Birthday Trip

We took a trip to Ohio to celebrate my 40th and Dad's 70th birthdays. We left on Wednesday after school and drove to Charleston, WV. We stayed at what has become our favorite hotel in Charleston and had a good night's sleep followed by a lovely breakfast buffet. The whole family enjoyed the pool for about an hour and then we hit the road to Ohio. It's not every day you get to swim in a warm pool while you can see it snowing outside. That did make for a cold run back to our room since the hallways were a bit chilly by comparison.

We had lunch in Marietta and got some coffee drinks for the road. It was in the low teens, so we decided to forego the riverwalk until another time. We got to Wadsworth and had a fun evening with Grandpa and Bubbe along with a great meal.

Friday was kind of a slow morning and then in the afternoon I went shooting with Dad while Amanda took the kids to see Frozen. After that my stepbrothers took me out to dinner, which was really fun. Of course, since this was a 40th birthday celebration and not a 21st we were still in bed at very reasonable hours.

Saturday was the really big day. While Uncle Mark went to the gym to run on the treadmill Aunt Jen took us to the local farmer's market and to the West Point Market. We got some goodies and then went home to get ready for Grandpa's birthday party. The video below was taken before lunch on Saturday.

What started this was Uncle Mark convincing Noah that he had to shovel all of his driveway, the neighbors, and the street (but only to the stop sign). Of course, Noah bought it. He and Lily enjoyed doing the driveway and even made a few bucks. Later that day when Lily saw Uncle Mark snowblowing the neighbor's driveway she exclaimed, "He has a snowblower?!?" She doesn't understand about keeping up when there is just a little snow.

We had a great party that everyone really enjoyed, especially Grandpa. It was fun to have him as the guest of honor and we even got to celebrate on his actual day.

Saturday night was fun because the twin cousins spent the night. They all slept in the same room and I think that everyone got to sleep fairly well. Lily had some trouble sleeping and she woke up one of her cousins to see the clock turn to midnight. The good news is that Lily was able to nap in the car on the way home.

Sunday morning started out a little rough because Noah threw up a couple of times. He didn't have breakfast, but his stomach seemed to settle down because he was fine at lunch and dinner. He also was fine today.

Now it's back to reality, at least for a week.

Day 9 - Journey's End

All good things must come to an end. We were ready to come home. We missed the kids and we also were very tired from all that we saw and did. Fortunately, everything went very smoothly. We got up early, got our stuff packed, and got to the airport in plenty of time. The only negative was that Amanda was missing a sock. Hopefully it turns up in our luggage.

We got to the airport in good order, which was good because the British version of TSA was very interested in the stuff we were bringing home. Apparently a duffel bag full of tea and food doesn't scan well. I felt like a fool for putting the HP sauce in our carryon, and it had to be confiscated. Even with all the extra attention I got I still much prefer their airport security over ours because I felt like theirs actually had value.

Once we got through the screening we had an extremely long walk back to our gate. I'm not sure that we could have had to walk any father and still be in Heathrow. We got some breakfast, boarded our plane, and had a smooth journey to Charlotte where we picked up our connecting flight for a smooth journey home.

It was great to get back. Lily jumped out of the car and gave Amanda a big hug as soon as she saw her. Noah was not quite as effusive, but he and Lily both greeted us warmly. It was wonderful to come home to the house being kept so well. We are extremely grateful to Jack and Melanie for making this trip possible.

Now it's back to reality for us. As I type this at 5:58 AM I've already been awake for 2 hours. I woke up at around 3:45 and couldn't get back to sleep since my body is still 5 hours ahead. I'm sure that we will adapt quickly enough though.

Day 8 - Oxford

I awoke around 6:00 and took a run through Hyde Park. It was a lovely run, but as with all things London it ended up being longer than I intended while I worked to find our hotel. I did eventually find it and after getting cleaned up we headed out to take the train to Oxford.

Unfortunately, it was chilly with intermittent rain in Oxford. That still didn't make the buildings any less old or beautiful though. We went through the Bodleian Library, checked out some bookstores, and had lunch at the Eagle and Child. That is the pub where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien used to hang out with their group known as the "Inklings." I enjoyed my venison sausage with mash, but Amanda's salad was a bit lackluster. Nevertheless, it filled us up for the rest of the day.

