Networking On Top of the World

Walking home from the Larry Keel show at The Boone Saloon Thursday night I could tell we weren't going to have school in the morning. Folks stumbling out of the Saloon onto the King Street concrete is nothing I haven't seen before, but add a thick glaze of ice and the casualties increase ten-fold.
Luckily, the ice that had damaged both homes and egos alike gave way Saturday with 60-degree temperatures.
Stricken with a case of cabin fever, I made my way over to the Linville Gorge and set my sights on Table Rock. After an unplanned offroad excursion compliments of the ice I had so exhalted a day earlier, I made it to the gorge. A couple mile hike up a closed Forest Service Road took me to the trail head where I began the mile ascent.

From one side of the summit, the gorge looked poised to swallow me up. On the other, the Piedmont stretched to the horizon. Hikers came and went throughout the day as I relaxed in my combination chair/backpack. As the day drew to a close, I had the fortune of striking up a conversation with a young lady who turned out to be a writer for the Charlotte Observer. An aspiring journalist myself, she was a nice contact and encourgaed me to come check out the newsroom at the Observer.

I sat a little while longer, hoping to catch sight of a peregrine falcon, but to no avail. So I packed up and headed out satisfied with my day. The only thing missing was a cheesy "Life Is Good" t-shirt.