Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Long Trip Home
Joe flew home from vacation a few days early and left Tim, Mary, the girls and I to enjoy a little more Boone. After nearly a week in Boone, we decided it was time to make the long trek home. Surprisingly it was shorter than any of us remembered. We stopped part way through the day to quell an uprising that was beginning in the back of the van and to eat a picnic lunch at a rest area. It was a great trip, but it's always nice to come home, too.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Exploring
Between biking, chatting with the neighbors, playing whist with Trisha & Joe, cutting wood, endless book reading, diaper changing, and other childcare, Mary and Tim did manage to get out together and explore.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Crazy Man Tim
Grandpa Tim accompanied Joe and Trisha on the Virginia Creeper Trail. For his antics on the trail he earns himself his own post on the blog. Crazy man Tim, as he shall be referred to for the rest of this post, has a nose for danger and what some (certainly not his daughter-in-law, however) would call downright foolishness.
Just a few miles down the mountain in a stunning display of biker know-how, Crazy man Tim used his front brake to attempt a stop at the end of a bridge. The application of the front brake at high speeds will in fact cause a bike to flip over. I've always read this, and now I know it to be true. Scrapes to the elbow and leg were the only injuries.
For his next trick he decided that climbing on these falls would be a good idea.
He promptly slipped on a mossy rock, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on a metal piece jutting from the rocks, and fell into the icy water.
Not to be beaten by a mere rock, he climbed right back up (after giving Joe his wet phone, wallet, and camera) on the same rock from which he had just fallen.
This time he was successful, but only for a moment. The second he moved, he fell right back into the water. He did catch himself by grabbing a branch with his left arm as he fell. His collection of scrapes and bruises was much more impressive after this escapade into the water.
Crazy man Tim did manage to walk on the Applachain trail without incident.
But later ventured onto more mossy rocks to get a better view of kayakers passing some nearby falls. He avoided falling, but seriously contemplated jumping in at the base of one of the falls just to see how deep it might be. Thankfully he exercised some self control and only contemplated this scheme.
After three near heart attacks from Trisha, the day ended with Crazy man Tim alive and mostly unharmed. Three puzzles from the day with Tim remain:
1. How he's managed to survive all these years.
2. How he's managed to keep all his limbs and wits (?) about him.
3. How Mary's managed to survive the roller coaster of watching Tim's near death experiences.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Creepin' Along
As a part of our trip to North Carolina, Joe and I ventured off on our own in celebration of five years of marriage (although the real anniversary is not until mid August). Our days were spent enjoying the sites at Valle Crucis Community Park (once for bluegrass music with the family, once for running, and once to retrieve Joe's lost running watch), camping at Grandfather Mountain Campground, driving aimlessly through scenic North Carolina in blind hope that our GPS was working (this happened multiple times), eating smores by a late night campfire, and dining at various restaurants for our evening meals in the Boone area.
It was all enjoyable, but our favorites were:
Our meal at the Valle Crucis Cafe on Friday night. They had terrific food and a great little porch that provided a relaxing atmosphere as we dined.
Valle Crucis Community Park (see pictures in other post).
Games: Mini golf (Joe won); Carcassone, a favorite board game of ours (Joe won); and Monopoly Deal! (I won a few games), a new game we picked up at Wal-Mart.
The Virginia Creeper Trail. A 17 mile rails to trails bike ride all down hill. No pedaling until the last 3 miles and beautiful scenery all the way down. My kind of bike riding!
Joe & Trisha on the Appalacian Trail. We actually rode on it for awhile with our bikes, as the two trails were one for a short time.
Scenery from the Creeper Trail
Saturday, July 11, 2009
A Home with a View
In June we enjoyed some family time in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina. Some friends, Jim and Marianna Musser, graciously opened their beautiful mountain home to our family while they were away in South Africa. We have many tales from our week long adventure with four adults and three small children.
We thought travelling at night would be easiest on the kids, so we set out for the 8 hour journey at 7PM on a Wednesday night armed with two GPSes, one of everything in the house, and a hope to be there by 3AM. We should have known we were doomed when my father-in-law uttered the words, "The GPS is never wrong." Come to find out, the GPSes are often wrong in the mountains. I wish I could blame the GPS completely for our aimless middle of the night wanderings, but I must confess I was also at fault. Just before we left our house I wrote down the address to Jim & Marianna's home. Jim and Marianna live on Poplar Leaf Drive. I wrote down Poplar Drive. Funny, but these two addresses will not take you to the same place. I also had an old address for Jim and Marianna (the county changed the name of the street a few years ago) which included the street name Eagle Ridge Drive (one would substitute this name for Poplar Leaf if the GPS did not pull up Poplar Leaf). I, however, thought Eagle Ridge was the town, not the street. Needless to say, we arrived, with the help of a kind police officer, at our destination at 5AM after a very dark and long tour of the mountainous Boone area. There was an amazing amount of calm in the car despite the frustration of being lost all night.
Our favorite family stop was the Valle Crucis Community Park. It was a large park with play equipment, lots of green open space, a creek running by the edge, and a 1 mile running trail around the outside. We also enjoyed some real live mountain bluegrass music in the park.
Theia wasn't sure about swimming in the creek at first, but she quickly changed her mind.
Jim & Marianna are situated on the mountainside and the view was breathtaking in the early morning and at sunset. The girls enjoyed the large porch and yard which provided ample space to run and play.
They even had a hammock!
A creek ran right by their property.
On the porch and all clean after bathtime.
Xandra learned about skunks on this trip. She would alert us when she smelled one outside the car as we were travelling. One morning at the breakfast table someone was holding her and she exclaimed, "I smell skunk." Turns out it was just the morning breath of her human chair.
Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for coming with us! You helped make the trip more special and gave Joe and I a break!
Classy, Theia, real classy.
Other fun shots from the week:
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