Fall Road Trip 2019- Part 1- Boston, PA, & Shenandoah NP

Monday- 10/14- We are off! Our first stop was the Body Worlds exhibit at MOS. We met up with our Boston friends and spent the afternoon at the Christian Science Plaza and the Maparium. They had a cool Indigenous People's day event with drawing portraits, city planning/architecture, map/geography/history, and face painting. We were fortunate to be able to spend the night with them playing, visiting, and catching up. Thank you Carliles! PB&J count-5

Tuesday- 10/15- LOTS of driving! Today was our driving day as we traveled from Boston to about an hour west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. We reached 700 miles for the trip so far. We had lunch at Red Robin just to break up the driving and James broke out his chess set and beat Noah for the first time every (he made me document it;)). We made it to our hotel and spent the evening swimming and running after a long day in the car. We are reading some great audiobooks on this trip- we just finished "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin... fascinating. PB&J count-7

Wednesday- 10/16- Today we drove through the Allegheny mountains to the Flight 93 Memorial. It was cold and rainy, but we squeezed in the new bell tower/memorial and the outside memorial before the rain started in earnest. Then we spent over two hours inside the visitor center. James peppered the ranger with questions that he (the ranger) was initially surprised by and probably not sure how to answer, but when I told him he could answer honestly he had an great conversation with the kids (there is a chance the other visitors we a bit horrified). It was an awesome and well thought out memorial. We all learned some things we never knew and found hope in flight 93’s incredible story of courage and bravery from 40 civilian strangers. The kids can’t wait to see the one at the pentagon and in NYC.  We drove through mile 900 in the rain/wind/fog and reached Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park. We are staying at the skyline lodge with an amazing view! Once the fog lifted, right before evening, we were treated to some awesome views! PB&J count- 12

Thursday- 10/17- Last night we all had a fairly restless sleep with the wind howling up the mountain face all night. It sounded like we were in a hurricane, just with no rain. When we woke up this morning it was 35 degrees and the wind was whipping with gusts over 60 mph. Needless to say, a wind advisory was posted until 11, so we look our time having breakfast and getting packed up. Basically I didn’t feel safe hiking on the cliff trails with the kids and that strong of a wind, so we decided to skip the first hike and hope for calmer conditions at our next stop. We spent some time in the visitor center and the kids earned their Junior Ranger badges for SNP. It was at this point Noah realized he left his Air Force baseball cap (the one grandpa had given him) at the restaurant. So, we drove the 15 miles back in the opposite direction. They had his hat and it ended up working out really well with the wind decreasing so we could take Stoney Man hike after all. This hike was not strenuous in any way compared to what we are used to so we literally ran up and down the trail in just 25 minutes. It was a 1.6 mile loop to get our legs moving. We drove the remainder of Skyline Drive and unto the Blue Ridge Parkway. Hike two was to Humpback Rocks. This trail was straight up and a bit more strenuous (we felt like we were in an actual hike this time) than the first hike, but another amazing view for relatively little effort. This was a great two mile loop to stretch our legs. We ended the day at the Peaks of Otter Lodge on mile 85. It is in a beautiful location with a paved walking path around a pond. I snuck in a bit more exercise by taking a pre dinner walk on the trail. It was a beautiful evening with the wind and temperature finally becoming more mild (we took our winter hats off for the first time today).  We had PB&J in the room and played cards before bed. We surpassed 1,000 driving miles today! PB&J count- 17

James’ Poem (after a significant anxiety attack on the trail)- I could hear the wind howl hello, I could hear the trees rustling in reply.

I could feel the creatures love and thankfulness that they had a nice protected home.

I could feel love surging through mommy cuddling and cradling me. 

All worries forgotten and lost. For a moment I felt like being in the world.

Fall Activities

We are preparing to leave on a month long road trip, but had to squeeze in a few important things first!  This week found us at the play museum examining the mold and slime the kids have been growing as part of their science group. We also carved one enormous pumpkin on three sides. Noah had his final cross country meet of the season AND we were able to off load a bunch of our apples for a super fun cider pressing party with friends.  Lastly, Noah and Audrey had their piano recital yesterday and were excited to play what they have been working on for months.  They both did really well!

Upper Valley (yet another reunion), Fryeburg Fair 2019, & Gabe's Getaway

Last weekend we made a trip to the Upper Valley to attend Gabe's 10 year medical school reunion.  It was way more fun than we thought it might be.  We were able to catch up with lots of friends and even got to squeeze in a hike!  On the way home we stopped at the Fryeburg Fair.  It has been a long time since we only went to one day of the fair, but this year there were too many competing interests and we were happy to get in one day.

While the kids and I were busy with school, soccer, and cross country, Gabe took a much deserved guys weekend to Texas with a few of his childhood friends.  It sounds like a great time was had by all fishing, playing whiffle ball, and cards.