The End of Summer Camping

Labor day weekend marked the end of the Summer for us and we were fortunate to be able to go to the beach the last few years. This year the tropical storm came through Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area and we weren’t sure if we would be able to make it. The storm came through on Friday, and we headed out Saturday at 1 am and got to the beach in the morning. It was a nice weekend and glad that we didn’t tent camping this year, the storm left some of the sites flooded.

1st Sart Festival (Kanben) or Merit Making Transference at Wat Greensboro

We celebrated 1st Sart Thai Festival at Wat Greensboro on Sunday, September 18, 2016. The temple called it small Sart day, and the big Sart day will be in 2 weeks. Sart day is a Buddhist tradition where it’s a memorial day for the dead, it is a time to remember dead relatives and merit making on their behalves. This is a belief that once a year the hell gates open for 15 days for the deceased ancestors to visit their living relatives. Lao people called it Boun Kao Padap Din where the Laotians also believe that once a year the hell gates open for souls in hell to come visit the living world. People would leave foods around the temple gates or under big trees as offering to the spirits.

Almsgiving

Foods offering to the monks.

Please see more photos at Wat Greensboro’s Facebook 1st Sart Festival (Kanben) or Merit Making Transference

Catawba Falls

It has been a while since we went camping, and I’ve been wanting to camp near the waterfalls. This time we camped at Catawba Falls Campground near Catawba Falls and it’s within a half mile walking distance from the campground.Catawba Falls is located in Pisgah National Forest property near Old Fort, NC and it’s a 2 miles hike.

This bridge was completed in July of this year, I could imagine how difficult it was to get to the Falls having to cross the river on stepping stones.

There are several lower falls along the way. I bought my tripod with me to capture the longer shutter speed that blurs the moving water, and having to hike with camera gears wearing flip flops was not ideal.

I never thought that we would get to the big Falls, the path kept going up hills.

It’s well worth the hike.

This was from the top of the falls.

On the way down was a lot faster and I have more time to admire nature.