Here, There and Everywhere
IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME AGAIN!!
We left more than two weeks ago, our longest vacation ever. We had a blast for the most part although we did manage to wreck one transmission, get sick and maybe deal with one stress fracture. But all in all we had a good time.
We started off heading straight to Hilton Head, SC. I woke up that morning with a cold to be. By the time we reached our destination I had a full blown head cold. Hilton Head.....our new favorite place. It was gorgeous the whole six days there. We stayed near the south end at the Beachwalk Hotel. We spent two days on bikes....the only way to go on that island, and my butt will tell you it was a bit more time than it was used to. The first day we biked down the length of the beach all the way to the end to figure out we couldn't hit Harbor Town from there. We could see the lighthouse but unless the bikes had floating devices we weren't going to make it. It took us an hour to get there seeing dolphins and a bunch of silly birds. We were told that was the only way to get into the gated community without having to pay at some gate on the main road. Up until this point we had seen many no trespassing signs so we didn't venture down those boardwalks that would have led us to where we wanted to go. We met a couple as we turned around, and they directed us to the back of their condos and onto the main bike trail that would lead us to our much anticpated Harbor Town.
So on we went and about a half hour or so found our way by following the signs to this beautiful location. When we climbed up into the lighthouse we were met with a fantastic view looking down at a very manicured golf course on one side. I guess the 18th hole is aimed directly at the lighthouse and has been featured in just about every National and local sports magazine and newscast around.
We then went back via the main road, stopped at an old plantation site and traveled thru this gated community until we came to the gate we were told we'd hit. With a touch of a button the gate moved and we headed out. The homes were very unusual, muted in color in a sort of earthy way. We found out later, not surprisingly, that the Island has alot of regulations in their building codes. Almost everything is hidden behind scores of palm trees and bushes. All the signs were low for a purpose and nothing seemed commercially overdone to us. It was very tastefully designed with much attention to detail to be the getaway paradise it promised to be. Even going thru neighborhoods on the bike trail that goes all over the Island at times felt like we were in a jungle hidden away from traffic that was just a few feet away on the other side of the line of greenery. At one point we even saw an alligator sunning himself on the bank of a culvert in a neighborhood. Of course I had the camera with me and snapped a picture of that baby but did not get too close. Boy, I would never see that in the Northeast. What a kick!!!
The second day we did the other side of the Island going away from the beach side and saw quite the opposite of the lush beautiful homes we'd seen on the previous day. In fact, we not only saw run-down homes but out and out poverty. At one point a pit stop just had to be made by my husband and when he came out from the bushes he told me about the makeshift house in there obviously inhabited by an unfortunate homeless person. We spent six hours on both days biking. On the days we didn't bike we spent time on the beach. Before we had to bring the rented bikes back we spent one beautiful sunset night on the beach snapping pictures as the sun lowered on the horizon. Many couples and families were walking the beach on this beautiful night. The temps were just about always in the 60-70 range making it very comfortable for me to wear shorts and a tank top for most the trip.
We then headed to Lynchburg, VA to see our son David and Aly. We always enjoying hanging out with our boys and their gals and this was no exception. We cooked a meal in Aly's apartment since David's house (living with 8 other guys) was let's just say not the cleanest environment to cook in. At least they had a shelving unit outside the door to house all their running shoes. All nine guys are on the Liberty X-Country Team. Their LR consists of a bumper pool table and a full sized ping pong table, not to speak of a trick stapler that gives you the shock of your life when you press down. I was not a happy camper, even throwing the doggone stapler out the front door when David had his back turned.
We took a tour thru Jerry Falwell's new Thomas Road Baptist Church. I'm sorry but it felt more like a mall than a church. It was the biggest, fanciest church I have ever been in. There's a school attached to it and buses galore were out front waiting to pick up the kids after school. While there I didn't see Jerry but David and Aly bumped into him when he walked Aly to her car.
On Saturday we headed to Roanoke to run a road race. I had an awful what I thought was a foot cramp on Wednesday night. On Thursday I could hardly walk on my foot. Never ever had anything like that. On Friday I was very black and blue going all the way to my toes but it felt better. On Saturday I figured I could run anyway since it was better. We got there minutes before the race started which had me putting my race shoes on at the starting line. Not a good start. No warm up. Mentally I was in trouble. Physically I need a two mile warmup. The gun went off. I ran. Mile one I looked down at my watch. Dang. I never hit it. I had no idea of my pace. I slacked off, thinking I was going too slow, didn't have time to warm up so I'm just gonna do a tempo. I finished the race with barely a kick and only at the 50 meter mark if that. I was pleasantly surprised to see I beat my time of last year by 8 seconds. Geeesh, maybe I should have tried harder. Then at the awards ceremony found out I won my age division as I had done last year. Then come to find out I had some competition 15 seconds behind me. That was close. On Sunday my foot began to throb badly. When I got a chance to take off my shoes and socks I could see what looked like a bigger reddened area that would later be black and blue and very sore to the touch. Pulled tendon? Muscle? Stress fracture? Don't know but am taking off a week of running and not liking it.
