Camping – Withjulespham

Fall in the Great Smokies

After a wonderful night at Song Sparrow Hill, we woke up refreshed, ate breakfast, then hesitantly followed Boy and Mangus down the hill back to our car.

We didn’t want to leave! I regretted not booking a second night especially what was to follow later on that evening.

Our next stop was Max Patch Mountain in Pisgah National Forest.

The rocky and narrow winding roads were nerve-wrecking. I felt so bad for Khang’s car tires.

Oh but the views were gorgeous like the one below!

The fall colors peeked through more and more as we got higher in elevation. And so did my excitement!

Parking was ridiculous but the trail was short and pretty straight forward. And so was the steep incline hiking up! It brought back memories from Patagonia.

We were treated with 360º panoramic views!!
The colors were ahhhhmazing!!

And then we took a nap right there.

Fun fact: I can nap anywhere, anytime. Ask my family and friends.

Afterwards we walked around to enjoy the colors some more.

We also played with Hans’ self-timer and got a winning picture of us both for our Christmas card this year!

Here is another attempt at freelensing.

During my research, I read about the sunsets at Max Patch and really wanted to watch it.

But we still had about 4 hours till sun down. I was growing hungry too so we decided to hike back down to the car to eat.

The plan would be to hike back up Max Patch with all our camping gear and set up shop for the night.

Well… unfortunately, when we returned to the car, Khang realized his battery was DEAD.

It was partly my fault. When I’m excited, I tend to rush things and I rushed Khang…well you know how that works…

Fortunately for us, we had jumper cables and the owners of the car parked in front of us came back from their hike and helped jumpstart our car! Lucky stars I tell ya’!

So we drove back down the winding roads to AutoZone to have the battery checked just in case.

Car battery looked fine so…back up the mountain we drove. Khang was basically pro at this point.

And then we carried about 30 pounds of equipment/food/water/clothes back up Max Patch in time to watch the sunset.

Whew! I remember feeling so happy and relieved that we made it to our last stop for the day.

Or so we thought.

So Khang set up the tent while I took photos.

I swear my husband could be a model.

Y’all, he is NOT posing. This was him setting up while glancing at a family trying to fly a kite.

Finally, we sat in our tent eating our favorite: Salami, boursin cheese, and crackers for dinner.

And enjoyed the sunset in the old but Great Smoky Mountains.

I’ll never grow tired of Mother Nature’s beauty!

Wish I could say that was the end to an exhausting but exciting day.

It wasn’t.

Long story short, the sun took all the warmth with it and we weren’t quite prepared for the 40º temperatures. We thought we could brave the cold but it was miserable.

So at around 8, we decided to pack all our stuff, hike back down, and drove home.

We were in our warm bed by midnight.

Hey, we tried. Really really tried.

Another story for our future children. Hah!

Thanks for reading and following

along with me,

Jules.

Hidden in the hills of TN

The city has many comforts but the wilderness, it calls to me.

Our trip to the Smokey’s couldn’t have been timed better.

Don’t get me wrong. Charlotte is a great city. We’ve been enjoying it.

But it’s a city. A really big city. The biggest I’ve ever lived in.

And we I desperately needed to get away to the countryside.

Why?

I like to think that I deal with stress pretty well.

However, add the stresses of moving to a new city, new state, new job, and new house…it all adds up and I was quite frankly overwhelmed.

I felt off.

I listened to my soul and knew I needed to be immersed in Mother Nature.

The deers in my backyard were not going to cut it anymore.

Enter Song Sparrow Hill.

This Airbnb by Tiffanie on her family’s 16+ acre property wins the award for Most Unique and Original.

It’s tucked away in the hills of Tennessee near the North Carolina boarder.

When I saw pictures, I knew it was where I wanted to recharge and refocus.

So we were lead to our campsite by the family’s sweet and protective two dogs, Mangus and Boy.

Apparently the owners bought Boy to tend to their chickens. But once he visited the campsite, he decided to stay there. And so they had to bring another dog to fill his intended position.

I don’t blame Boy. You’ll see why.

Below is the outhouse complete with a solar bag shower, “running sink water”, and a composting toilet. It was nothing short of charming.