We bought tickets to tour Christ Church College, which was of course beautiful. We had to leave and come back to see the great hall. Their hall is what inspired the great hall in the Harry Potter movies. It didn't disappoint at all, though I recommend not going in front of a group of 12 year-old French girls if you can at all avoid it.

By the time we got back to London Amanda was really pooped. She hung out in the room while I went off to find us some dinner. I got us some Middle Eastern food, which we both enjoyed. I had fun watching the FA Finals where Wigan Athletic upset Manchester City. I really had no rooting interest other than seeing an upset and it is always fun to watch football (soccer) here. I also tried to watch some cricket, but I don't have internet access in the room and I still find the game somewhat inscrutable. Now we're down to reading and blogging while we finish up our time here in the UK.

Day 7 - Cheddar

Hilary made us the "full English" breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, tomato, mushrooms, and baked beans. The beans are really the key to making it the full English. We then set out to walk. We took a really nice walk to the Cheddar Gorge where we toured Gough's Cave. It was very much worth seeing. We did a bit of shopping in the village, including a stop at the cheese shop. In case you're wondering, cheddar cheese really was invented in this village. Eating the cave-aged cheese is almost worth the trip in itself.

After that we headed up to Wells. We got to see their beautiful cathedral. It's amazing to see these buildings where the newest parts are still older than anything we have in America. After our tour of the cathedral we went back to the cottage, collected our bags, and then had a short driving tour of Bristol. We then had a train ride to London without incident. The only difficulty was finding our hotel, but once we knew where to look it wasn't a problem.

We finished the evening with a meal of cornish pasties. All in all, it was a fine day.

Day 6 - Travel

This was a pretty simple day, though not completely without incident. Fortunately, the easiest part was our drive from Oban to Edinburgh. As always, I was very grateful for Google Maps. I don't think that I broke any traffic laws and I do know that I got my full deposit back on the car. I call all of this a huge success.
 

We caught a bus from the Edinburgh Airport to the city center (centre, if you prefer) where we were dropped off at the train station. We boarded our train and enjoyed our first-class trip until we stopped at Newcastle. Our train was killed because the lines were delayed due to someone being hit by a train south of York. With the help of the nice lady in the first-class lounge we found a different train and headed to our destination at Bristol.
 

We were met by Amanda's friend Hilary who took us to a great Indian restaurant in Cheddar. We enjoyed a lovely meal and then went back to her cottage for bed. It was not a very exciting day, but it was a load off my mind for us to get through all of that smoothly.

Day 5 - Kayaking

Today was our last day in Scotland and we decided to save kayaking for it. I started the day with the "Full Scottish Breakfast." For the uninitiated, this included a poached egg, a slab of bacon (more like Canadian bacon), half a tomato, some mushrooms, a potato scone, a sausage link (think a "banger" when you get bangers and mash), black pudding, and fried haggis. I also chose to get our host's homemade porridge.

Breakfast was certainly an experience. Porridge is very good with cream and whisky, though I don't think I want to make a habit of drinking an ounce of whisky at 8:00 AM every day. Amanda also thought it was good, but not something we would go out of our way for. The black pudding and haggis both looked like large sausage patties on my plate. I really liked the black pudding, particularly with HP sauce. The haggis was good too and it was much better with the sauce.

Having thereby fortified myself, I set out to our adventure of the day - sea kayaking. Compared to Amanda, I am a kayaking neophyte. I understand the idea, but don't have her experience. I went into this with some trepidation as I really hate being soggy The good news is that this place set us up with dry suits. These were not particularly comfortable, but they weren't horrible either. I was surprisingly OK with having my legs in the kayak cockpit with the spray skirt on top.

We were out for about 5 hours, though we had a few breaks, including a protracted one for lunch. We ran into some weather too. Amanda came extremely close to capsizing once, and our instructor told us that it is fairly common to have someone go swimming. I thought I came close a couple of times, but really that was just nerves and I was fine.

Overall, it was quite intense. I had never kayaked in the sea with 20 MPH winds blowing rain sideways creating 6 inch waves, but now I can say I have. I'm not eager to do it again, but it was worth it for what we saw. If you don't mind putting on an extra layer and getting your hair mussed by the rain then Scotland is a treasure. If you do mind those things then stick to Paris. The Parisians are rarely mussed.

