees and plants and paths. ā¤ Oh my. Yep, I've played Wash Ya Mouth, except it was called Speak Out, and while it was hilarious, I'm never doing it again. XD It makes you drool everywhere and it's just plain weird…
    Canoeing tho, that's fun! And the staircase. O.O It's looks incredibly fun, but going up would be a chore. I'd be likely to go too fast while going down and trip head over heels–yeah, you get the picture. XD Can't wait for the next part!

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  6. Aww! That is a cute bear! Oh my!! Hugging a bear would probably not end well… XD Ahh!! The cabin looks so magical! That game looks hilarious! XD Aww! That fawn is so cute! ā¤ You have one brave camera! šŸ˜› I would be too worried I would drop it! XD THOSE STAIRS ARE SO BIG. It would take me an entire lifetime to make it up those! šŸ˜› I love all of these pictures so much! ā¤ Great post! šŸ˜€

    -Laura ā¤ šŸ™‚

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  7. *blink*
    *blink*
    That staircase is insane! Oh my! XD
    It looks like you had a fun trip! I can’t wait for part two! Lovely photos. ā¤

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  9. First of all, your family sounds like so much fun! Aka very similar to my family. XD What a cool vacation house! We went camping in June in our RV and had a lot of fun… until when we got home and discovered that three of my siblings had ticks. YIKES. It was the first time any of our family had had ticks, or seen any on a human (one of our dogs has gotten one before). Needless to say mass panic ensued and we all checked but the rest of us didn’t have any, thank God! *sigh of relief*

    THAT BEAR IS ADORABLE. I would totally want to hug him. <33 Ahhh that staircase is so cool! I love those kind of staircases that look as if they naturally grew there. There's a Hobbit Trail (yes, it's really called that!) on the Oregon coast that we went on the year before last and it had lots of stairs like that, which was very aesthetic and gorgeous. šŸ™‚

    Oh my goodness Watch Ya' Mouth!! Our family loves that game. XD I was the one pushing to get it, of course, and yes, it has turned out to be every bit as fun as I thought it would be. šŸ˜›

    Anyway, fun post! I can't wait for part two. Sorry for the kind of long comment, heheheh…

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    1. Aww, you’re so sweet. XD They are pretty great, if I do say so myself. šŸ˜‰ I’ll bet our families WOULD be pretty similar and get along well together! OH DEAR. That’s not fun. We find ticks semi-regularly, and Maggie seems to be a tick magnet. -_- But thankfully nothing bad has come of it so far! Praise God!

      HEH HEH, isn’t he though??

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  10. Oh this looks so peaceful and magical! I’m glad you had fun! I love ALL the pictures, but yes I would totally DIE going up those stairs. XD XD Especially in the summer heat.
    I love kayaking! I didn’t get to do any this summer, unfortunately. šŸ˜¦ But hopefully this fall or next year.
    You guys should come to Alaska! You’d love it! I keep daydreaming about all the things I’d show you like the mountains and farmland in my town and good hiking trails and stuff. Is that weird? XD
    Btw I got your letter a while ago but I haven’t had time to work on replying yet. šŸ˜› But I will soon!

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    1. Yesss, it was lovely! I KNOW, right??
      Oh shucks. Aww, REALLY? That’s so sweet! That’s not weird at all! I do that all the time with my pen pals and other people. XD We still want to visit Alaska sometime because it’s one of the few states we haven’t been to, but… you know, it’s awfully far away. *sigh*
      Yay! But no worries! šŸ˜‰

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  11. Looks like y’all had such a good time, I can’t wait to see the rest of your photos! AND Y’ALL SAW ARIA AGAIN HOW FUNNN šŸ˜„ i love some of the black and white pics, and the edited one of Megan in the boat is so cool!

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  12. O.o The stairs temporarily baffled me. It would be awful to climb them!
    It looks like y’all had a fantastic time! Isn’t kayaking/canoeing such fun?

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  13. Those were some awesome pictures! Also I love paddling around in canoes! Soooo fun. And I have always wondered about this, but, when you are gone from your farm who tends to the animals and gardens? I have a lot of friends with farms, but no one ever tells me what they do when they are gone. You don’t have to tell me the exact answer, because… well that is kinda creepy. But if you could just be like “family” etc. Anyway have a great day! Good job!!
    -your friend Crazy Chicken Mama from https://chickensgardens.home.blog/

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    1. Thanks so much! Isn’t it fun?? Oh, good question! When we lived on our old farm, our family (my grandparents and/or cousins) took care of the animals since they lived just down the road. But here, most of our friends live kinda far away, toward church. One of them actually volunteered to take care of the animals, though, because they wanted to see what it would be like. So yeah! I hope that answers your question. šŸ˜‰

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  16. Those steepy stairs are really so beautiful to just photograph and look at šŸ™ˆšŸ’– that was also my fav picture šŸ™ˆšŸ’–

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  17. That looks like so much fun! Dang, Aria has a really nice vacation spot there doesn’t she? My friend has a lot of land and a pond, and she says it always feels like she’s on vacation. I bet Aria feels the same way. I would be soooo nervous taking my camera canoeing! I would probably freak out if I saw a bear…
    Anyway, these pictures are awesome(as always)

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    1. It WAS! Actually the vacation house wasn’t at Aria’s – I just went to visit her afterward because we were only about an hour away. šŸ™‚ Ha ha, YESSS!
      Also thank you so much! ā¤

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