We scheduled our Bethesda segment with my parents primarily to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday and originally planned to stay for five or six days and then do some Appalachian camping on our way north to Ithaca. As it turned out, we needed all the time we could get for some family R&R.
Shortly after our arrival, Sarah was stricken with strep throat and Maggie had an infected finger, requiring multiple trips to urgent care. I was fighting a cold (we feared it might be strep, but I dodged that bullet) and my poor dad was hit with a powerful cold as well. But it was the perfect place to curl up and lick our wounds. The kids love it there and adore their grandparents. (One of my favorite moments of the trip was when Maggie refused to follow us downstairs for dinner, stating firmly, while sitting at the top of the stairs, “I want to wait for Grandpa!”)
Despite all of the illnesses, we did manage to get out with the kids a fair amount. The pictures below make it look like all we did was romp around, but really we just never took out the camera when we were convalescing.
exploring Little Falls Creek
exploring Little Falls Creek
heaving rocks
exploring Little Falls Creek
popsicle at the doctor’s office
splash pad fun
splash pad fun
bouncy thing
aftermath of a high speed collision at the splash pad
dunking
warm pavement
examining I.M. Pei’s East Wing of the National Gallery
On Thursday we left North Carolina and headed into Virginia. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop with the iconic Virginia slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers.” (It’s hard for me to believe that this 1969 campaign wasn’t referencing the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, but a quick on-line investigation wasn’t conclusive. If anyone has good sources on this, I’m interested in learning more about it.)
We stopped in the early afternoon at Hungry Mother State Park; it came recommended as a family-friendly spot not far from the highway. It’s a great park with trails, swimming, boating, and lots of other fun activities. Definitely aimed at families, there are plenty of things intended specifically for kids. We loved, for example, a nature scavenger hunt brochure that had Griffin and Maggie hunting for mushrooms, wildflowers, and other features of the region. We had nothing but positive interactions with park staff and a super-friendly ranger.
Two down-sides for us, that don’t reflect on the park at all:
Hot and humid—it was tough getting to sleep with all of us in a steamy tent together. We ended up taking off the rain fly even though there was a decent chance of rain. Even so, the tent was uncomfortable. So between the thunderstorm in Illinois and the heat in Virginia, we’ve not done well with sleep while camping yet.
Aggressive wasps—Sarah was stung on Friday morning outside the tent. Then Maggie and I were both stung (Maggie twice!) crossing a bridge by the lake. In a totally bizarre turn of events, Griffin was stung in downtown Charlottesville on Saturday—this is more stings in 24 hours than I’ve dealt with in my entire life. Fortunately, none of us have allergies to stings yet.
Virginia is for LoversTent pads on steroids at Hungry Mother State ParkExploringTree hugger (shortly before being stung by an angry yellow jacket)
Two nights and lots of fun in Asheville, North Carolina, while visiting our friends, Sue and Chris, and their three dogs, one cat, and six chickens. (Sadly, two chickens were nabbed by a raccoon on our second night, so now there are four, in a newly reinforced coop.)
Asheville has a lot to recommend it and we enjoyed a great tour with Chris while Sue was at work. Naturally, some of my best memories are dominated by food. Had some spectacular barbecue at 12 Bones, which is apparently President Obama’s top choice in town. Then, on our way out, we stopped for breakfast at Biscuit Head, which is in the running for my favorite breakfast restaurant in the world.
Below are an assortment of phone shots from our Asheville stint.
Carrier Park with an awesome play structure reminiscent of one of our favorites in Saint PaulGriffin throwing a ball with Streak and RuffBeautiful optical effect on the shadow of a leaf floating in a brook. (What causes this?)Maggie on the grounds of the Biltmore EstatePosed group at BiltmoreThe Stocco Roys (and Quaker) at BiltmoreAwesome breakfast at Biscuit Head (Maggie had the biscuit with sausage patty)Brisket biscuit at Biscuit HeadAnother happy customer
We survived the night, dry and free of unwanted atmospheric voltage. Not a great night’s rest, alas, but we’re thankful for our new, more spacious tent.
Two quotes from our journey thus far:
Monday, 4:30 PM:
Maggie: “Griffin, laugh when I say ‘Chicago.'”
Griffin: “Why do I have to laugh?!”
M: “Chi–Ca–GO!!”
G: <no laughing>
M: “Laugh Griffin!!”
G: “I don’t want to laugh. Chicago!”
M <yelling>: “NO! I want to talk about ME!!!”
G: “Chicago. Chicago. Chicago.”
M <yelling>: “NOOOOOOO!”
Tuesday, 8:30 AM:
Sarah: “Ok guys we’re going to stop here because I need some coffee and Daddy needs to go to the bathroom–”
Griffin: “–and I need an Icee!”
“I want to talk about me.”“I’ll have an Icee for breakfast please.”
Midsize thunderstorm on our first night, as we camp by a river that’s four feet over flood stage. Luckily, the deluge held off until after dinner and the weather reports suggest that it will be short-lived. (But wow is it coming down right now!)Radar screenshot Some trepidation about the lightning, from all of us, but the kids were remarkably brave.
Griffin: “I really, really like thunderstorms but I’m a tiny bit scared of them.”
New tent is keeping us dry thus far. Cozy despite the weather
Sarah’s out of town. I’ve been solo dad for the weekend. It’s been good. But despite best intentions, I do occasionally lose track of my progeny and have to track them down. Today I documented two unexpected incidents.
Aerial Snooze
Maggie was down for a rest. I rested for a while too. Griffin was awfully quiet. I went to investigate.
Nap time.
Griffin is sleeping on a bit of lumber about four feet off the ground. (He rigged the precarious “bridge” earlier to create an easier method for Maggie to get into the climbing tree.)
Dumpster Diving
Later, after Maggie woke up, they slipped out the side gate while I was mowing the back lawn. Upon my successful pursuit:
Dumpster!
Nothing is cooler than the neighbor’s giant red dumpster. (Yesterday, Griffin asked for my help deciphering all of the warning stickers, then proceeded to ignore them.)
Sarah was startled by a bat in the outhouse tonight. Or she thought it was a bat. Then she discovered a nest in the corner with four baby northern flying squirrels! This is cool, of course, but we’re also sad that we have disturbed the nest. Our best guess, based on Internet research, is that they are around 20 days old — thick fur, but eyes not open yet. We’re hoping they can survive this disruption.
The nest — they made good use of a roll of toilet paper.You can’t quite see the patagium (“wing” membrane), but it was clearly visible as they moved.Cozy! (You can see its patagium in this picture, a folded bit of flesh under its belly.)
Update: We were relieved to find that mama squirrel took her kiddos to a safer nest overnight. The outhouse is no place to raise a family.
Spring break = five epic days of adventure at the cabin.
(And time to serialize the experience!)
Chapter I — Crevasse
Our adventures began as we drove up the dirt road to the cabin and discovered a section covered with thick ice. The culvert under the road had frozen solid so a marshy stream began trickling over the road. In the course of the winter it produced a few feet of thick, glacier-like ice. (It had the same blue color associated with glacial ice.) This was only a mild obstacle due to loss of traction until we encountered the crevasse—water had cut a channel directly across the road, easily two feet deep. On our way in we didn’t spot it in time and jolted across it. If it had been any wider, it would have been bad news. As it was, it just gave the shocks a workout. (A neighboring cabin owner with sharper eyes turned back rather than trusting his car to make it.) On our way out on Monday we laid logs inside it to provide support for the tires.
Pointing upslope, where the meltwater cut into the ice.Griffin, measuring the depth.We were lucky that it wasn’t any wider.
Chapter II — Lake Ice
One of our main goals this trip was to cross Spring Lake and to continue exploring the trails on the south bank. (I would link to a post about our January skiing and snowshoeing adventures, but I haven’t posted it yet. Must remedy that soon.) Unfortunately, the lake ice was thinning and we weren’t brave enough to cross. We saw some ice fishermen out on our first day, so we assumed it was solid, but upon scouting we found too many dicey areas for comfort. Hearing the ice loudly crack beneath my feet sent me scurrying for shore. With the warming weather the lake remained vocal throughout the trip, providing a soundtrack of otherworldly groans, crystalline pops and cracks, and occasional booming detonations.
Spring Lake
Preparing to head out
Scouting the ice
Sarah demonstrating some ice safety techniques
By Sarah’s feet you can see one or our ski trails from January.
Contemplating an icy plunge.
Chapter III — Bushwhacking
Deciding to remain on the north shore, we went on some extended hikes, including one where we left the trail and bushwhacked for a few hours. We clambered over (and under) fallen trees, examined fairy doors on mossy tree trunks, debated the origin of animal spoor, and got remarkably confused about our location. (Google Maps, of course, sorted things out for us, but we were astonished at how quickly the unfamiliar landscape threw off our direction sense once we left the trail.) The pictures below, from a few different hikes, don’t do justice to the beauty. Click on any image to see a larger version with the option of viewing all of them as a slideshow.