We came back and Amanda had a long soak in the tub. To give you some perspective, her arms hurt while folding clothes for our packing to go home. I don't feel particularly sore, but I do feel weary from the wind, rain, and salt air. We finished the evening with a quiet meal at a restaurant recommended by our guide. I very much enjoyed the local beer I had along with my fish and chips. Amanda had steak pie with a glass of Shiraz blend. All in all, it was a great day.

We hate to go home. I told our host that we had to leave before breakfast and he packed us a lunch that would impress Grandpa Jack. We have rolls, sandwiches, water, crisps, 2 oranges, and 2 apples. I think we're ready for our next adventure - the trip down to Bristol on the train.

Day 4

Today we enjoyed the complete opposite weather from yesterday's. It was sunny, dry, and in the mid 60s. We started the day with a little drive to the Isle of Seil. There isn't much on the island, but there was a spectacular view from a little area called Easdale. I do feel like I'm starting to get the hang of diving on these roads though. I think the biggest key is not to get too uptight.

After that we came back to the room and walked into town. We thought that we could catch a ferry to the Island of Kerrera (pronounced as if it doesn't have the er at the end "Kay-ra") from downtown, but we found out that we had to walk about 2 miles south of town. By the time we got there Amanda was dead tired. We also missed the last ferry that ran at 12:30 and had to wait until 2:00 for the next one. I took the opportunity to walk back to the hotel and get the car.

The goal for the Island was to see Gylen Castle and to have tea at the tea gardens. What we didn't realize was that both were at least another 2 miles from where the ferry dropped us off. We pressed on and eventually found the tea room. It is an incredibly beautiful spot and we did have tea with a very late lunch (we had Lara Bars to fortify ourselves earlier), but it was not a British Tea. It was still a nice time though. The hike to the castle was rather muddy and sheepy, but it was worth it. I've come to realize that our modern ideas of castles are probably very Americanized because they did not have much living space at all. I think that the view may have made up for it though.

The hike back was easier because it was more downhill, but it was still quite long. We were very happy for the car to drive back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and then had a nice meal at a local seafood restaurant. As you might imagine, this is a great place for seafood.

Now we are enjoying the view from our room with the windows open to give us a lovely sea breeze. Westward facing windows are pretty, but the room was pretty hot. No central A/C here, for obvious reasons.

As I finish this we can hear bagpipes playing in the distance. I'm pretty sure that makes our Scotland experience complete. Tomorrow we go kayaking in the sea. That should be an adventure too.

Day 3

I woke up excited to take a run this morning, but was a little disappointed to be greeted with a driving rain. I decided not to let that deter me, so I laced up my trainers and hit the streets of Oban. This was a helpful way to quickly get the lay of the land.

Amanda and I had a lovely breakfast where we both had yogurt, fruit, and granola to start. We continued with scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. It was a great way to start the day.

We then set out to explore Oban together and do some shopping. i really wanted to get a sweater while here and I found a few candidates out of the many choices. I have been told that I'm not ready for a plaid deerstocker cap, but I know that my day will come eventually. I also saw a couple of great tweed jackets, but not £350 great.

After shopping we went back to our room to gather our stuff and get ready for a scenic drive. We spent 10 miles on a one-lane road along a raging river. We didn't see very many other folks on the road either, which was nice. After that we got lunch at an inn that was highly-recommended on TripAdvisor. It did not disappoint.

We continued our scenic drive back home and then walked back in to town to finish up our shopping. I did commit to a nice fleece-lined cardigan sweater. We also made reservations for kayaking on Wednesday. After that we went to check out a place for Amanda's benefit - Aldi. If it was not in a glass jar I certainly would have picked up some lemon marmalade for 95p. We did get some goodies that would be considered premier in the States, but they are just food at Aldi. We only wish that clotted cream would keep on the plane ride.

Finally, we went back out on the town for dinner. Amanda had fish & chips while I had fried squid. Both were good. We stopped at a restaurant/pub for dessert. Amanda had chocolate cake and I had sticky toffee. Again, both were excellent.

The weather today was, well, authentic. It was in the low 50s and it rained off and on all day. The rain here is like the rain you get in the mountains. It is not a driving rain with big nasty drops, but rather it is a mist of varying intensity. As I look out the window I see it is back to intense mist. We did see a tiny patch of blue sky when we walked to dinner, but that was it. We are undeterred though. If we wanted sunshine we would have taken another cruise. Instead we got to see some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. A little rain/mist can't spoil that!