Oh! I should mention that ALL of the wood was logged and milled from their property! The craftsmanship is sublime.

Our hosts even baked us “sweet bread” and had fresh eggs waiting. It was meant for breakfast the next morning, but it didn’t last very long. The bread was our dessert after dinner. It finished nicely after our grilled steaks.
I mean look at this freakin’ badass tent!!
We gathered around the campfire until it got too cold.

Y’all it was so perfect. The crisp night. The fire. The warm cup of tea. The stars. Shining brightly above the silhouette of trees surrounding our tent. Perfect.

I didn’t get a photo but there was also a wood burning stove inside the tent. You can see the smoke from the chimney in the photo below. It kept us very toasty throughout the night.

I think the best thing about this lovely retreat was no cell phone service.

You may laugh, however I’m not kidding.

Honestly, Khang has been extremely busy with work. This is the most I’ve ever seen him work even in college.

Always talking to his team, responding to emails, or catching up with deadlines and this is all after physically leaving work. He was bringing his work home and I was sick of it.

While talking well into the night, I teary confessed to him that I secretly wanted to stay there in the enchanting forrest disconnected from the world because our current routine at home wasn’t making me happy.

I mean, I don’t need that much attention, but the man was working too much.

He agreed and we came up with a solution together.

Things are thankfully better. I don’t know how many trips we could’ve taken out there. Hah!

This last photo was taken with Hans “freelensing”. It’s a technique where you detach the lens from the body of your camera to get different focus points.

Khang said it looks like a painting. I think that’s good haha. Regardless, I love the results and will experiment more.

Until next time, Song Sparrow Hill.

Thank you for being just what we needed and more.

Thank you for reading and following

along with me,

Jules.

Life in film: Grayton

I was able to find a little time to shoot with Hans during our camping trip to Grayton a few weeks ago.

And I’m glad I did.

Got some good shots of good people in one of my favorite seaside towns.

Shot with Fuji400, but I asked the film to be scanned with Noritsu instead of Frontier.

I was going for a more “light and airy” look.

This explains the difference between the two scanners better than I can.

Can’t believe this stud is mine.& then there were these two.

Mat and Nles.

So effortless.

I told them just to act normal and do whatever.

They really did fall asleep on that hammock together.

Thanks for letting me practice on y’all!

I really love capturing love.

Just wish I could get my scans back faster. Ha.

Thanks for reading and following along

with me,

Jules.

Beach camping in Grayton

Khang has been working his video magic and has officially made his first guest appearance on WithJules today!

Pictures are great for memories, but gosh, so is video and it just takes it to a different level.

Here’s his video of us camping with our friends in Grayton last month.

Please watch in highest quality-preferably in 4K.

Enjoy!

So we started camping at Grayton State Beach Park about 5 years ago and have been trying to go back every year since.

The camping grounds are only a 8-10 minute bike ride to Seaside, which is THE cutest little beach town.

We love it so much.

And we kinda got our buddies into it too.

Our group went back this past April and it felt so good to be back.

I love exploring town on bikes, dancing and story-telling around the campfire, and falling asleep underneath the stars.

I made reservations more than 6 months in advance and highly recommend sites #14, 16, and 18 since they have private access to Western Lake.

Or choosing sites #15 or 17 for direct pathways to the bathrooms.

We own all the camping gear needed so it only cost the 7 of us a total of $60 to rent the campsite for two nights. There are even electric outlets and hot showers.

If that still seems too rough for you, then we met this sweet couple celebrating their anniversary with Fancy Camps and y’all, their set-up was the absolute cutest!

Complete with a queen size mattress, AC unit, and even twinkle lights hanging on their tent for a wonderful glamping experience.

We like to rent bikes since it’s easier to get to places. Parking sucks at Seaside. Big Fish delivers and picks up your bikes right at your campsite.

Thanks for reading and following along

with us,

Jules+Khang.

PS. Special shout-out to our awesome friends, Francis+Tran, Augustine+Haley, Cecilia+Ramsey, and Brian+Ashley, who got us a badass drone as our wedding gift.

We hope to share more videos in the future!