The Thursday before David decided to show us a new running trail that involved jumping over a "little" creek. Well he didn't count on a couple of things. One, I'm 5'2" and he's almost 6". Two, it rained hard the night before and the "little" creek was now a raging river to me. He jumped over it with ease and eagerly awaited his two parents. Of course we hemmed and hawed going up and down the bank trying to find a way. Finally my husband threw in a downed tree branch and kind of walked over it but it kind of broke with his weight just as he made it safely over. So now it was just me. He tried to throw various banches into the water to no avail. We looked at possibly big rocks that I could step out onto. As they were trying to help me, both of them got their feet wet slipping into the water. What the heck. I threw my shoes and socks over first and then got in the very cold brown water trying to step on rocks as I did so. On the other side we continued on the mucky path that led us to a park. All in all......NOT WORTH IT. We ended up getting lost in an endless neighborhood of brick houses. What is it in VA with brick anyhow?
After our race on Saturday we headed to Lexington, KY to meet our eldest son. David took his car following us to drop off his roommate in the same city. Five miles or so from the hotel, we split up giving David back his cell phone and headed back on the highway to await David's arrival later. We heard a load bang like we ran over something but could see nothing in the road as it was dark. A few miles later the car started acting nuts. The gauge was moving abnormally and we got nervous. Just as we pulled into the hotel, the car seemed to say that was all she was going to give us. We checked in, moved the car to a parking space and that was it. All the transmission fluid leaked out. Of all the places for this to happen, this was the best. We had David's car with us and our eldest son lived 10 minutes away. We had just traveled 7 hours to get to Lynchburg by ourselves and another 6 or 7 hours from Roanoke to have the car die minutes from the hotel. More than luck....I'd say. We felt blessed!! Since this was a rental, we called, Alamo. They sent a tow truck the next morning along with another car, and we once again had wheels.
After going to a very nice church called Ashland Baptist Church which was actually in a Christian school, we checked out our son's house and he gave us a bit of a tour of Lexington and a tour of the labs at UK. Since this was on Sunday no one was really around, but we did meet with one of his co-workers working in the lab alone that day.
Then we headed to Ohio to see our middle son, his new wife and baby. This verifies it all. We are grandparents. Yep. I can't deny it now. I saw him with my own two eyes. He's just about the cutest baby I've ever seen. Now, I'm not just saying this. I tend to be very objective about these things. I even admit, much to my son's chagrin, that he was quite a bit on the....well....let's just say not the cutest side when he was born. I wasn't blind. I could see. Of course somewhere along the way he cutened up real fast.....as his wife will attest to. I loved carting this new family member around and could probably hold that little boy all day if I had time. Anyhow, Tova is going to check on this so not being a family member she can tell you straight just how cute he really is.
Speaking of Tova/Tonya. I got to meet her as well. Yes I did. I called her right up and made a date to meet. We met that very day. We took a walk in the park and decided that we are not serial killers after all. Both of our husbands dismissed the other lady as a crazy "who knows who she really is" type. "She may be a serial killer for all you know." Of course we knew better. We got to hang out for a bit until she had to hit the gas pedal fast and pick up her son before they gave him away.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving at Brian and Amanda's cooking up some new recipes including a no crust pumpkin pie that was pretty good along with sweet potato rolls to go along with that stuffed turkey. So far we've always had the family together at Thanksgiving. Last year, we had the whole meal in a hotel room outfitted with a micro and stove top along with a full sized refrigerator. We had a good meal then as well. A bit of improvising but still good. Where will next year take us?
Speaking of turkey. We got the very last fresh turkey the night before. All that was left was one 12 pounder. My husband had just checked them out and said...."Quick you better decide, there's only four left." We were looking at the prices of the frozen ones and decided it wasn't worth thawing them out for that price and settled on the fresh getting to the meat section just in time to grab the last one.
So after a full meal, taking our last pics of that beautiful baby boy handing him around to each son of mine for the photo opt, we headed out the door for the first leg of our long journey home. It would take us 15 hours to get home. We drove 4 that night and almost 11 on Friday.
So vacation done, it's now time to scrapbook the whole thing. I took about 300 pictures. First thing is to get them developed and into the new book they go. It will be fun going over all that we did.
I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving, but most of all I pray that you all have something especially to be Thankful for. I know I do.
Blessings everyone.