Day 2

I managed to stay awake until 8:30, which was very difficult. I kept feeling like I was going to drop off when we were riding the Metro. We survived though.

I didn't get up until 7:30, which is amazing for me. I really needed the sleep. Amanda got up shortly thereafter. We got cleaned up and then hit the town. We started with a walk to Luxembourg Gardens. On the way we found a boulangerie where Amanda got a chocolate croissant and I got some pastry called "pepito." I thought it had poppy seeds in it, but it was instead some kind of cheesy filling with chocolate chips. Both were really good. We enjoyed these in the park and then walked around a while. We saw the classic fountain where kids still race sailboats. It was pretty amazing to take in this garden that you see in movies.

After that we walked to the Palace des Invalides, which was something built for wounded veterans in the 17th century. We decided not to get in the queue to see the chapel, though I'm sure it was amazing. Amanda didn't have much interest in seeing the French Army museum either (insert French military in the last century joke here).

We walked over to the Champs Elysees where Amanda found herself a scarf. Turns out that many Parisians wear them, straight men included. We got back to the hotel, gathered our bags, and then took the Metro to pick up our shuttle to the Beauvais Airport where we got our flight to Scotland. Flying Ryanair is a lot like flying Southwest in the States, with the addition of many opportunities to buy things in-flight including scratch-off lottery tickets.

We got our car at the Edinburgh airport and hit the road. Driving was not trivial here, as you might imagine. My biggest problem was getting used to how narrow the lanes are. I kept clipping the curb on the left side of the car. Fortunately, Amanda was a pretty mellow passenger. A more nervous passenger would have really unnerved me. The constant rain didn't help matters either.

We pulled in to our B&B at about 9:00 PM and were delighted with the hospitality of the owner. We love our room too. The most difficult part of the journey is successfully behind us.

Day 1 - Paris

Bonjour de Paris! We pulled into the gate around 7:30 local time, which is 1:30 AM to our internal clocks. Amanda slept more on the plane than I did, which was good for her. I got a couple of hours, but they were not great hours of sleep.

We got settled into our hotel around 10:30 and then began exploring the city. We started with croissants and cappuccino at a local boulangerie. We then began navigating the Metro to get our real lunch. The only snag we found with the Paris Metro is that you have to manually choose which doors open. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing all day.

We had an incredible meal for lunch. For starters Amanda had pate de foie gras and I had a tort made with a variety of veggies. Both were excellent. In fact, the pate was one of the few foods where you feel like your life won't ever be quite the same after eating it. For our main dishes Amanda had lamb and I had duck. Both were also excellent. If you are heading to Paris please let us know and we will set you up with this place.

After lunch we started sightseeing. We started with waiting in a long line for the Eiffel Tower and then a long climb up the stairs. It wasn't that hard, though it did take a toll on our legs. After that we walked to another Metro station where we caught the train to get to the Arc de Triomphe. I always wanted to see it and I'm glad I did, but I didn't want to see it enough to wait in line. I just took photos from the sidewalk across the street from it.

We walked up and down the Champs Elysees a bit, which was fun. Amanda thought about looking at necklaces at Cartier and I thought about looking at pens at Mont Blanc. Neither of us was very serious about this, of course. We then went to the Mariage Freres tea store, which was kind of overwhelming given how tired we were. We did pick up a couple of tins that we look forward to enjoying.

From there we took a relatively short walk to Notre Dame. We were there just as Mass was starting. The pipe organ does add a certain gravitas to the proceedings for sure. They even do incense for just a regular Saturday evening Mass.

From there we walked across the river to our side of it and got a fairly simple dinner of quiche. We both got desserts that we really enjoyed and now Amanda is soaking her aching legs in the tub. I am tentatively planning on taking a job around the Jardin du Luxembourg tomorrow, but we will see how it goes. I do think that I got a good sense of what the city is all about. It is certainly fun, but I think that I prefer Rome.

Exhiliration

Since we were going to be in NE Ohio for Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to do something seasonal that I remember fondly from my teenage years. The Cleveland Metroparks toboggan chutes are open for the season on the day after Thanksgiving. Amanda and I had done this a long time ago with my mom and Ernie and with the McKenzies long before any of us had kids. Amanda is always up for a thrill, so we made the trip out there on the way to visiting my stepbrother and his family in Fairview Park.

The day started out warm, which was contrary to the forecast. I got worried that they wouldn't be running because it was too warm even for the refrigerated chutes, but as the cold front came through the day stopped being Raleigh and started being NE Ohio in late November. 

I talked up the experience and everyone was excited. Lily got nervous when she saw that the pass on her zipper read, "Ride at your own risk." They were pretty scared at the top, but we talked them into going. We all went down together on the first run. It ended with Noah bawling and Lily on the verge of tears. That was Noah's only run for the day. 

I talked Lily into going again with me and she did, albeit reluctantly. She was a little less scared, but still pretty frightened. We went in for some hot chocolate to regroup. Since Amanda is the one who enjoys this the most I wanted to find a way for her to go down, so I talked Lily into going with her. The condition was that I would film her. Here is the result:

She was thrilled at the end of this. Then she decided that she wanted to go yet again! In fact, in retrospect her favorite thing about the visit was going tobogganing. We batted .500 on getting the kids into it.

Savannah Travelog

Amanda had wanted to visit Savannah, but it didn't seem like a good idea to go on our actual anniversary. We thought the weather would be nicer in October and we were right. It was beautiful when we arrived on Friday. Once we got checked-in we took a walk to do some shopping and get a sense of what the town was like. We stumbled upon a great tea room where Amanda found a new favorite tea. After that we went to Tybee Island for the sunset. We finished the day at a local pub where Amanda had a lamb burger and I had bison. It was a splendid time all around.

We started our day on Saturday with a kayak trip near Wilmington Island. It was some work paddling against the tide, but we were up to the challenge. Sadly, it was not particularly scenic, but it was nice to get out on a beautiful morning.

We came home, ate a very quick lunch, and then hustled back downtown to do a walking tour related to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It was more narration than walking. The narration was fascinating and the guide seemed to truly enjoy the subject. It seems that he is reading the transcripts of the four trials just to get more information. Conveniently enough, the tour ended by Mercer House where "the incident" occurred and which was a block from where we were staying. Amanda rested while I went to get more tea. After I got back I met a locksmith from AAA who extricated the keys from our car (oops on me!). We got cleaned up and then headed out for dinner.

Based on the reviews, I really wanted to eat at the Olde Pink House (incidentally, it was a Jim Williams restoration project), but we would have had to eat at 5:00 or at 9:00. Instead, we ate at Vic's on the River. We had a wonderful meal and got our server to take our photo. She suggested we go out on the balcony. I suppose we could have taken more time to frame up the shot, but this still came out pretty good. You will note that I got some sun whilst kayaking and walking. Silly me for not thinking of a hat as each year my forehead seems to grow.

On the Balcony at Vic's

Sunday we took a walk around Forsyth Park and then drove out to Bonaventure Cemetery. We are not big into cemeteries, but this is indeed a really nice spot. Finally, we went to City Market to do some last-minute gift shopping and to get some lunch. We had an uneventful drive home and were happily reunited with the children and Oreo.

View from the Top

Here is a photo that I stitched together. It was totally worth the hike.

View from the bridge

Vacation Photos

One of the reasons why this blog has been quiet for so long is that we were on vacation the last two weeks in July. We got a free trip to North Myrtle Beach thanks to some work that one of my co-pastors did on a house there. It was nice to spend some time with the other elders and their families for a few days. You can see that we got busy in the sand.

We got back from that trip on a Friday and then on the following Sunday we went to stay at a cabin in Boone. Here are some photos from that trip. I believe that this waterfall is simply called "The Cascades."

This was taken on Grandfather Mountain. This was an expensive day because they charge $18/adult and $8/child. We decided we wanted to get our $52 worth out of the day, so we started off with a hike up the bridge trail to the famous "mile-high bridge." The bridge itself is really not that high, but overall you are still a mile above sea level. We hiked back down to the car (only about .4 miles each way) and then drove down the mountain a bit for a picnic. I think that this photo was taken after our picnic. The view was quite stunning.

