Pew Pew Pew

We drove up to the mountains over the weekend at the invitation of our friends Keith and Renee.  We drove out to Boone, NC and went up, up, up into the mountains, the home of Appalachian State University.  It was just turning fall and the leaves were just starting to show the first hints of autumn colors but the daytime was still warm.

Rich loves being in areas that have an elevation greater than a few feet.  I suppose it is the break in the horizon, or seeing near and distant vistas. I can tell you that the area reminded me a lot of the Catskills, in New York.

The first night Keith and Renee entertained the boys. That is, we all played Apples To Apples without condescending to the kids.  Everyone played and everyone tried to win.  We all laughed and had a good time as a group.  

Saturday, we drove to and then hiked Linville Fall and went down into Linville Caverns.  The hikes up and down the falls were rugged but, to their credit, the boys climbed through the whole adventure without complaint.  The falls themselves were awesome and full – a roar above the peace of nature’s lack of manmade noise.  

Mornings of pancakes and eggs and bacon and evenings of chips, burgers and beers and the chance to sit be a nice open fire. That makes for a nice weekend.

The highlight was back at the cabin where the boys were allowed to shoot a bolt action .22 and a .22 pistol that had been modified for a scope, bipod, and suppressor (silencer).  We brought out old action figures and plastic toys – in addition to some empty (and a couple full) beer cans. We went through all of the safety procedures, and with two competent adults watching – let the boys shoot. 

TJ hit the full beer can on his second shot and exploded to the glee of, well, everyone watching.  He continued to put rounds into his old toys and targets.

Grant liked the bolt action rifle but really seemed to work with the pistol better.  He blasted a t-rex and GI Joes left and right. 

I liked it compared to a pistol. The silencer muffled the noise so that all you really heard was the sound of the rounds moving through the underbrush down range.  It was really neat because you didn’t have the loud crack of a rifle shot.

It was a lot of fun and made us consider getting a small rifle for the boys to learn gun safety on.  We are not a pro-gun person to the point where we must have them in the home for protection.  We are, however, a people who believes that everyone should know how to handle guns; rifles, pistols, shotguns to the point where they are safe around and with them.

I even played with my camera - which I named "Squint"!  I got up at oh-my-God early and trekked with Renee up a mountain to catch the sun rise over the valley.  We took some pretty cool pictures.  

The best picture I took, however, was back when we were shooting.  I counted down as TJ squeezed the trigger.  The result was an awesome frame of the bullet piercing that full can of beer and capturing the spray of nasty old beer. 

It was a great shot by both eagle eyes!