Spring Break!

It was a long, long winter..... We were so excited to get down to where the flowering trees were popping out and the buds were sprouting on the trees.  

The journey down to Pisgah National Forest is almost as fun for us as the time we have had down there.  Breaking up the drive makes for easier days and good excuses to reminisce with friends and family.  Our first stop was with Nana and Grandpa Abbott.  They made us a lovely dinner, woke up early with the kids so I could go for a long run (and John could sleep in) and gave the kids a great place to ride their bikes for the first time in a long, long time. 

 

Next stop was Middleburg Virginia to see my dear friend Hess, meet her boyfriend, and feel the first temps above 70 degrees in months. 

 

The kids had a run time hunting for four leaf clovers, playing in green grass, smelling tulips, and having a slumber party with Flora. 

Sunday was our longest drive, so we stopped early on at our favorite playground in Harrisonburg, VA.

 

The kids are such great little travelers.  Yes, there is time with our friend the iPad, but the battery is a bit shot, so it's hard for it to hold a charge for very long.  So Cally has taken to reading and Hazen just turns into "Crazy Hazey":

  

The weather was gross, so we didn't mind being in the car..... until the car started to show some signs of problems.  First, all the warning lights went on when we were about 2 hours from Asheville (our destination for the night).  Then the windshield wipers would only go one speed.  I was Google searching all the potential problems that could be happening.  John called our mechanic.  The car was still moving and we were told it was probably in "limp mode".  John was certain we could make it to Asheville, so he had me look up Saab mechanics there.  Things started to go downhill.  The lights didn't work, the hazards, the dashboard lights.... nothing was working, except the motor (but not even that well).  

We were just passing through Johnson City, TN and I had a bad feeling.  My heart was beating so fast and I was terrified to be stalled on the side of an interstate, in the rain, with the kids.  I talked John out of trying to "make it the last hour" because I knew it involved driving through a pass or two.  So, he did the right thing and pulled over.  We drove through a few lights, looking for a hotel or anything.  It was a mill town, but it was Sunday, so it was super quiet.  We hit a red light and the car stalled.  John pushed it into an empty parking lot. At this point, because we'd been using the navigation system on both our phones and doing tons of searches, both our phones were dead.  I walked with the kids to find a place to charge our phones.  The first restaurant I walked into looked nice enough.  I walked up to the bar and told the bar tender what was going on, asked her if I could charge my phone and if she knew a foreign car mechanic.  She hesitated and said, "I don't mean to ruin your day any more, but this is an over 21 establishment".  I left my phone there to charge and thought of plan B.  We ended up seeing a nice older couple and asking them if they knew of a restaurant in the area.  It turns out, there was an amazing restaurant next door to the 21 and over "bar" that I just hadn't seen.  We walked in there and the people could not have been nicer.  

A few hours earlier, I had reserved a room in Asheville through "last minute deals" on Expedia.  It was raining, we'd been in the car a long time and we weren't really up for setting up a campsite in the darkness with rain.  So, we had paid for that reservation and I figured we might as well get there.  We were going to need a rental car and fortunately, there was an airport about a half hour away. 

 

While the kids and I ate dinner, John took a taxi to the airport  to get a rental.  We ended up at this restaurant for three hours.  The waitstaff and everyone we met was so nice to us.  The kids were amazing.  It was 10pm when John showed up in a little Ford Focus.  We stuffed everythign we could in the rental and drove an hour to the motel we had booked.  We were all in bed by 11pm!

The next day, we rendez-voused with our friends, the Aubin/Weiland's, who were staying at the motel next door.  We got to our favorite campground.  Set up our camp-- right next to a lovely river and in the sunshine. 

Our home away from home

John headed back to Johnson City with the Aubin's car, so he could arrange for AAA and pick up our bikes (they didn't fit in the rental).  I watched the kids so Ryan and Bryan could get out for a ride.  It was just so great to be there. 

The crew-- Cally, Hazen, Isaac, and Oliver

Oli and Hazen playing the stick game on the bridge

Too cold to swim, but fun to get our feet wet

Bryan and Ryan had a great ride and when they came back, I got out for a the perfect trail run.  John made it back by dinner and we had a great fire.  

