The husband is off for fall break today, so we're heading up the road to see the fall color in the mountains. "Light hiking," he says, is part of the plan. The high down here in the Piedmont today is 71F, but in the high country it'll be in the 50s, so I shall plan to layer and to take nicer boots to wear in the evening with a pair of leggings. This might be a good day to break out my Birkenstock Melrose boots, bought back in the summer, for the very first time.
In other news, I've now lined up all three endorsements for my book of poems. Good to have that done, though I'll need to put notes in my calendar to remind people long about mid-November. Now I have to think about people for fiction, which is harder --- partly because I know fewer fiction writers, and partly because many of the fiction writers I do know are also Wiseblood authors, and the publisher doesn't like for us to blurb each other. A large part of the reason I stay on certain social-media accounts is to remind me who I know and could possibly ask for things like this . . .
Anyway. About to get dressed and ready to head for the hills.
Wearing:
Base outfit with boots for evening: Teal Willow, Day 8, + nordic all-merino leggings + Birkenstock Melrose boots. All thrifted except the dress. Also wearing a thrifted merino bra in case I get sweaty walking, even in the chilly-ish weather.
Trail outfit:
Redyed spruce-green Sierra as a layer over the outfit shown above, with belt pack and Birkenstock Jackson hiking boots. Darn Tough Socks not shown. Depending on how chilly it is, I might just keep this outfit on throughout, changing only my boots.
I'll probably toss in a pullover as well as a jacket. Film at eleven.
Time to let the dog out, pack my daypack, and load the car for the day.
LATER:
It was a nice day out.
The upper Linville Falls were quite pretty, even with roughly two thousand people around. And dogs. Many other dogs. In fact, on the trail going back, Dora had had enough and pulled me over, barking at another dog.
RIP my merino leggings. I have spared you my bloody knee --- this was after we'd stopped at a general store and gotten medical supplies. I will wash these and sew them up, but geez. Stupid dog.
We then drove up the Parkway, which was beautiful.
On my suggestion, we stopped at my favorite picnic area near Blowing Rock, which in the late afternoon had largely emptied out. THERE we had a very nice little walk with Dora: no other dogs, very few people, lots of space.
Then we went to Blowing Rock and had dinner, beer, and ice cream, after which we rolled our rotund selves back home again.
Tomorrow: coffee with a friend in the morning, then a jaunt to northern Virginia for the weekend. Going to bed soon, to be up and at 'em for all that.