Neusiok Trail Adventure

With Spring in the air, the kids and I were eager to get out of the house. We started by walking around our neighborhood. That soon got old. So we started walking out at Flanner's Beach. After we walked the Beady Trail several times, we felt we were up for a bigger challenge. So I hit the net and found *drum roll please* The Neusiok Trail!

On our last run of the Beady Trail, we saw a lot of smoke down the river. But I didn't really think anything of it, since the Marine Corp has their training fields over in the direction that the smoke was coming from. The next morning while reading the paper, I found that all that smoke was from a forest fire! The paper stated that the fire was in the Pine Cliff Recreation area. We called the Forest Rangers Office to find out if the trail was closed or not. They said not. Thursday, N1 and N2 and I drove out to Pine Cliff to check it out, we could see no fire damage at all on the way there, nor while there. We happened to find a Forest Ranger there working on who knows what. I told him our plans, and asked him if we'd be in the area of the fire, would it be okay for us to go, or should we hold off. He said we'd be fine, and no where near the fire. Cool!

This morning we set off on our hike and found out that Mr. Forest Ranger had no clue what he was talking about.

***Warning*** Pictures were taken with a not so fancy camera, by a person who did not get much sleep the night before . :)

Here we are leaving the parking lot, and starting down the trail.

The shelter was our destination.

Something in the above picture did not look right to me.

I zoomed in, and could see I was right. Since when do fan palm trees belong in the forest?
Very weird.

The first creek we were to cross.

The only mushroom we saw on this trail.

An example of the boardwalks used to cross the bogs and swamps.

An example of the open airy woods. The brush got a LOT denser.

A Tulip Popular bloom had fallen out of it's tree.

Dunno what these are, but they were pretty.

Another swamp to cross.

This trail takes you through the woods, and on the beach for the first 2 miles or so.

Wild Azaleas

The Neuse River as seen from the trail.

More creepiness on the beach.

Yet another swamp/bog.

No idea what caused this, but it creeped us all out. Perhaps a woodpecker?

Close up of the fan palm. Anyone know if these are native to NC? I did not think so!

Here is where things started getting really creepy, as you can see.

We walked and walked and walked and took in the destruction done to the forest.

While it may be beneficial, it just looked so sad.

After walking what seemed like forever, we realized that the shelter we were seeking may have been burnt down. We couldn't find it anywhere! So we gave up and turned around.

We knew we were in a better place once we started seeing Monkeys swinging from the vines.

For the way back, we walked on the beach for the most part.

Mainly to keep us from tripping on these, Bald Cyprus Knees. They were all along the trail, sometimes hidden in the leaves. Ugh.

Don't know what this was, but we spotted it from a distance. So pretty!

Same with these. So bright and pretty amongst all that green.

The last part of our trail, was the best. Being able to walk with our sore and tired feet in the nice cool water. Twas great!

We all agree that we will try and find the shelter again another day. I don't know if the blue blaze got burnt off or what. But we sure did not find it! :)

Christmas at the Whitleys....

Okay, my dear "Scum" (that is my nickname for her) has asked to see what Christmas at our house looks like. So here it is...

Entry - this corner is where most of the snowmen I collect are, but there are still tons all over the place. I did not get pics of all of them. Heck, all of them are not even up!

This same corner, but at night. This shot is taken from across the living room.

This is the cabinet that you see the side of by the front door. I change out the decor on the shevles with every season.

This is the top of the table that you see by the door.

This is the bottom. This is where Wilson did most of his teething. :) The imposter is Kayli's Froggie dressed as a reindeer. Ain't he cute?

Now lets go to the Master Bedroom for a few pictures.

You'll see these two guys hanging on the wall behind the Christmas tree. Actually you only see one in the picture. But there is two:) They are both hanging from a shelf.

This guy is hanging from our TV armoire. Yes, that is my Mister Tater head in the background. Ain't he cute!

This our simple fireplace. The fire place runs on gel fuel, and I can move it where I want. To put the tree up in our room, I had to put it here by our bed instead of Cecil's night stand. I had to keep it simple because Cecil will knock crap off of it, as he is walking by. :)

A close up of the pink Angel.


We joke that this is him and me. :)


Our fake Christmas tree. Very romantic at night.


Flowers, bows, hearts, these are some of my fav things, so they are on the this tree.


This guy... I have no idea why he is on our tree, but here he is.

Sparkly ornaments that make me think of certain people during this time of year. :)

Back out to the living room now...

The view from the front door with the lights on.

And with the lights off...

These are most of our cute stuffed guys arranged in my dollies wheelbarrow.

Another tree, bears, and a bulldog.

The whirlygig dumahickey thing. I forget what it is called.

The advent wreath and holder. We could not find candles for it, nor the whirlygig dumahickey thing this year. Sadly the store we used to buy them, went out of business this year.

Top of the TV stand.

Angel from the bottom of the tv stand.

close up of the top - left side

middle

right side

Since I have so much other stuff on the mantel, there is no room for stockings. So this year I hung them here, since we did not decorate the sun room this year. So I do not sound retarded, the fireplace is a pass thru one, and is viewable in two rooms. Also, we could not find the 5th stocking. It is probably packed up in the wrong box somewhere.

This is Santa's Marching Band - the first decoration that Cecil and I bought together. We've been married 21 years this year. So this is probably 18- 19 years old, and it still works! Woohoo!

The back wall of the living room that you can't really see in the other pics.
This is one set of shelves on this wall.

These two guys are cute. The reindeer tries to pull Santa out.
It just sits in a chair that is on this wall.

The Christmas Angels - Some from my childhood, and some we've bought.

Our nativity - love the little kids :)

Here, the german snowmen guys were made at the same place the angels were. So they all sit up here together. The four Santas we had for forever too. To the kids, it would not be Christmas without these guys. Just as it wouldn't be for me, without the Angels.

The other set of shelves.

These two pictures above and below, sit on the fish tank. :)

A Penquin hanging from another shelf.

My beloved fireplace.

A close up - so pretty...

This sits at the bottom on the right

And the left..

The nuker all decked out for Christmas

Christmas window sill in the nook

Window over the sink


Nan and I got sick of the window treatments that were here, so we did this instead. All supplies came from the dollar store.


The rest of the window sill

Would not be Christmas without Cookie!!

One of the shelves in the kitchen

The kids tree and below is some of their ornaments

And finally, the main/pink tree! And some of the ornaments on it. In the ornament pictures, some of them may look purple, but that is just my crappy photo skills. They really are some shade of pink! :)

To get hung on this tree, you have to be pink, white/off white/silver or be very special.



This is the only red/white ornament on the tree. Without getting all mushy and making myself cry, I will just say that it represents my Mommy, since she made it for us.

Again, without getting mushy, this represents my Uncle Herbert. It looks almost exactly like the teddy bear he game me when I was born.


There are a lot of birds of various types on our tree, they represent my Oma and Opa because of various memories I have.

And the green frog in the picture below? He is allowed because that was Kayli's ornament one year when she was little. The frog has a pink tongue, and that was her reason for thinking he should go on the pink tree. Who am I to argue? :)

These four heads... I guess I am now collecting these, and I have no idea how this got started. When I first saw them I thought they were stupid looking. Now I have four, so I guess I like them. lol