The other day while I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw a post saying there was only 100 day left until graduation. I was screaming with excitement inside, and probably like most of you other seniors, I am now counting down the days (only 87 days!!!).
While I am so excited to get out of high school and start a new chapter in my life, realizing that we are now in the homestretch made me notice how fast graduation is coming up. Thinking about leaving home, my family, and this wonderful city of Asheville for college made me a little nostalgic for the days where I didn’t have to worry about Orientation, moving day, or being at the bottom of the food chain at a brand new school.
I remember spending my weekends and breaks with my friends, just hanging out around Asheville, and realize that I have been taking for granted this beautiful city that we live in. And while graduation is only 91 days away, we still have 91 days to really take the time to appreciate the great place we call home.
So for this post, I am going to be sharing with you some of the places I have been to in the area where I made some great memories. Most of them you have probably have been to or heard of, but maybe this will remind you of a time you went and will leave you wanting to go back. And for those of you who haven’t been, I hope you will take my advice and go explore Asheville.
The first place I am going to share with you is High Falls in Dupont State Park. My sister, a few friends, and I ditched the last day of school last year and made our way out to the falls. It was a great day outside to do a little hiking, and and an even better day to go swimming.
High Falls has a great swimming hole and if you climb up a little on the rock, you can slide down into the hole (technically, I don’t think we were allowed to do this, but we took the risk…). With some great warm weather coming soon, I definitely recommend High Falls as a spot to cool off.
Next place I am going to talk about most of you have, at the very least, heard of. Around early November, my good friend, Ana, and I made our way up the parkway to take my senior pics.
We weren’t expecting to go all the way up to Frying Pan, but we ended up just stumbling upon it and decided it would make a perfect spot to take pictures. I had never been before, so I was excited to see what all of the hype was about. And when we finally got up to the top — after battling the freezing cold and 2394 mph winds — I couldn’t even put into words how beautiful it looked.
Fall colors + sunset + miles and miles of mountains = A SPEECHLESS SYD.
Okay so this last place I am going to share with you is not one that I had ever heard of before until my mom started sending pics of it in a group message begging to go (my mom loves group messages).
So we finally made a trip one Saturday in December, right when the NC weather was just doing what it does best and giving us 70 degree temps, out to Blowing Rock, NC to enjoy some lunch and then made our way to Rough Ridge. It wasn’t too much of a hike to reach the summit, but once you did you could see for miles and miles. There is a boardwalk along the ridgeline, and massive boulders jutting out from the mountain side.
Rough Ridge has some of the most amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains that I have ever seen, and reminded me of what an amazing place we get to call home. I was feeling very blessed that day to be able to experience such great beauty with my family.
So those are just three places I have been to in the past year that really stuck with me, not just because of the views, but also because of the people I got to spend those moments with. I am really going to miss these opportunities when I am living 1000 miles away in the great, but very hot and very flat, state of Texas. But that just makes me want to treasure every moment I have left.
If you take away just one thing from this post, I hope that it’s you will make time to go explore or revisit some of the amazing places Asheville has to offer.
Who cares if people think that it’s cliché to go there now or that it’s not someplace really special? If it’s someplace that you want to experience for yourself and make some lasting memories in these few months we have left, then GO!!!
So here’s to getting outside away from the stress and chaos, strapping on those Chacos, hitting the trails, and just having fun. I’ll see ya’ll out there.
While I am so excited to get out of high school and start a new chapter in my life, realizing that we are now in the homestretch made me notice how fast graduation is coming up. Thinking about leaving home, my family, and this wonderful city of Asheville for college made me a little nostalgic for the days where I didn’t have to worry about Orientation, moving day, or being at the bottom of the food chain at a brand new school.
I remember spending my weekends and breaks with my friends, just hanging out around Asheville, and realize that I have been taking for granted this beautiful city that we live in. And while graduation is only 91 days away, we still have 91 days to really take the time to appreciate the great place we call home.
So for this post, I am going to be sharing with you some of the places I have been to in the area where I made some great memories. Most of them you have probably have been to or heard of, but maybe this will remind you of a time you went and will leave you wanting to go back. And for those of you who haven’t been, I hope you will take my advice and go explore Asheville.
The first place I am going to share with you is High Falls in Dupont State Park. My sister, a few friends, and I ditched the last day of school last year and made our way out to the falls. It was a great day outside to do a little hiking, and and an even better day to go swimming.
High Falls has a great swimming hole and if you climb up a little on the rock, you can slide down into the hole (technically, I don’t think we were allowed to do this, but we took the risk…). With some great warm weather coming soon, I definitely recommend High Falls as a spot to cool off.
Next place I am going to talk about most of you have, at the very least, heard of. Around early November, my good friend, Ana, and I made our way up the parkway to take my senior pics.
We weren’t expecting to go all the way up to Frying Pan, but we ended up just stumbling upon it and decided it would make a perfect spot to take pictures. I had never been before, so I was excited to see what all of the hype was about. And when we finally got up to the top — after battling the freezing cold and 2394 mph winds — I couldn’t even put into words how beautiful it looked.
Fall colors + sunset + miles and miles of mountains = A SPEECHLESS SYD.
Okay so this last place I am going to share with you is not one that I had ever heard of before until my mom started sending pics of it in a group message begging to go (my mom loves group messages).
So we finally made a trip one Saturday in December, right when the NC weather was just doing what it does best and giving us 70 degree temps, out to Blowing Rock, NC to enjoy some lunch and then made our way to Rough Ridge. It wasn’t too much of a hike to reach the summit, but once you did you could see for miles and miles. There is a boardwalk along the ridgeline, and massive boulders jutting out from the mountain side.
Rough Ridge has some of the most amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains that I have ever seen, and reminded me of what an amazing place we get to call home. I was feeling very blessed that day to be able to experience such great beauty with my family.
So those are just three places I have been to in the past year that really stuck with me, not just because of the views, but also because of the people I got to spend those moments with. I am really going to miss these opportunities when I am living 1000 miles away in the great, but very hot and very flat, state of Texas. But that just makes me want to treasure every moment I have left.
If you take away just one thing from this post, I hope that it’s you will make time to go explore or revisit some of the amazing places Asheville has to offer.
Who cares if people think that it’s cliché to go there now or that it’s not someplace really special? If it’s someplace that you want to experience for yourself and make some lasting memories in these few months we have left, then GO!!!
So here’s to getting outside away from the stress and chaos, strapping on those Chacos, hitting the trails, and just having fun. I’ll see ya’ll out there.