Christmas Eve

I worked over Christmas but had 12 hours off for Christmas Eve! I went on a walk around the village to look at lights. It was so warm out, I was wearing shorts! Above is the Aberdeen rail car. 

Some homes around the village. 

The Carolinas hotel. 

And in the center of the village. 

The official tree. It was pretty huge. 

Beautiful ornaments. 

Wonderful night for a walk and it finally got me in this Christmas spirit!

Morrow Mountain

To get ready for a lot of backpacking in New Zealand, I made a couple trips to Morrow mountain last week. It is the highest point in the middle of North Carolina, but only 300 or so meters :)

Sunday was a gorgeous day with blue skies and perfect temperature. 

I did two trails, first the fall mountain trail. 

Decent views!

I enjoyed a beverage at the summit. 

Perfect sky. 

Next I headed to the three rivers trail, a shorter and flatter trail. 

Finished up by lake tillery. 

It had gotten warm! 

Monday I went back, as it's only an hour drive from Pinehurst. I tried one of the strenuous trails first. 

It had a good bit of elevation in a short distance. 

The the relatively flat quarry trail. 

The waterfall looks better in the live photo!   Both days were good walks. Next stop, New Zealand! 

Kiawah 4

Sunday in Kiawah we had an amazing breakfast by the grotzkes and then most people headed home. Mom and dad and I walked the opposite way down the beach to see the ocean course club house. 

Another gorgeous day. And gorgeous club house. 

Got some great Live Photos of the birds on the beach.  Unfortunately I haven't yet figured out how to translate Live Photos into the blog. 

They aren't bad still either! 

Such short days, sun starting to go down already at 4pm!

The first day with clouds but made for good photos. 

Crossing the river that got much bigger in just 20 minutes. 

Walking back home across the course. 

After a snack, mom and I returned for sunset about 30 minutes later. 

Traditional cartwheel shots. 

The clouds really compliment the sunsets here. Enjoy! 

We finished off the day with Christmas. Drinking out of moms new Stella glass with my new ugg boots in the background. Cheers!