David

According to Wikipedia, "30 (thirty) is the natural number following 29 and preceding 31." According to me, 30 is the new age of my husband, David!!

 This is a pretty big birthday, and we had to do some fun stuff.

Although David's birthday wasn't until Sunday, the 4th, the birthday celebration started Thursday night. His parents took us out for dinner - Miyabi for sushi, of course - David's fav!! After dinner we stopped by Academy - another of David's favs. Then it was off to the mall for cookies, ice cream, and a quick walk through (there's a new Apple store there). I left my phone and David wouldn't let me borrow his, so I have no pics to show you. It happened though, I promise!

On Friday we packed up and headed to Lake Toxaway, NC for a weekend of camping at Panther Ridge Campground. This was a surprise for David. He was originally scheduled to work all weekend, but I managed to pull some strings and make sure we could get away. I don't have many pics since we did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! Like literally, the most activity we did was cooking, building a fire at night and taking a shower. As for the rest of the time, we laid around, took naps, and just chilled. It was so nice! We did, however, almost hit a bear on the way up there. Like seriously, slam on breaks so as not to hit this MASSIVE creature. I am not exaggerating when I say it would have been at least 6 feet tall on his back legs. He was zoo big. I've never seen one that big - even at Cades Cove or other places in the mountains. It was crazy!!

 Our camping set up.

 Our tent and fire at night. It was so peaceful there in the mountains.

We kept an eye on the weather since we knew Tropical Storm Lee was moving in. Since they were calling for heavy rain Sunday evening and all day Monday, we decided to pack up and head home a day early. We knew packing up would be MISERABLE in the rain, and we could at least enjoy our last bit of time off at home.

We weren't in any rush to get back, so we drove over to Cashiers, NC and stopped at Bucks Coffee Cafe for a cup of joe. Then we went to Aunt Sue's for lunch and headed on home.

On the way home we heard on the radio that the Upper SC State Fair was in town, so I talked David into going over there for the evening. We enjoyed corn dogs, nachos, fresh lemonade and a caramel apple while walking around and watching people. I swear, I could have sat there all day and just watched the people. That was worth every bit of the ticket price!

David and I at the Fair.

David had to play one of the shooting games while we were there, despite the fact that all those games are rigged.

I'm not going to lie, one of the main reasons that I wanted to go to the Fair was because they have a rodeo. You see, I've never been to a real rodeo. I've been to a bull fight in Costa Rica, but not a real American rodeo. I figured a Fair rodeo was as good as any, right?!?

Here are some video clips from the rodeo.

This was the parade of all the cowboys and cowgirls.

This guy was the best cowboy to watch!

 

It was way too difficult to choose just one as the Worst Dressed; however, we did see this...the Mexican Mullet. Although not the worst thing we saw, it was quite hilarious. This guy was ready for anything..."Business in the Front and Party in the Back."