No birthdays for a few days, but there’s more to come! I’ve decided birthday wishes will become a regular here. Birthdays have always been important to us as a way of recognizing and appreciating those in our lives!
It was a fairly easy drive from Kings Mountain to Croft State Park in Spartanburg, SC where we’ll hang out for 12 days. During that time, we’ll be joining Blaine’s younger brother, Bruce and his family for Thanksgiving. Should be a hoot!
Our campsite is lovely! There’s still some Fall leaves hanging on and we have a view of the lake through the trees from our high perch. Although it’s pretty much deserted now, it will be full for the weekend. And get this – there’s a horse show of some kind here on Saturday! And we can go for free! Don’t know what it entails, but does it matter? It’s horses! Can’t wait!
These are the views from our new home. It will be completely filled this weekend.
On Thursday, we took a walking tour around the campground/horse area and we eventually took a hike designated ‘Nature Trail’. It was supposed to be a 1.5 mile loop, but it sure seemed a lot longer.
To get to the trailhead, we had to pass through the horse show ring area, where I discovered these very large mounds of red dirt. I poked one with my walking stick to determine if I was right. I was! It was a giant tiny ant mound!
From just one little poke, they came swarming out! Blaine then churned them up a bit more and still they continued. And this from just one hill! There were at least a half dozen more in close proximity!
He took pictures, but they are hard to see because they were so tiny.
Doesn’t this look like a face?
Everything you see that’s black are ants!
Blaine uncovered eggs, too
Part of our trail was alongside a stream called Kelsey Creek. Most of the way we could hear it, but couldn’t see it.
Since it was a nature trail, there were information boards along the way to tell you about the various foliage. Hence the Holly Tree info from yesterday’s post. : )
And then Blaine caught the exploring bug and went in search of.
Here’s what he discovered!
Turned out, there were even better and easier-to-get-to views further on. 😊
Below is the dessert recipe, in case anyone would like to experience a blissful, close your eyes and savor dessert!
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL FANTASY
2 rows Oreos (cream removed), crushed
1/3 C. butter, melted
30 Kraft vanilla caramels (other brands don’t work as well)
¼ C. caramel ice cream topping
1/2 C. heavy whipping cream – DIVIDED
2 C. chopped pecans
¾ C. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together crumbs and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool slightly.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt caramels in ice cream topping, stirring often. Stir in the first ¼ C. cream. Remove from heat, stir in nuts. Spread over crust.
Cool, cover and chill for 1 hour. In small saucepan, melt chocolate, remove from heat, stir in remaining cream. Drizzle or spread over pie. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.