Melissa, Oh!

Category: Travel

  • Why I dropped my pants for the world to see

    Okay, so I promised you the other day I’d tell you about dropping my pants. So I’ll start this blog post by telling you about that part. Scott, Jeff and I were hiking in the Great Basalm Mountains. During one break we were all standing on the trail and we heard a weird noise. Coming…

  • Why I dropped my pants for the world to see

    Okay, so I promised you the other day I’d tell you about dropping my pants. So I’ll start this blog post by telling you about that part. Scott, Jeff and I were hiking in the Great Basalm Mountains. During one break we were all standing on the trail and we heard a weird noise. Coming…

  • Life is a gift. Use it or lose it …

    So, I’m a little late on the the whole “look back/look ahead” post that comes at the end of the year, but I was too busy celebrating the holidays to take the time to sit down and think about it! So, better late than never, right? Last year I wrote about some thoughts on 2008,…

  • Writing designing running hiking traveling – let’s just all move to New York City!

    Time to update my bucket list. I wrote this a little more than a year ago. Here’s what the list was then, and how it’s going (items in green are in-progress or done!): 1. Write a novel. How it’s going: I have written the first draft of a novel. And I am working on the…

  • Writing designing running hiking traveling – let’s just all move to New York City!

    Time to update my bucket list. I wrote this a little more than a year ago. Here’s what the list was then, and how it’s going (items in green are in-progress or done!): 1. Write a novel. How it’s going: I have written the first draft of a novel. And I am working on the…

  • On bad public bathrooms

    My brother decided to start an enlightening discussion on his blog recently about memorable places to, uhm, do your business. You can read all about that here if you want. As you will see in the comments, it got me thinking not about what goes on so much in the bathrooms but about the bathrooms…

  • Eat, sleep and be pampered.

    Ah, The Grove Park. Ahh, Asheville. I could never tire of talking about this place. Today I’ll talk a little about the food. I don’t usually review food on this blog, but I feel like it contributed to the overall experience of the resort and it definitely contributed to the cost, so it’s worth mentioning.…

  • It’s apples and oranges for these spa rooms

    So after climbing mountains and running races, it was time for a break. And word that our favorite resort, the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C., was offering a $99/night room special for Sunday and Monday was reason enough to take a break and hit the spa. I’ll start by saying I bought Jeff a gift…

  • Axe murderes and ice storms and bears, oh my!

    Previously I brought you Day 1 and Day 2 of our hiking trip to Mount Mitchell. Today I bring you Day 3, sadly, the final day this round. Day 3, Sunday: Do we have to go back to reality? After leaving the warm campfire Saturday night, I finally fall asleep, warm in my sleeping bag,…

  • Red light doesn’t always mean video camera

    I wrote about Day One of hiking Mount Mitchell yesterday. Today, I bring you: Day 2, Saturday: We actually hike. I wake up sometime in the middle of the night, finally warm in my sleeping bag with my puppy. And, drat: I have to pee. Peeing in the woods always sucks for girls, but especially…

  • What happens in the middle of the woods at 1 a.m.?

    Kevin and I hiked the Black Mountain Trail at Mount Mitchell last year. His goal was to hike the trail during winter. However, we ended up going the first day of spring – a fact that Jeff has never let us forget (although he and Ronnie bailed at the last minute last year; so what if Jeff…

  • No sex. No chasing the dog. No future talk.

    So today is the big day: Today is the day I bundle up in the warmest, lightest-weight clothes I have and go sleep in the woods. In the winter. Like a crazy person or a hobo although I am neither (the crazy person part is arguable.) My fellow crazy persons in crime turned out to…

  • No sex. No chasing the dog. No future talk.

    So today is the big day: Today is the day I bundle up in the warmest, lightest-weight clothes I have and go sleep in the woods. In the winter. Like a crazy person or a hobo although I am neither (the crazy person part is arguable.) My fellow crazy persons in crime turned out to…

  • Cold hands, cold hiking, and I miss my mom

    Apologies if this doesn’t make much sense. I’m on deadline and I’m sleep deprived. I asked Chris what I should blog about and he said “cold hands make it hard to type.” Which is true – I make a lot more typos when I’m cold. So apologies to those of you who Instant Message with me, because…

  • Climb Every Mountain

    No, this blog post isn’t as awesome as this one that mentions the song by that same name, but here goes …  I am going to Mount Mitchell in a week, and I cannot wait! A trip to REI yesterday resulted in a lot of fun. $360 later, I have a new pair of hiking pants,…

  • Climb Every Mountain

    No, this blog post isn’t as awesome as this one that mentions the song by that same name, but here goes …  I am going to Mount Mitchell in a week, and I cannot wait! A trip to REI yesterday resulted in a lot of fun. $360 later, I have a new pair of hiking pants,…

  • Climbing a mountain in the wintertime

    I’ve done this before. Well, not technically. Kevin and I climbed Mount Mitchell a year ago, his goal was to do it in wintertime. However, we ended up there on the first day of spring, a fact Jeff has not let us forget all year. So, this year we’re doing it officially in wintertime. And…

  • Searching for footing

    I am riding in the car on the way home from Greensboro, N.C., where I have been tagging along with Jeff for two days while he went on a work trip and I went with him to relax and play in the hotel. Instead of relaxing and playing, I was hit hard with some news…

  • Searching for footing

    I am riding in the car on the way home from Greensboro, N.C., where I have been tagging along with Jeff for two days while he went on a work trip and I went with him to relax and play in the hotel. Instead of relaxing and playing, I was hit hard with some news…

  • Life, going down the right tube

    This is by no means meant to be a synopsis of my year – in fact, I’m leaving out some of the biggest stuff on purpose. Just a few random tidbits about time and how we choose to pass it. Thoughts on 2008: – In February I decided to chop my hair off and go…

  • Leaving Athens was not easy

    After spending a week with one of my best friends and getting to decorate, write and organize (3 of my favorite things!), and having great moments with him and our other friends that will last a lifetime … of course leaving was not easy. Tears and hugs abound as I won’t see Chris for a…

  • My own bucket list

    My friend Beth wrote recently about creating a bucket list. She has inspired me to think about my own. What is it that I want to accomplish in my lifetime? 1. Write a novel. 2. Live in New York City. 3. Travel to all of the continents (this is Jeff’s idea actually, but I am on…

  • A birthday princess for a day

    On my 30th birthday Susan surprised me with a headband from the kids’ section of Party City with hearts coming off of it that say “Birthday Princess.” To her surprise, it was my favorite present of the weekend. She gave it to me at 3 a.m. as we hung out at our hotel in Asheville,…

  • Turning 30 not so bad Vegas-style

    It wasn’t my birthday, of course. I’ve been 30 for an entire 6 months now (ick.) This time, it was Susan’s turn to exit her 20s, and we did it Vegas-style. After taking a red-eye home and sleeping all day, I’m still adjusting back to East Coast time. I am tired, dehydrated, and out-of-whack. But…