Sailing in Nashville,TN

The Hustle & Bustle of New York City

Appalachian Trail: Springer Mtn-Neels Gap (Georgia)

Vintage Tree Photography

Well, I did it! I finally started my own photography business and I am loving every second of it! Please check out my website and facebook page!

http://www.vintagetreephotography.com/

http://www.facebook.com/vintagetreephotography

Peace-

Meredith

Appalachian Trail- Blood Mountain, GA

Appalachian Trail- Spring 2011

It's been a while since I last posted! The Family Affair were at it again April 28th- May 1st! We hiked from Springer Mountain to Neels Gap which is around 33 miles! It was an amazing hike with family and friends. I will be posting pictures as well as videos of our latest and greatest adventure for all you AT lovers!

Peace- Meredith

Nashville's Nantucket

If you think the only way you can learn how to sail is to live on Martha's Vineyard, you're wrong! If you live in Nashville or surrounding area and you're interested in sailing you're in luck! Percy Priest Yacht Club offers "Learning at the Helm" sailing lessons every Tuesday night at 5:30pm. The best part about these lessons....they're FREE! Sergio is a volunteer skipper every Tuesday so if you're lucky you might have him as an instructor :)

So go out and get your sail on!

San Lorenzo, Honduras: Curiles (Oysters)

Bryant Grove Trail

This past weekend, Nashville was the epitome of spring! Saturday was gorgeous so we decided to try out a new trail at Long Hunter State Park. We hiked 6 miles total on the Bryant Grove Trail. This is a one way trail that totals 8 miles. The only down side of this trail is that pets and bikes are not allowed. But if you are wanting a peaceful and relaxed hike, this is the trail to go on. This path goes in between Crouchville Lake and Percy Priest Lake which means you will cross several beautiful streams. The trail is well marked allowing you to track your progress. We also noticed the amount of trash was much less on this trail!

Appalachian Trail Spring 2010 (New Found Gap-Fontana Dam)

Appalachian Trail Anniversary

One year ago today, "The Family Affair" (Sergio, Meredith, Randy Woodard, Cody Jackson, Harrison Woodard, and Rebekah Woodard) were making it through their first AT adventure! At this point, we had hiked 10 miles in 10 hours the day before (in 2 feet of snow) and were now camping illegally at a shelter. This was the day that the ridge runner told us that we could get taken to jail because we were going to camp around the shelter (illegally). Here is the back story... We had a ROUGH first day and were pretty exhausted so we weren't able to make it on the second day to our designated shelter. We made it to the one that was half way. There was not any way we could go any further or make it to "our" shelter before dark. So for safety reasons, we decided to chance getting arrested. Not all of the AT is as strict as it is through the Smokies. Only thru-hikers have the right to camp in their tents at the shelters...otherwise, you have to have a reservation and stay inside the shelter. Anyways, even though we were breaking Smoky Mountain law, we had enjoyed every minute of the day. Before dark, we sat up our tents and promised to fluff the grass the next morning. We enjoyed relaxing around our tents and reminising about the last 24 hours. One of the popular topics of the night was my sunburned hands. Lesson learned...just because there is snow on the ground doesn't mean you can't get sunburned!

This was a life changing hike for sure and the memories we all made will not be forgotten. So happy anniversary to my fellow hikers who are apart of "The Family Affair".

Peace-- Meredith

Ps- We didn't get arrested :)

Spring Is Here

Last Sunday was the first day of Spring and boy did it feel like it! We were hiking back to our car and relished the temperature that was in the high 70's! I was able to snap some pictures that really embraced primavera. Today, however, it's cloudy and the high is expected to be 54. Don't you love Nashville weather?

Volunteer Trail at Long Hunter State Park

Volunteer Trail...

If you live in the Nashville area and are looking for a place to backcountry camp, look no further! Try out the "Volunteer Trail" at Long Hunter State Park. It's a beautiful 12 mile round trip hike along the rocky banks of Percy Priest Lake. This is a great place to train for any long distance hiking trips you may be going on. Sergio and I had a wonderful hike and enjoyed camping under the super moon. We were prepared for werewolves, but got a visit from a skunk instead! Visit the tn.gov website for more info about this state park!

http://tn.gov/environment/parks/LongHunter

Peace--

Meredith

Super Moon!

Okay everyone get your silver ready for tonight, ha... The moon is supposed to be the largest it's been since March 1993! So if you love to camp, I would say tonight is a perfect night to do so!

Peace!

Tennessee State Parks (Long Hunter State Park)

Tennessee

Springer Mountain, GA

It's official! The "Family Affair" is about to get their hike on again. We will be starting on April 28th at Springer Mountain (Georgia). For those of you who don't know, that is the very beginning of the Appalachian Trail. We will end on May 1st, hiking a total of 32 miles. The cool thing about this hike is that, unlike the Smoky Mountains, we can sleep in our tents (legally, ha). Also, northbound thru-hikers that are headed to Mt. Katahdin usually start around March and April at Springer Mountain...so I hope we meet tons of awesome hikers!

I look forward to all of our section hikes together!

Peace :)

Nashville: Commute in the Snow

All Men (and Women) Are Created Equal...On The Trail.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Great concept Thomas Jefferson, unfortunately in today's society it's all about how much money you have and who you know. It's sad that even in 2011 we are still struggling with these issues. For me, this is why nature is so appealing. If you want to feel at one with the earth and equal to others, set out for a couple of days on a trail of your choice. Pack what you need to survive on your back and go. All men (and women) are created equal on the trail.

If you are hesitant to go on an overnight hiking trip, think about these things...

*Nature doesn't have a corporate office.

*Every day when you wake up, you don't have to fight traffic to get to where you need to go. It all depends on your legs and feet.

*The only time constraint that you have is making it to your shelter at the end of the day. Preferably before dark, ha.

*How successful you are doesn't depend on someones opinion of you, how smart they may think you are, or who you know...it depends on your ability to walk.

*You are not working to obtain material things that you don't need. All you need is on your body (clothing) and back (water, food, and shelter).

*Nature doesn't discriminate.

*Nature doesn't care about what you look like. You spend your time looking at what nature looks like.

*You will only see beauty on your hike. That's what we need to work on seeing in each other.

So if you are in the pursuit of happiness, give nature a chance and let it give you the happiness that you need.

~Meredith

AT Addiction

This time last year, Sergio gave me a call on my lunch break and asked me what I thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains. Of course I loved the idea, so we started planning a life changing experience. We decided for our first trial run, we would start at New Found Gap an end at Fontana Dam. We mapped it at a little over 40 miles to do in 4 days. By the way, for your first hike on the Appalachian Trail, give yourself more time than that. Over 10 miles a day is pretty hard on your body during your first major hiking/backpacking experience. We would start on March 29th and finish on April 1st (Easter). We were so fortunate to have some of our closest friends (Harrison, Rebekah, Cody) and my dear brother, Randy, to come along with us. Because this was our first hiking/backpacking excursion, we were a little un prepared for what we had ahead of us. We got off to a late start on our first day, ending up finishing our first day of hiking close to midnight. You can blame the 2-3 feet of snow we had to trek through going up Clingmans Dome for the late arrival to our first shelter...at which we had reservations. However, because we were so late, the shelter was full, so thank goodness we had a tent to pop up and camp illegally.

To make a long story short, we couldn't really take our time to much on this trip because Sergio had a flight to catch on Monday, April 2nd, at 6:00 am to go to Provo, Utah for his work. It was very important that we couldn't get behind on our schedule....but we did. So what did we do? Well we talked with a ridge runner that told us if we cut through to the Eagle Creek Trail, we could make up our time and make it to our car at a descent time on Sunday, April 1st. Let me just say that the Eagle Creek Trail is one of the most beautiful trails I have ever been on. I probably wouldn't recommend it in the early spring months just because you have a little over 13 raging river crossings. But as they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade...and that's what we did! It was an unforgettable adventure to say the least :) The best part about having to waltz through the river at every corner is that it numbed our feet so the worry of our blisters vanished for the day. We camped on Saturday night along Eagle Creek. There is nothing better than listening to a rolling river throughout the night.

On Easter morning, we awoke and got started. We had over 11 miles to cover and more river crossings in order to make it to our car. We stopped around mile 8 and had Easter dinner. Sergio and I shared a Mountain House "Beef Stew"...perfect for the holidays. After a long day of walking, we made it to our cars. Sun burned, blistered, exhausted, we made it back to Nashville around midnight and Sergio caught his flight on time. All's well that ends well!

Even though we had a bit of a hard time on our first overnight backpacking trip, we were hungry for more as soon as we all recovered. This led to a second hiking trip in fall. This time I was the only girl but I was accompanied by Sergio, my two brothers, Randy and Shane, and my brother-n-law, Kevin. We were the Family Affair :) We started again at New Found Gap and ended at Davenport Gap. This trip was a little over 30 miles and we had, again, 4 days to complete the task. This trip was a lot smoother. We were prepared for anything this time around!

We are now in 2011 and in the process of planning our next Appalachian Trail hike. We are planning to start at Springer Mountain in a couple of months (the time is TBD). The Family Affair is hungry for more and can't wait to start section hiking the AT!

Percy Priest Lake in January

Serenity in Music City

Some may think that living in the city, you don't get to enjoy nature and the outdoors. I beg to differ! Sergio and I live in Nashville, Tennessee and love every minute of it. I will say, coming from a small town, it took me a little while to get used to the hustle and bustle of a city life....but no worries...I adjusted quickly. What's not to love about convenience? However, being the nature lovers that we are, we seek out the secret treasures of the outdoors in Nashville. Percy Priest Lake would be one of these treasures. At anytime during the year, one can venture to the lake and experience serenity even in the big city. In the spring and summer, we love to kayak in the lake and fish on occasion. We are also members of the Percy Priest Yacht Club, which allows us to take out the club sailboat pretty much whenever we want. With your club membership, you get sailing lessons and 3 sailboats to choose from during the season. It's a steal of a deal! Sergio is actually one of the club instructors from time to time. If being in the water is not your thing, break out the tent and marshmallows and go camp along the shore of Percy Priest. There is nothing better than seeing the moon reflecting off the lake while talking around a campfire. If you are a bird lover, ducks and seagulls are a familiar sight at the lake. They love to eat if you are willing to feed! So, if you are feeling lost in the big city, adventure out and see if nature can help you find your way.

Big South Fork (Hike to the Bluff)

Cliff Jumping into Percy Priest Lake (Nashville, TN)

Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Eagle Creek Trail)

West Coast Road Trip (Ontario, CA- Seattle, WA)

Appalachian Trail Spring 2010 (New Found Gap-Fontana Dam)

Sergio Bustillo 2007 UTM Sail Kayak

Music City 1/2 Marathon

Clingman's Dome In The Snow ( Great Smoky Mountains National Park/Appala...

Eagle Creek Trail ( Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

Cute Kitten "The Cold Shoulder Choreography"

Charlie's Bunyon (Great Smoky Mountains National Park)

Clingman's Dome In The Snow Continued... (Great Smoky Mountain National ...