Little Handprints: What a Weekend

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

What a Weekend

Last weekend was one for the record books! Friday, Issa and I spent most of the day in Raleigh. We began our day on campus taking some cap and gown pictures, and then we found a new 100% gluten free restaurant for lunch:

Raw Raleigh makes killer lemonades:

And smoothie bowls:

I was starving by the time we got there! I had to navigate downtown Raleigh and the world's tightest parking lot. Thankfully, Issa is a great navigator. After lunch, we went to get scalp facials and massages. It was a blissful way to spend an afternoon--a bit of self-care in the midst of a lot of busy.

Then Saturday morning, my family kidnapped me! Issa told me what to pack, and we piled in the car. She was quite pleased with herself:

She was actually most pleased about the straw wrapper on that drink. They planned a weekend in Boone for my birthday! We spent Saturday afternoon shopping in all the fun boutiques of Boone before dinner at Mellow Mushroom and then swimming in the hotel pool. It was a tiny pool, but we all laughed so hard having a splash fight.

The main event was Sunday, though. The took me to Grandfather Mountain, which was completely blanketed in fog:

We had the place to ourselves! Watching the three of them play with the children's exhibits was hysterical:

The fog lifted enough for us all to enjoy the animal exhibits--especially my otters:

They managed to get the only four tickets for the day to paint with the otters! I was giddy:

You can't photo behind the scenes, but we were able to take a ride down the mountain to the otters' off-exhibit habitat. In the inside part, the spread paint on the floor, and Uno the otter ran through it and across the paper! We were only about a foot away, and it was so fun to watch him run and play. He also makes the cutest little noises. We were able to select our four favorite paintings to bring home: