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Have you met Mother Earth?

She’s REALLY nice!!! I had a great time hanging out with her today.

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Faith, Tate, Matt and I drove way out into the countryside

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And up a mountain

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To Shenandoah National Park!

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We hiked to South River Falls, 83’ of gorgeous waterfalls

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It was quite sad and gross to see a deer (?) carcass caught in the falls

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Our hike to the falls was not very long – only about 2.25 miles. But Tate was ready for lunch!

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We brought a picnic of cheese, bread, and sandwich toppings. Plus we shared two apples. The cheese on the left was from my Philly Homegrown kit and was perfectly delicious atop my sandwich! Sharp and ever-so-slightly crunchy. We also had a Gorgonzola Dolce from Feast! that was also incredible, and a cheddar that Faith brought. Plus lots of Dakota bread!

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I made a sandwich and had carrots and cheese on the side

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Munch.

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Faith brought dessert – flourless almond butter oatmeal cookies and manna bread!!!! LOVE that manna bread and all its malty taste

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After lunch we packed in about 4 more miles, including a visit to the Appalachian Trail! Dad this is for you!

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Moose Drool representin’. Gotta mesh with Mother Earth’s personality.

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GREAT GREAT hike + day!

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Afterwards, we headed down more country roads to Sweely Estate Winery where Faith bought me a birthday Groupon for a free tasting and cheese plate!! Yes, my birthday was back in October, and we’ve celebrated it twice this weekend! The four of us had been waiting for a warm free day!

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We started with our lovely tasting.

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My favorites were the 2007 Sweely Estate Viognier – which had a floral nose and reminded me of watermelon and meyer lemon – and the 2007 Sweely Estate Cabernet Franc, a blend of 78% cab franc, 14% malbec, 5% petit verdot and 3% merlot. The wine maker at Sweely is from Bordeaux and he loves to blend, so I love his wines! I feel that blends make the best wines because the grapes can really compliment each other and create a great balance on the palate. I really enjoyed all of their wines very much!

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We ended up buying a bottle of the Cab Franc and enjoying it in the sunshine with our cheese plate

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The cheese plates were quite good as well – French goat cheese and brie, grapes and some delicious herby sausage.

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These crackers also rocked!

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We said goodbye to a fabulous afternoon and headed home.

Matt and I didn’t have much of an appetite after such a large snack, so we just made salads for dinner.

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KERF base salad dressed in olive oil and honey with walnuts, cherries and hummus

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We went on a walk after dinner to discuss business and digest and then I had a bite of this Philly Homegrown Urban Garden Mint chocolate.

Talk about a bite of a garden! This wasn’t your typical mint – it was like fresh herb mint. Very very delicious and unique!

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Evening plans include a bubble bath!! I cleaned the bathtub yesterday and I’m all stinky sweaty from our long hike and wall.

I have less than 100 pages left in The Thornbirds!! I am very excited to read a modern novel after I put this one to bed ; )

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. i miss doing this kinda stuff so much – hiking and eating and being in nature. when things calm down for me in a few weeks i am definitely taking some inspiration and going to a park! looks beautiful.

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  4. Looks like an amazing day! Roughly how far away was the park from Charlottesville? My DH and I are researching anniversary trips somewhere, and we are hoping to hike a small portion of the AT during the trip. So far, I have us either in central Pennsylvania or Va. 🙂

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  7. Time with friends, wine, hunks of brie and crackers and manna bread and salads, time outside, the gorgeous love that is in these pics (both for your friends and your husband)..Kath, such a wonderful post!

    Glad you had an amazing day! I love your collage pics, too. It takes me awhile to create them in LR. I need to get faster like you are, obvi!

    Have a wonderful week and enjoy your bubble bath!

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  11. I have met mother earth…she’s pretty rockin’. I am going to the same park to go camping and hiking in a couple weeks with my dude! It looks beautiful, your pictures make me excited!!!

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  20. Looks amazing. The hike – and the cheese plate of course 🙂

    What’s the topping in the salad picture? It looks like Hummus! (but you said walnuts?)

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  22. Hey I was just wondering if you had Faith’s flourless almond butter oatmeal cookies recipe? Sounds delicious!

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  23. Your intro is funny. It reminds me of being at a Phish show. This major hippie was watching people continuously throw bottled water and beer cans into an overflowing trash can (and thus onto the ground) and the hippie started yelling “What did Mother do to you?!!??!”

    It was awesome haha

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  24. I thought that spot looked familiar! Four friends and I recently did a four-day backcountry camping trip starting at the South River Picnic Area! It was an amazing experience. Our last day took us 6 miles along the Appalachian Trail, and inspired my boyfriend to begin planning his thru-hike (that’s the WHOLE thing).
    I have to say, our hiking fare was not nearly as lovely as yours.

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  30. The crackers look just like Trader Joe’s Pita Bite Crackers. I bought some of the whole wheat ones today. Delish and perfect with hummus!

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  36. The countryside near you is absolutely beautiful! I visited Charlottesville this weekend, and on Saturday we made a drive to Lynchburg. I loved the scenery along the way. Charlottesville was fun!

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  38. what a great day 🙂 i’m jealous, its already blazing hot down here in Texas (well, only 90 degrees) so hiking around just doesnt sound appealing even though we do have nice trails in the hill country.

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  40. I would have a hard time hanging out with you. It seems that you unfold your life for the camera which I find to be very narcissistic. How can you enjoy a meal with having to “set” up every shot? Just saying…..

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    • I’ve found that I actually enjoy food even a little more than usual when I eat with Kath because we always take the time to look at and appreciate what we’re eating before digging in.

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      • Buster: “unfolding her life” (as you put it) is much more informative, entertaining, and inspirational than narcissistic to thousands, yes thousands!!, of blog readers. If you find Kath’s blog uncomfortable to read; please stop. And once you stop reading, we won’t have to bear your dreadful comments.

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  42. Can’t decide what I want more… the almond cookies or your vibrant salad at the end of the post! Just as well I don’t have to decide in reality 😛

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  43. That looks like such a beautiful hike! My husband has done parts of the Appalachian Trail. He really wants me to hike it with him. We’ll see! 🙂

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  56. Gorgeous hiking! I love hiking, which is my favorite exercise of all. Somehow I always felt that hiking lunch was boring and not tasty as one had to carry, but I learned from this your archive that there are deliciously healthy hiking to-go lunch! There are more than soggy tuna sandwich, lol. Next hiking I will definitely pack a block of cheese and a loaf of bread. Thanks!

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  67. So jealous!!!! Shenandoah is my favorite 🙂 I recommend Old Rag (full day and super challenging with AWESOME views) or White Oak Canyon trail (pretty water)!

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  68. Kath ~ So glad you got to have two great birthday celebrations! Definitely worth waiting for. And, after all that wonderful outdoor nature experience, good to know you weren’t surrounded by indoor toxic chemicals when you came home, including in the bathtub.

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  72. Ooooh! A new (to me) winery! Have you been out to Delfosse Winery & Vineyard in Faber? My hubby & I had our wedding reception there. They’ve got some hiking trails on the property too. Claude (owner & wine maker) is also from France and he makes a mean Viognier and Cab Franc too! Check it out!

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