And oh yeah, riding horses. This is Paris riding at my parents’ neighbors’ joint. Now owned by Hampton University.

An evening stroll at Buckroe Beach. I have fond memories of the amusement park that was still there when I was a kid.

Fireworks finale from Fort Monroe. My parents live on Mill Creek directly across the water from where the fireworks are launched. Always a good view.

Osprey nest over on the Fort Monroe side of Mill Creek. My lady loves the birds, especially raptors.

Boating on Mill Creek with the yacht my dad and uncle recently bought. We usually canoe but considering the heat I didn’t mind the motor.

Saturday morning before we left Mars and checked out the hot rods at a car show in Asheville. I’ll do another post with some pics.

Friday before we the trip Mars and his friends at Rock Academy put on a show. The one song I didn’t capture in its entirely, tragically, was Mars singing (what??!?) “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. I need to post this on Imheavyduty.com too.

Some family photos here.

I’ll do another post about the hot rods, probably.

We love the waterfalls in NC. The falls at Dupont Forest are some of our favorites, and they’re close to Asheville. These videos are from “High Falls” which is at the top of the park. As a special treat we had some extra family members with us yesterday, Jolly, Phil, Ellie and Dillon.

On the other side of the falls there is a sweet looking natural slide. There were some college-age kids zooming down it but I didn’t manage to catch them in motion. It looked like it was hard on the backside, but worth the pain. Well, maybe at that age.

Must be a slow news day when my backyard is the lead segment. I’m guessing this piece will be on WLOS.com later, but my Mom needs to see it now! So I caught it on the Flip.

According to a neighbor who has been on this street for over 20 years this problem started when Grove Park Inn redesigned the golf course. I’m probably the least informed person about this problem on the block, but they wanted to talk to me because I posted the video. I’ve even been contacted by a member of city council wanting to know more about it. I really didn’t have time for this today but reporter Sherrill Barber wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. I’m glad he talked me into it. He’s a good guy and I enjoyed talking to him about news and social media.

This whole thing is a real social media case study waiting to happen. Bryan and I are going to post a video talk about it tomorrow on the AVL Marketing blog.

Here comes the rain… after it has hit the ground that is. This seems to be getting worse every year. I’m not sure what’s causing it but the problem definitely starts at the Grove Park Inn golf course, as you can see in the next video, and it’s continuing to eat away our yards. Not shown is a huge tree that has had its base eroded and it is now only standing because it is leaning on a smaller tree. I’m sure a strong wind will take it out in the next year.

I’ve seen “da bears” on bike rides (who knew they could ride!) and Mary has even seen one in our neighborhood, Grove Park, when she was walking the dog one morning. Some tips from the City of Asheville.

Then Paris walked down a few houses to catch him again. Unfortunately, that’s when he decided to walk back to our group and shake hands with everybody. So Mars and I got the introduction and handshake, but no video. Paris gets a handshake in the video below, but only her hand is on camera. ;) Fun day.

In the video above our house is just beyond the trees on the golf course. This is a roundabout path to the Grove Park Inn.

The Obamas enjoy some fine dining at 12 Bones just down the street from my office downtown. I love how after he orders The President says “you’ll call our number or something?”

If I’d hung around the house a little later today I would have gotten to see the motorcade go down my street.

Around 6 PM tonight four patrol cars parked in front of my office building with their lights flashing. Our balcony overlooks Pritchard Park. I was SURE the boss was going to come check out the regular Friday night drum circle. I would have had a perfect view from the balcony, but alas, they eventually got back in their cars and drove off. Change of plans I guess.

My neighbor down the street, very nice home, has a large sign on their picket fence: “We weeded our garden for the Obamas. Welcome to Grove Park.” I’ll mow my grass tomorrow.

Who can recommend a quality tree service in Asheville? This is not a job for amatuers. We need some pros. This limb is about 45-50 feet off the ground, four storeys, from the basement floor to roof ridge. Thanks for any leads you may have.

Notice the spelling. This is the “idiot” version of the Iditarod. This happened just down the road from us. I’m so outta the loop!

At least we saw the holiday parade yesterday, which had its own moments of weirdness, albeit less intentional. I may post some videos later.

Another pass from the other side.

We took a trip to Highlands, NC today to visit some friends. On the way back we stopped at this great waterfall called “Dry Falls.” Dry, because you can walk behind the actual waterfall.

Chillaxin' with my crew. Getting wet at Dry Falls.

You can see the path winds behind the waterfall.

Taken from the back side of Dry Walls. Yes, the path goes right under it.

NC Waterfalls has a bunch of great info about Dry Falls.