All right, we've made it across. And now it's debatable if we're crossing over this little rock face here I don't think we're going to go all the way up there. Okay, so we're headed back across the bridge. Swinging
It's amazing, isn't it? That's my favorite. I know the Oh, you can make it and that is a great meal for a cold day and Jeff's going to be super happy
Good morning everyone. Jeff and I are super excited because we are headed to grandfather mountain today. Aren't you excited? Absolutely. We're heading through Boone right now. Yeah. And if you haven't been to Boone, North Carolina there's so much to do here. And Grandfather Mountain is the highlight and let me just tell you, we are in full swing with the fall colors. They are very vibrant this year. So we are very excited to show you grandfather mountain
we are entering the Blue Ridge Parkway. How gorgeous Okay, so we're just arriving here at the admission gate at grandfather mountain. And thank God we got our reservations early because they're done online now and they are completely sold out. Because this is a major attraction in the peak season of the of autumn. So we are going to get into the park and then we're going to take you for a ride on the switchbacks all the way up the mountain and across the Mile High Bridge which is unbelievable and not to be missed, right? Yeah, that's gonna be awesome. I mean I have a height thing but I'm still going to do it. I've done it before so I feel slightly better about that. It should be super cold and windy up there. But the colors are going to be amazing. It is a bright blue crystal clear day today
I'm sorry Thank you. Nice to meet you. Do you have a CD player in your vehicle? We don't thank you so much. I do love the CD member when we listen to this. Oh they have a a USB drive how nice they give you a thumbnail so that you can listen to it like from your computer look at these massive boulders. Okay guys, so we're coming up to the switchbacks now which are really fun to drive and then we will be at the summit of grandfather mountain and the Mile High Bridge here we go to the summit grandfather mountain
It is packed in here today. Jeff and I got a little bit of a late start we're kind of regretting that
so beautiful if you guys hear me short of breath it's because I have asthma. And it's super cold up here. And when the so I don't do great in this. Here's the Mile High Bridge. Hey babe my Yeah, it's packed full of people but I'm going across well how they know what the count is? I don't think anyone's watching. That's a little nerve racking.
Okay, so the elevation here is 5282 By going across the mile hybrid they also call it the Swinging Bridge. Because the wind makes it move a little look at all the people on the on the rock face up there it's a little swinging right now guys all right, we've made it across. And now it's debatable if we're crossing over this little rock face here Tina is prone to falling in case you all didn't know. So so this is the grandfather mountain Wilson Center. It's the Discovery Center. And we're just going to check it out real quick. There's a place where you can have lunch in here and a museum. So it's really cool. And they have a gift shop. And Jeff's in line to get some lunch. Very cool. Let's go find Jeff.
Jeff, Hey, can I have lunch? Absolutely. All right. Well, the cafe was down. So we are going to jump ahead and do the animal habitats which are just gorgeous. Because I won't swear words but yeah. Jeff's Jeff says he's got a little spare for right now. It is it's gorgeous. Okay, we are at the American black bear exhibit.
So Jeff and I are just finishing up our day here at grandfather mountain. What did you think was awesome.
The weather was perfect. The barrels the
bears was great. Yep. So we have another fun filled day tomorrow because we're going to be at the Carolina balloon fest. So we'll bring you on that adventure as well.
We'll see you on day. Bye
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I'm gonna whip together a quick campfire chili that I wanted to share with you guys. It's super quick, healthy and also inexpensive. So in this pan right here, I have some extra virgin olive oil and an onion. I'm going to sell to that and I'm going to add the ground beef. And then the ingredients that you're going to need other than the ground beef, onion and olive oil is a can of kidney beans, some diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, a chili packet and some brown gravy and macaroni and I'll show you that how this ends up as we cook. Okay, so I've got the onion all sauteed here and we're going to add a little bit of ground beef lean ground beef. And then we're going to add some salt. This is to taste you guys
and I like to add a little granulated garlic and then you're just gonna copy that all together. And then I'll show you step three. Okay, so step three this has cooked well we're going to add the can of tomatoes and work with the add the chili seasoning packet. And we're going to stir that together the can of tomatoes and the chili seasoning packet, we're going to add a candle water.
We're going to add the brown gravy mix and we're going to go ahead and stir that together.
And then we're going to add the can of beans which is kidney beans but you can add any bean that you like. These would be drained beans, guys don't, don't add the liquid it's gonna make it gets super thick and then we're just gonna cover it with a lid and we're gonna let it simmer there for hour, hour and a half and we're going to keep checking to see you know, it's going to thicken up a little bit you don't want it too thick, but you want it like in between you don't want it too thin, you don't want it too thick. And then we're going to add about a cup or two of cooked elbow macaroni and we're going to serve that with a salad and we'll show you the finished product later. So if you guys want a quick, easy cheap meal, especially on a cold day, this is it guys. Okay, so it's done. And I told you guys about an hour to an hour and a half but I was wrong. It's about 30 minutes is what I wanted to say is about 30 minutes for this particular chili and I serve it over about a half a cup of macaroni and that is a great meal for a cold day and Jeff's going to be super happy you ready? Are you ready for a different kind of sad and sad