Pine Grove Furnace

Took the beach house to the mountains for the weekend.  V&R came up and spent the day Saturday.  We stuck a roast in the slow cooker and went off hiking.

Love this pic.  V laughing, Butch explaining something, and R trying to figure out what Butch is talking about.

 
This is the Appalachian Trail museum.  They've converted one of the old buildings into a nice little display.  They also have services for those thru hikers that may need a little help.

 This is the sign that indicates the halfway point of the AT.  Custom is that when thru hikers get here they are treated to a "half" gallon of ice cream.

 Which sounded like a really good idea at that point, so while we didn't go for all that ice cream we did treat ourselves to some.

 

 The Iron Masters mansion is being restored and

looks so much better than it did when we were here last.  At that point I thought they were going to let it fall down.  But, thanks to stimulus monies, the museum and this house are being saved.  A side note....see the steep steps leading up to where Butch and R are standing?  The 3rd step from the bottom has 2 risers on it.  We saw 3 people trip up it while we were standing there....and one of them worked there! 

A wild ferocious animal that accosted me on the trail!

 

 This was at the mansion house.  I did go over and think about giving it a swing, but when I saw the shape it was in, there was no way my butt was going to be responsible for pulling down that whole tree.

Pretty autumn pictures that I know are cliche' but I still like them