Summer Roadtrip, Vol V

Savannah, GA

We left West Virginia for the longest drive of our trip, about 8 hours. We got in around 8:00 and found our hotel and I took one of the best showers of my life having camped for 4 nights in a row. Then we walked around for a bit to find dinner and ended up on the Riverfront at a Crab Shack. We had outstanding seafood, drinks, salads, a crab soup and a shrimp and corn soup. We sat out on a balcony and had a very romantic dinner. We started walking back towards the hotel and went to Riverstreet sweets. We sampled really amazing pecan pralines and white chocolate covered nuts which we bought. Alex got an ice cream cone and we got a white chocolate covered dog bone with sprinkles for Maggie. We just went back to the hotel because everything around there closed around 10:00 which was weird.

The next morning we woke up and took to our bikes for a tour of Savannah's historic district. They have tons of trolley tours which we didn't want to do so we took a map and a brochure and rode to the good places. Historic Savannah is a neat city, with a lot of charm and old southern beauty. We learned that Savannah was one of the south's first planned cities. It has about 25 garden squares intersecting street after street and the city is covered in giant oak trees to keep things shady. We went to Savannah's history museum and they had lots about the history of all American wars and Savannah's role in each. It was neat but we didn't stay long.

We made our way to the famous Forsyth Park, and could feel the essence of Forrest Gump, which is where the bench scenes from the movie were shot. We had an outdoor lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then found Paula Deen's place to get coffee for Jocilyn. There was a lot more to see and I'm sure learn since we taught ourselves but we had a good half day.

Then we went to Tybee Island, a 20 minute drive to Savannah's closest beach town. We spent the afternoon on the beach. Alex was swimming and some dolphins swam passed him about 20 feet out. I pointed to them and as Alex turned around you could see an entire pod swim around him. There must have been no fewer than 20 dolphins, maybe as many as 30ish. They were so cool, swimming in packs of 2-4 and all in a line parallel with the beach. They were really active jumping and occasionally smacking their tails on the water. My guess was they were feeding. I've never seen so many dolphins in one place. They swam past and then turned around and came right back. It was really cool, and Alex tried to get close but they stayed just out of his reach. I couldn't get a very good picture.

We rode our bikes around the island and found Marlin Monroe's and had dinner on the beach. We had a beautiful seaside meal and had more great seafood. We had the best coconut shrimp with pina colada dip ever! And shared a grouper sandwich with pesto mayo (new taste) and crab quesadillas. Then we ended it with a key lime pie. This is the view from our table.

We had a great afternoon and evening but when we went to our "beach camping" site we were less enthused. The beach camping was two blocks off the beach in a mostly rv camp site where we were in the woods with tons of mosquitoes and the foliage blocked all wind so the cool mountain camping we were used to turned in to hot and sweaty sleep with stagnant air. We tried to go to sleep immediately so once we woke up we could get out of there, but we got a phone call 30 minutes into our sleep and Alex had trouble sleeping again. At one point he suggested packing it up and leaving, or sleeping in the car, or sleeping on the beach itself and I almost went with it. But in the end we decided we'd rough it since that's what this trip was about so we toughed it out. As soon as we woke up the next morning we were off to St. Augustine for the 4th of July weekend.

Summer Roadtrip, Vol IV- con't

More fun in West Virginia- Rock Climbing!

We stayed an extra two nights at ACE after Lori and Dave left. We did a half day rock climbing and rappelling excursion which was so much fun. We luckily booked on a Monday so we were the only ones on the trip and had our own very cool guide Paul all to ourselves. I've never rock climbed other than an occasional rock wall, but Alex is somewhat experienced and is a very good climber, and has done rappelling with fire school and his rope tying came in handy. I was a little cautious about the climbing because these were real rocks and they were very vertical and pretty technical.

First we did a rappel of about 60 ft. The top 10 feet is rock and then after that it is a "free rappel" where you just lower yourself with no wall to walk your feel down. This was fun and we did a few of these.

Then we did three climbs, two of which were very difficult, and one that was hard but fun that took us up through a huge crevasse. Alex was like a little money or a frog or something. He was really good. He went pretty quickly and went on some paths up the mountain that Paul hasn't seen many take. He impressed Paul for sure and Paul would say , "Oh that move is called a..." or " Oh, that's a really tough move". I didn't know there were moves other than to hang on to the rock for dear life and do your best to get up. So I listened to Paul while Alex climbed and tried to do some of those things when I was in a tough place. Alex really enjoyed it and I was so proud of him for being such a bad ass.

We took tons of pictures. Here are some of Alex's best climbs.

Here's the zoomed out version of one of our climbs-- rugged all the way to the top, with some difficult features like the outcropping Alex is about to make it over-- it leaves few options for your feet making it a lot of arm work, which you try to avoid and use your legs when possible.

Several times when we were climbing I made it half way and felt I couldn't go any more or that I was satisfied with how far I made it, but Alex and Paul encouraged me to go on and with a lot of hard work, determination, and scraped up legs I pressed on. I was able to complete every climb in impressive fashion. It was the most proud I've been of a personal physical accomplishment in a long time. It was something I've never done and I had to use all the strength and agility I had. Paul says that little girls are good climbers but he's not sure he's seen a woman scale all the climbs to the top. Made me feel good just a week after my 29th birthday!

