Weekend in the Mountains: Day One!

So we got up to our house early afternoon on Saturday and didn't really have any real plans. That's the best thing about being there because there's no set schedule, no pressure of what needs to get done, and most importantly no one else around. It's literally just you smack dab in the middle of nature and as far away from the bustle of the city as you can be. If you don't believe me about how remote it is, our cabin only recently got an address in the past few years! And it's been around since the 1800s when it used to be a schoolhouse for the farm kids.

We're also friendly with all of our neighbors so we have free range of the hiking trails even if they're not on our property. So we can come and go wherever we please! I really couldn't be more thankful to have such a perfect and peaceful place. I haven't been up since last October so it was a much needed break.

This is the view from our front porch. All the leaves had mostly changed and were much more colorful than at home in Pittsburgh. Amanda said it's something to do with the colder weather and some kind of ethylene pathways in the leaves...a lot of biology garble that I didn't really listen to ;)

What she makes up for in her knowledge about biology, she lacks in wilderness survival skills. My dad and I repeatedly told her what she needed to do to get the fire going but little miss biology queen wanted to use her own method. Long story short, 45 minutes later she finally listened to us and did it our way, and did not earn her fire-starting badge. 

Even Layla could tell that Amanda's attempts were not going well and decided to try and help out! She always provides the best reinforcements :)

But she ended up getting distracted by all the sticks available for her to chew. 

Once the fire got going, we decided to make some s'mores! I mean what else is a fire up in the mountains supposed to be used for?

Amanda did buy the giant marshmallows and enough s'more materials to last a lifetime so even though it took forever to get a fire going, she redeemed herself in the end! 

When I say giant, I mean it! These babies were equivalent to 4 regular marshmallows a.k.a. four times the delicious fluffiness. 

Amanda also bought dark chocolate so needless to say these s'mores were out of this world! 

After getting my s'mores fix, I walked around the property before dinner and was just in awe of all of God's beauty! I'll post more about day 2 and the recipes later on!