After that, we decided to do more hiking after a potty break. We drove up to the top and tried to do a loop. Once we figured out where we had to go we started on the very strenuous Grandfather Trail. We didn't get to the part with ladders, but there was some climbing up and down involved. The kids were troopers. However, about halfway through it started to rain. Amanda and the kids found some shelter while I ran back up to the very top to get the van. We finished all of this with a trip through the nature museum and a stop at the sweet shop for some fudge.

On Thursday we went to Linville Falls and Linville Caverns. These photos were taken from various overlooks around Linville Falls.

At the Beach

Since we decided not to go to Pennsylvania it occurred to me that we should try to salvage Amanda's birthday weekend. I went with my original plan and set up a night at the beach. We stayed at what I hoped would be a nice hotel. We got off to a fairly early start on Thursday and were at the hotel by around 11:00. Since it was mid-week and early in the season they had our room ready, which was nice. We got our stuff in the room and hit the beach.

We had a picnic on the beach complete with some leftover birthday cake from the mini-party Amanda's friends from church had for her on Wednesday. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The kids splashed around in the surf for a while. Lily tried to fly her kite, but had a hard time. Noah and I played some catch.

After the beach we hit the pool. It was a very nice pool, but it was still a little cold. I swam with the kids some and we had a great time. The kids really liked going in the hot tub with Amanda, though of course they couldn't do it too much. Lily was intrigued by my description of the sauna and she did poke her head in Friday morning. I offered to take her in for a minute, but she refused. I was hoping she would hang out in there then jump in the pool.

We opened up the window in our room and enjoyed the beautiful day with some homemade daiquiris. I found out from the bartender by the pool that a pina colada at the pool would set you back $15. To be somewhat fair, they are 16 oz and they do have 2 1/2 oz of rum in them. Plus, they are completely fresh with freshly-made coconut cream each morning. I was glad for our mix instead.

Later, we went on a free 30 minute harbor cruise on the intracoastal. The highlight for me was seeing Trot Nixon's house. We then went to a lovely dinner followed by frozen custard next door. We walked home on the beach and enjoyed our evening immensely.

As you might imagine, it took the kids some time to settle down in the room. Noah was very excited about sleeping in a hotel room. The air conditioner was kind of loud and Lily complained that she didn't really get to sleep until 3:30 AM. Nevertheless, after I got back from my run on the beach everyone got up for our free breakfast buffet. We enjoyed the pool and the beach some more and then hit the road home. On the way we stopped in Wilmington for a nice lunch and then came home.

I've decided that an overnight is the perfect amount of time at the beach. The kids like the pool better than the ocean. I find that I can only take so much sand and sun. As long as I get my sunrise run in I'm a happy camper though. Amanda declared it to be a good birthday, so I felt like we did well.

Searching for Mrs. Dunbar

Lily had her meet the teacher yesterday. She got Mrs. Dunbar, which seems good so far. Lily likes her because she has long hair and was wearing a dress. Amanda said that she made a good first impression, so that's good. Lily is also excited because her friend Grace is in her class. We're happy about that too because we like Grace and are happy to have Lily play with her.

Our vacation wound up well. We got an early start out of Boone and used the afternoon to see the last Harry Potter movie in IMAX. It was great and wrapped up the series well, even if there were some liberties taken with the book. The kids were happy to see us, but Noah said that the highlight was getting his gift. We got him an old-fashioned slingshot from the Mast General Store. He is already envisioning how he is going to do Angry Birds with it. We may end up regretting this decision, but it will be a while before he can pull the band back.

Today is the last day of summer vacation. Noah has his 4 year well-child appointment today. After that the plan is to head over to the McKenzies for the last swim of the summer. It's hard to believe that Lily is going into third grade.

Falling Water

Today was the day to take in some waterfalls. We started off with a beautiful drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway and started with these two waterfalls. Setrock was a little disappointing, but Roaring Fork was quite lovely. It's not the most water you will ever see going over a cliff and it's not the highest, but the varied drops as the water comes down is really nice. I would have to rate it as one of my favorite NC waterfalls, if not my favorite overall (yes, that includes Niagara). After that we went to Crabtree Falls. Finding the trailhead was a little tricky, but once we found it we had a nice hike. The only trouble is that Amanda's hiking sandals gave her some nasty blisters. We had our picnic on a couple of rocks near the base of the falls then began the long climb back.