Here are some of my best climbs

My best move of the day!

At one point on this climb I was out of strength and didn't see how I was going to finish the climb. I was at a mixture of wanting to cry so bad and at the same time wanting to punch Paul and Alex for making me go on, but being unable to reach them that I was laughing making it hard to climb.

But in the end I made it and here I am victorious!

After climbing Alex decided he hadn't had enough so we did some mountain biking, which was miserable for me. The trail was about 18 inches wide with a drop off the mountain to the side. The trail was so rough and rocky and full of tree roots that you couldn't pedal more than a few times before literally running into a rock wall and having to walk or lift the bike. Then I slipped and hit my who-ha on the bike bar leaving me to shout nasty things at Alex. Then we at least made it to a nice overlook of the World Famous New River Gorge. The pictures didn't do it justice, the view was too vast.

We finally found a better trail to get us out of there and after a while realized it was a combo bike-horse-ATV trail, so it was full of a mixture of mud and puddles the ATVs left behind and horse poop that was hard to ride through and spit mud up all over us when I wasn't falling over in the mud. The only part of the trip I didn't enjoy.

We camped out one more night and Alex's obsession with searching for fire wood and building campfires continued. We had a nice dinner by the fire and slept well with the cool breeze coming in through the tent. We had an awesome weekend and thoroughly enjoyed West Virginia.

Summer Roadtrip, Vol IV

West Virginia- they call it "Wild and Wonderful" -- and it was!

On Friday we drove from Raleigh to West Virginia with Lori and Dave. We followed Lori, who drove about 50 mph and nearly got us killed by all the truckers, who gave her dirty looks as they passed us. She was scared of the downhill grade.

We finally made it there in the late afternoon where we stayed at ACE Mountain Resort. This place is amazing. The company owns massive acres of land in West Virginia that edges up to the famous New River. They have campsites and common areas with a fun play lake, restaurants, and a ping pong table (Alex was toast) among other outdoor games. Then they have every kind of guided activity one might imagine like rafting, horseback riding, mountain climbing, zip lines, ATV tours, mountain biking, paintball just to name a few. The place is incredible and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to do any kind of outdoor activity all in one place. Anyway, we played on the lake for a few hours. They had tons of fun inflatable toys, a water slide, and a zip line, which Lori was cautious to try and then rode it 4 or 5 times over and over like a little kid even when the rest of us had our fill after twice. She was so cute!

Here is Alex getting popped off the blob

In the evening we went to our campsite to find that they had put us in the wrong place because we had a permanent tent with beds in it already set up. We were supposed to be in our own tents. We didn't complain.

Early Saturday morning we left for our two day rafting trip on the Upper New River. The first day we were in duckies. These are like kayaks except that they are inflatable similar to a one-man or two-man white water raft. They are fun because they are low to the water and so they make the mild class 3s feel a lot more exciting than they would in a raft. They also call them duckies because with about 20 of them all following our trip leader Kent in his big raft we looked like little ducklings. We would paddle for a bit and then swim for a while, or just float when the water was still. It was fun, but after lunch we hit a head wind the guides had just about never seen before and we had to constantly paddle just to get down river. It was a workout!

The Tyus' -- aren't they cute!

Our guides were amazing. They cooked meals which I can hardly describe. They packed coolers full of food and we had a snack buffet prior to the lunch cookout and dessert. It was good and the start of my trip weight gain. Up to that point we had been eating trail mix food and PBJ and riding bikes and hiking and I know I was down several pounds. Then we went rafting and we had 4 of the biggest back to back meals I can ever remember having. Think Thanksgiving for lunch, dinner, breakfast, and another lunch. We camped out at night on the riverside in tents and Alex made a very impressive bonfire. We made smores and bonded with a group of 10 guys there on a bachelor party who play frisbee so we threw for a while. Here is a picture of us beginning to pack on the pounds.

When we woke up on Sunday we headed out for the Lower New River. It was calm in the morning with just two warm up rapids and we spent the rest of the time floating and swimming and we all took a leap from "Jump Rock". We had another huge lunch and then after that we went through twenty-three class 4s and 5s. They were intense and back to back. It was awesome!

Here is my sis and I with our lucky river camoflauge coming out of our helmets, meant to appease the River gods. It worked~ we lived!

Our guides were really fun and did a few new things I've never done. One they call "surfing" where they take the raft back upstream after the rapid into a hydraulic, where the water is churning back upstream due to a rock feature of some sort, with the river around the hydraulic going down stream. So the guide directs the boat into a spot where the water is rushing all around you and you look like you are going to go in head first into a giant churning wave, but you just stay in one spot like you are surfing. The power in incredible and we did this a few times. Once when we were in there really good and an older man in the back of our boat went overboard, with his head and torso in the water with one foot hooked into the raft. So everyone went to grab him on his side of the boat which left Alex and I to be thrown out of the raft pretty violently. We came up shortly and my cute new pink water shoe slipped off and I went swimming after it. Everyone is yelling "Forget the shoe, get in the raft", but I rescued my shoe and all was well.