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 It turns out it was just the alternator that went.  A relatively quick and inexpensive fix.  The mechanic was able to get the car in on Tuesday and John picked it up that afternoon.  But first, we got out for a perfect ride:

I spent the afternoon with the kids again, while Ryan and Bryan went for a couples ride.  Hanging out with these guys has gotten so easy.  While I hung out in the hammock, sometimes snuggling with a kid, sometimes reading to a kid, or sometimes feeling warm sunshine on my face and a warm breeze against my skin, they scootered, biked, made fairy houses, played baseball, or threw frisbees.  There were three campsites occupied within the loop that we were camped.  It was heaven.

Someone told me that one way to get your kids not to stay plugged in for a road trip and look at the surroundings, you can tell them that if they see an ice cream store, you'll stop.  It turns out there is an ice cream shop at the entrance to the National Forest where we camp (1.5 miles away).  My kids were so fired up for ice cream.  So, as soon as John returned from Johnson City (second round trip in two days), we decided to celebrate and get ice cream.

John had heard that there was a new brewery from Colorado from the area, so he mentioned going on a little drive to find it...... It turns out this Shangri La:

I know, it doesn't look all that amazing.... but

 

 

Hazen learning how to play Corn Hole

He quickly became obsessed

Kids table (root beer)

adults enjoying Oscar Blues - Deviant Dale's

We liked it so much, that we came back the next night:

The kids had a ball hiking and biking.  Here they are at the "kids trail" in Dupont Forest:

Hazen mountain biking on his Barbie bike

Grrrrrrrr

We continued to swap off adult rides and do fun excursions with the kids:

Looking Glass Falls

Visiting the Horse Stables

 On Friday, we had to say good bye to Davidson River Campground.  But we were excited because we still had a few more stops.  First we stopped at Merle Fest.  It was a gorgeous day!



The kids had a ball at the "Little Pickers" area:

We ate lots of "bad" food:

And we enjoyed some fun music:

We hit the road at 8:30pm with a plan to drive as far as we could towards Baltimore.  We ended up missing a key turn and had to head up I-95 instead of I-81 (up the western side of Virginia).  When I realized we would be driving through Richmond, VA, I immediately got in touch with my old graduate school friend, Sarah.

We ended up meeting her and her family at her daughter's school fair.  It was one of the most amazing fairs I've ever been to, even if it was raining and was so great to see her.

This set us back a little with our visit to Baltimore, but we did arrive by 3:30-- with enough time to skooter with Uncle Rob:

Before heading into Baltimore for an Orioles/Red Sox Baseball game.  We had heard that there were some demonstrations downtown, so we decided to take the light rail.  This, of course, thrilled the kids:

However, the light rail had to stop six blocks from Camden Yard because the demonstrations had moved towards that part of town.  We weren't really sure what to think, at this point.  People were telling us to turn around, that tear gas was being used and not to go into the thick of it.  We charged ahead anyway.

In front of Camden yard, there were hundreds of police officers in riot gear, but nothing was really going on.

Once we were inside, you'd hardly have known there was unrest outside the stadium.

I urged everyone to leave around 9:30, even though the game was tight.  I'm glad we left when we did.  Things had gotten a little out of hand right in front of the stadium during the game.  A few police cars were damaged, but when we left, there wasn't much to see.

We definitely saw some angry people -- yelling a lot and some holding bats.  But, we kept walking toward the light rail.  Just as we were getting further from the nice hotels and whatnot, we heard a speaker at the station say that the light rail was closed for the night.

Without a plan, we turned around and headed back to the nicer part of town.  Just as we were a block or two away, we saw the train coming up the tracks and knew we should grab that train while we could.  It was such a relief!  Immediately, these guys were down.

Our visit to Baltimore is always too short, but it was so great to see Will, Nif, and Rob.

We had such a great trip!  We made memories and had so much fun with everyone that we got to see.  It was a lot of driving, but I'd do it again and again.  I loved everything about it.