We were going to take in Linville Falls as well, but given the condition of Amanda's feet we decided to skip it and head back home. Plus, Amanda had seen them before. We figure that we will be back here at some point and the falls are not going anywhere. Perhaps we can even see them with the kids.

We got cleaned up and then headed out for dinner at Crippen's Country Inn. If you're ever in Blowing Rock and are in the mood for a very nice meal I cannot recommend this highly enough. My caesar salad was very good and Amanda got the salad with the chocolate. She loved it. I got the salmon and Amanda got the tenderloin. The best way to describe her entree was a beef sundae. We broke tradition and actually got two different desserts. Amanda got the bread pudding and I got the figs and pigs (homemade fig ice cream with candied bacon bits). Both were outstanding. We also broke tradition by getting beverages, though both were non-alcoholic. Amanda got some kind of ginger fizz that was really good and I got habanero sweet tea. It wasn't as spicy as I had hoped, but it was still good.

We're ready to get home tomorrow. It will be good to see the kids and it will be nice to rescue Aunt Tiff.

Greetings from Banner Elk!

I am writing this from our room in Banner Elk, NC. We got a Groupon to stay at a resort for 3 nights and are enjoying that now. It's a timeshare, but since we bought the Groupon we were spared the "property preview." It's nice to have a full kitchen to stash our stuff. It has certainly saved us some money on breakfast and lunch.

Yesterday we arrived and walked around Boone for a bit. I was looking for a used book store, but we didn't find any. There is one more we may check out, but I am not going to go out of our way for it. We got dinner at a cute little restaurant in Banner Elk that I recommend called The Monkey and the Frog. It was just nice to enjoy a good meal without having to cut anyone's food.

We got off to a fairly early start today and hit a couple of waterfalls. It was a good hike for us. It was basically 1.6 miles down and 1.6 miles back up. We both agreed that the views were worth the hike. We were pretty sweaty by the time we got back to the car, but that's all part of the experience.

After that we went kayaking on the New River. We were given three options for our tour and we chose the long one. The man who explained it told us it would be 4 - 4 1/2 hours, but we did it in about 3 1/2. I think that we probably paddled faster than many. We would have done it in about 3, but there were a number of shallow areas where we either had to start punting or get out and pull the kayaks. It was fun to negotiate the small rapids to figure out how to miss the rocks. I started making up a story about how my people had been navigating rivers for centuries. Of course, I'm more likely to be from Delhi than I am to be a Cherokee.

It was a great time on the river though. But by the time we finished we were both pretty well spent. We stopped at Chick-fil-A and got a large lemonade to split. Then I checked out an independent Christian bookstore that had used books.  I was very disappointed with the used book selection, but it's always interesting to browse. The store wasn't all bad. Unlike our local Lifeway, you could at least get a copy of Calvin's Institutes there.

We thought about going to see Harry Potter tonight, but it's not showing in Boone anymore. I got us a calzone and some salads and that was our evening. Amanda has just availed herself of the giant whirlpool tub in our room. I was just glad to shower off the day's funk.

Tomorrow should be more waterfalls and then a nice meal in Blowing Rock. Nothing like some good hikes to work up an appetite.

Beach Update

I've exchanged some texts with Amanda to get the skinny on what is happening at the beach. Tuesday was so hot that they stayed inside most of the day, but they did get out to the beach, the pool, and the hot tub yesterday. The weather was really nice in Raleigh, so I can only imagine how wonderful it must have been at Outer Banks.

Today and the rest of the week should prove interesting. The McKenzies had a water heater leak Monday morning and are getting some repairs done on their house. Jack had gone back to visit his dog who hurt her paw and decided to bring Brenna to the beach as a way of helping out and to give Brenna a little trip to the beach. They will travel back today. Amanda will now get to share a bedroom with all three children.

Cue the music.

Safe Trip

Amanda reported that they had a safe and uneventful trip to the beach. The plan was to celebrate Aunt Claudia's birthday with a cake from Once in a Blue Moon bakery. Follow that link and read about the Milky Way. Good stuff.

Apparently Amanda's cousin Zach now has an iPad. Amanda reports that it has captured the children's imagination. The house reportedly has a game room with foosball, ping pong, and pool. Between the iPad and the game room Noah is never going to want to leave the house.