Yes, the nose of our raft in about to pop up over that wall of water!

The other fun thing is they do this one where you make a chain with the "stinky parts" together. Lori was in front floating with her feet downstream and Dave hooked his feet in her armpits and floated behind her, then I did the same behind Dave, and Alex was in the back. We floated kinda mellowly and then Lori hit this one spot where the train is zipped around. The force that pulled Alex and I in the back was crazy. He was screaming, "Don't let go" because it felt like I was being pulled so strongly by the current, and meanwhile I felt like I was going to twist his knees because it zips you from side to side very fast. The longer the train the better, but we had about all we could take with 4 people. It was awesome.

Rafting was incredible! the best I've ever done and we look forward to doing the nearby Gauley River next time. Lori and Dave left in the evening to head back to Raleigh and we were both overcome with emotion. I was so grateful for the opportunity to spend the weekend with Lori and Dave once more before they start their new life in NC. I know we didn't take for granted the time we had when we lived close. We said that with them being in NC now we'll have to make our get-togethers center around vacations, which will be a whole new type of family fun.

Summer Roadtrip, Vol III

Eastern Carolina- Raleigh and surrounding areas...

We were in Lori & Dave and George's new city for two days. We stayed with George who took us to "The Pit" for Carolina Style BBQ. We shared the triple meat platter- was good!

Alex and I went with Lori and mom to Jordan Lake for some mild hiking and lake swimming. We had a good time with them and then Lori took us on a drive through the UNC campus.

We like what we saw and so we went back the next day with our bikes. We spent about three hours riding around the campus. We saw the Football stadium and the basketball arena, and rode through the campus and downtown Chapel Hill. On Cheslea's suggestion we found the Cosmic Cantina and had amazing burritos. It reminded us a bit of Gainesville joint, with all the hippie flair and cheap food. After that we found a grassy quad and threw the frisbee (in barefeet with that soft grass we don't have in FL) where it all began. Then we relaxed on the grass. We decided the red brick and big trees reminded us of UF, but UNC was a lot prettier and more charming (our stadium kicks UNC's ass at least).

Then Alex decided he needed more biking so we went to Umstead State Park and rode some pretty cool mountain biking trails for a couple hours. These trails were different from the ones earlier in the week. We had to work pretty hard, but like the last ones, the downhill reward was awesome!

Next stop- West Virginia, baby!

P.s. Lori got a job today- she'll be teaching 4th grade!!!! We're celebrating tonight... Lori has a job, Alex passed his test. Her summer is over next week :(

Summer Roadtrip, Vol II

Western Carolinas and the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains...

Alex and I spent one day in DuPont State Forest in Western NC southwest of Asheville. We had so much fun. We did several pretty rugged hikes, all of which had a huge reward at the end... Massive waterfalls that we had so much fun playing in. We went to Hooker Falls, Triple Falls, and High Falls.Then we got out our mountain bikes and did several trails. We thought we'd stick to the moderate trails since we are from FL and used to little elevations. But we ended up lost and on an extremely rugged trail. It was so fun and we had to work really hard, but the downhill reward was awesome, and we look forward to doing more biking on this trip.

Then we camped at Cascade Lake and had the cutest little campsite right on the lake's edge. The air cooled down and we had a very peaceful sleep. We woke up to a flat tire, which Alex had to switch out and we later spent some time having it patched at Sears since it was under warranty.


The next morning we went to Chimney Rock State Park, southeast of Asheville. We did some more hiking, and played in the 400ft waterfall, which was the film site from Last of the Mohicans. We avoided the snakes that were sunning and swimming at the base of the falls. Also we got buzzed by a C130 doing flight trials in the mountains. We were at the top of Chimney Rock and it flew at eye level. Very cool.

My smart husband

Alex joined me in Atlanta Saturday evening after taking his national certification for EMT in the morning. He called at 7:30 in the morning to tell me that he was lost and couldn't find the testing center and could I get online and give him directions (no computer access). Well he finally found it, and was in and out in 40 minutes. This test is weird because it is computer-based and ends itself either when you prove you can pass or prove you can't. Nobody seems to know exactly the formula and their isn't s set number. Alex felt confident despite my begging him to study, and last night he found out he passed! Now, after more than a year he has satisfied all the requirements to be hired as a fire fighter. Now he has to interview, so keep him in your prayers for this last phase in the process. Yeah for Alex, the EMT valedictorian!

Here is a picture of us gangstas happy to be reunited after a few days apart.

ECHO Hockey

We got the Flying Camels together again. The core team of myself, Devon, Rachel, and Sarah have added a few new friends to the old team. We have fun playing together after all these years. We won some tournaments last year, but unfortunately we didn't win this one. We did win a few games and had some fun in the process while getting a lot of exercise and little sleep. We lost in the final so we came in second place. Check out our cool trophies. As nearly 30 year old adults we'd rather get t-shirts or even hockey tape, but whatever.