Future Home, North Carolina.

I went to North Carolina for the first time back in January 2018. It was a 5-day trip here and I’ll tell you, it is one of my favorite places to go so far.

I’ve always had a desire to go here because I know one day this will be the place I call “home”… Maybe!

What’s so cool about North Carolina?
The airiness, how quiet it can be, its scenic view.
Anything an introvert would love, to be honest!

I’m the type to collect things or items from places as a memory of where I have been to. For example, on this trip, I found a pine cone on the floor and kept it for myself.

Besides that, there’s so much to see in this state—like frozen walls, the mountain range, and rushing waters besides the road!

I wanted to do a lot while I stayed here, but it was also too cold to be outside 90% of the time. Eventually I got used to the freezing weather and did what I could while enjoying staying in the cozy cabin sitting by the fireplace too.

Each day there was something new to see, someplace new to explore…

Snowy Peaks

Nothing really seemed planned out so much, so on the second day of arriving, we ventured off to Tennessee to the Great Smoky Mountains and to Gatlinburg for a bit.

Everything outside Florida has always been more interesting to me. You kind of get bored of the same below sea level plain and the noisy environment you’re in (*ahem* Miami)… Anyways! No hate to Miami, but where I was captured me completely.

And the reason as to why I feel that way is because where I live in, I feel stuck in this city-life and I know I am not meant to live in this kind of environment. I feel like the mountains are where I need to be—that this is where I belong.

And when you’re on a mountaintop, you feel as if you can conquer anything.

I wasn’t used to the high elevation, of course, but there’s something about being on the very peak of a mountain that makes you want to accomplish anything and go even higher, even if there’s nothing left to reach for.

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The whole day was spent roaming around, driving up and down on the slippery roads. Taking small stops to feel the snow and eventually falling on our butts because of how tricky it is to walk on top of it.

There was even a time where we stopped by the side of the road to buy boiled peanuts from some sketchy looking vendor, but at the end of it, those peanuts tasted pretty good! Tasted like tea to me!

While being in Gatlinburg, we rode on the Alpine Coasters that would take you through the woods and back. After getting off of that little kart, my face began to swell so bad because of how cold it was. The wind hitting my skin felt as if it were piercing me like pins and needles. It was not a pleasant sight to me, but it was worth it!

Now let me tell you about the roads again. They can get dangerously slippery.

Driving at night was the worst thing ever to get back to where we were staying at. We had to go through the mountains again when it was pitch black outside, no signal or connection found, and definitely no straight roads back. All curves and turns we had to go through. It was the first time I felt extremely anxious and was clenching on to the seat throughout each turn. I couldn’t rest. I stayed awake the whole time despite how exhausted I felt. And it was almost more than an hour to drive back. IMAGINE THAT.

By the time we were back at the cabin, I was thankful we made it home safe. All I wanted to do was play Mario Kart, eat some hot food, and sleep my weariness off. But even with that, I couldn’t sleep as much—but thank God we made it back alive.

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On our third day of the trip, we decided that staying in North Carolina was our main focus now. We went to Pisgah National Forest where I wanted to go waterfall chasing. And come to think of it, because of the temperature (17 degrees!), the waterfall wasn’t even going to be a waterfall. Instead it would be an ICEFALL. Super cool!

The waterfall looked nothing like what I had in mind. There was water still rushing through, but nothing made me :O (that’s a gasping smiley) even more than actually seeing a waterfall look like a giant frozen painting. I was in awe of the sight of it and actually wanted to climb over the railing and see for myself how pristine it actually was, but of course I wasn’t allowed to do so. Boooo.

So I captured some shots with my camera and we began exploring this forest we were in. Out of no where, I deeply wanted to encounter a wild animal. A bear maybe?

Yes, I know, bears hibernate but come on! Wouldn’t it be cool to see a black bear in person? :)

I know I’m not Coyote Peterson, but that would’ve been the highlight of this trip. To see a bear face-to-face and then potentially wishing I have never encountered one because of how frightening it can actually be. But let me dream, okay?

After exploring the forest and getting a bit lost, I discovered another thing I loved about North Carolina in general.

Bojangles’.

Now, I am NOT a fan of fried chicken, but man that’s all I wanted to eat throughout this trip. That southern crisp and mild spiciness.... wow!

*inserting pic here*

I am telling you, my fellow Floridians, there’s no better fried chicken than Bojangles’ fried chicken.

Okay. Enough about fried chicken. Now back to my blogging seriousness.
(Not sponsored by the way, but I’ll take it if one day I have to talk about their food.)

Besides eating and roaming around, there was an alert going around that there would be a cyclone coming by that would potentially keep a lot of people stranded if they weren’t to make it home on time. This alert was more for the northern states though and Boston at the time was getting hit pretty bad with all the snow they’ve been having.

It rarely snowed where I was staying at, but that alert made us go back home in hopes we wouldn’t be affected too.

Back at the cabin again, I stayed by the fireplace to cool myself down and began editing on a video I eventually made by the end of this trip. I called my dad since he didn’t come along due to scheduling issues and played more Mario Kart. This time, I lost to a cheater and then went to sleep.

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The fourth day was my favorite! It was the day I finally felt like Link from the Legend of Zelda and rode on my very own Epona through the Appalachian Trail!

If you don’t know what in the world I’m talking about, let me insert a picture here below :)

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As you can see, I’m living my fantasy of riding on a horse just like Link and getting ready for anything that comes at me. This means striking at enemies when coming in contact with danger (except I had no sword), and galloping through the field!

No, that didn’t ACTUALLY occur, but it’s quite a nice imagination if you think so!

The horse I was chosen to ride on was named Jethro. Now Jethro was really, really sweet. He was very obedient to his owner (not me) and enjoyed being rode on. My brother on the other hand, rode on another horse who wasn’t Jethro’s favorite companion. The owner told us that both of our horses hated each other and would always fight if they were to come into contact. And so we kept caution of having those two horses together. We were separated most of the time.

Now of course, there was a time during the trail where my brother’s horse ended up being lovely that he decided to turn back and walk alongside Jethro, the horse he didn’t like.

In this moment, I was telling my brother to turn his horse away and was panicking because I was feeling the tension between the two horses. On top of that, we were passing through a river where we can feel the coldness of the water being splashed on our shoes and boots. If you can tell by the scene that’s happening, one wrong movement would cause either one of us to fall into the freezing water. Not good.

Jethro began feeling annoyed by my brother’s horse that he kept nodding his head up and down as if he were saying, “Ayo stop that. I’m not happy right now.”

And at that moment, I had to yell for the owner (who was our guide) to come help us. He knew what was happening and saved us from the fight that was about to go down. Jethro and the other horse were separated from each other again and I let out a big sigh of relief because I wasn’t ready to fall off of my horse into the cold river.
But wouldn’t that make the experience more fun? It would’ve been funny too!

After that great adventure itself, it was time to head home and begin packing for our trip back home. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hot tub. Wishing I can stay here a little longer.

There was a lot more that happened throughout this trip. Things I wish I can remember at the moment, but just to top it all off, it was quite an experience I will never forget. I didn’t do anything so daring as most people know I would normally do. In reality, I wanted to immerse myself in a new state and appreciate its beauty while being pensive of potentially moving here one day. Like I said, its a maybe. Who knows where I’ll go next and finally pinpoint it as my future home. As of now, North Carolina is on the top of my list and I still have that pine cone I found on my first day there as a reminder of how much more this state has to offer.

So without further ado, please enjoy the video I mentioned earlier as a recap of all the mumbo jumbo I stated throughout this blog post.

xoxo,

Emily.