Easter trip - day 3 (and unexpected day 4)

Today started off like every other morning. The kids were up by 7, we ate breakfast at 8 and then the kids went outside to play in the front yard of the house while I packed everything and got the others in the house moving. We were loaded and ready to head home by about 11:15 am. On our way home, we practically drive past New River Gorge in Fayetteville, WV and I asked my dad if we could stop by there for the kids to see it. We do. It was really neat seeing the kids so in awe of the huge bridge and the river. (If you've never been there, you really need to go!) The kids were being totally silly at the visitor's center and I caught this shot of them - it's my new favorite:



We take a short walk and then decide to get in the van and make the long journey home. We're about 3.5 hours from home at this point. We're all getting hungry and my dad decided to take a "shortcut" from Fayetteville back to Beckley because my mom was jonesing for some Cracker Barrel mac & cheese. We are headed west on State Route 60 in Ansted, WV - we had just passed the entrance to Babcock State Park and are about to pass Hawk's Nest State Park. And it happened.

We were just driving along. Kenna was on the internets on her phone, the kids were playing happily in the backseat and I was using the GPS to try to find us a place to eat dinner. All of the sudden my mom yells out, "LOOK OUT!" I look up and all I see is this tree falling to the ground. My dad hit the brakes but it was too late and he had to swerve to miss it. Unfortunately, he didn't miss the entire thing - it was really close but didn't clear. And actually thank God again that no one was in the other lane because that's how we missed the entire tree coming down on the van probably even through the windshield.

Uh, yeah here's the tree after it was pushed off the road by a backhoe


And here's the van after it was all loaded up


Like I said, we were in a rather rural area - the people in the house next to where the tree fell were outside and saw it all, probably scared the crap right out of them. They called the police, the fire squad & the wrecker for us. We all just stood the dumbfounded, ya know. It was just like, are you kidding me??!! Did that seriously f-ing happen??!!??!!

Then I called the insurance rep while my parents sorted things out with the police and the tow service. The rep was such a pain in my you know what. She asked me if the wheel damage was there previously like 3 times. Uh seriously?!?!! Go F yourself. Then when she talked to my mom she told her it was going to be cited through them as "failure to control" by my dad. Oh my mom went APE! Since when does an customer service rep decide fault in an accident? For real?

But anyway, it all got sorted out as much as it could tonight and tomorrow we're going to probably rent a car and drive home. The "funny" thing is that my parents talked a lot this w/e about possibly trading the van off for something newer & soon. HA! Guess that is an easy choice. Oh and my mom was so funny at the scene, she kept saying, "we just filled up the gas tank. It was $60 dollars! $60 DAMN DOLLARS!!"

We lucked out* and are staying at the Hawk's Nest State Park lodge. The view is amazing (every room has a balcony overlooking the river), there were several trails for us to explore and hey, there's wifi. We ate some dinner here at the lodge - thankfully they have a restaurant onsite b/c by the time everything got sorted out we all were really hungry. Then after dinner we took the kids to the lookout point and watched the trains go by and went to the playground.


Kenna & I then decided it'd be a good idea to walk this trail that went clear to New River. Uh, that wasn't such a good idea in hindsight. It was quite the little walk back up that hill. Good cardio though, I guess. As if I needed more cardio after the events of today - I think my heart was pumping just fine thank you. Once we returned from our walk from hell, we headed to the room for baths & just to destress from the day. And it was quite the day!




*if lucked out = $84 per night per room for two rooms & $75 for dinner

Easter trip - day 2

Today we got another late start. This is always the case when we travel with my parents and only one vehicle - we are at their mercy. And neither of my parents are early risers - 10:00 am is early for them. I haven't slept since 10 am in well......a very long time, let's just put it that way. But once everyone got moving, we were on the road by 11:30. Today's adventures were to do a little more sightseeing, hit some flea markets & shopping & I was hoping to get a short hike in for some much needed cardio. The good news - we did it all.

We started off at a couple flea market/antique shops in Wytheville, VA. My parents, okay my mom is addicted to these impossible things. I enjoy them but with the kids, it's difficult because they always find something they want me to buy. Today was no different and we ended up with a poseable Minnie for Delana ($2) and a Star Wars dude for Tyler ($4). At least my kids are cheap.

After that, we wound up heading just a bit north (as in UP) because I wanted to go to the Big Walker Mountain Lookout Tower. Unfortunately once we got there, I quickly changed my mind about going up in the tower. First, it was so windy and that thing was a creaking. Second, well if you had seen this old rickety thing in person...you'd understand. I am not normally afraid of things like that but there was no way I was taking myself and the kids up that thing. Uh-huh. Instead we found a trail that went up about as high and took the kids on that instead. Delana insisted on walking "by mself" but she later decided she had to ride the horsey down. Uh, one guess who the horsey was. Thank God she only weighs 26 lbs.

Here's the view from the top:


Tyler was asking my dad if you could see Tennessee from here. Only Tyler!


Then we had an early dinner at a seafood place in the town - supposedly the best seafood around which means I feel really bad for the worst place. It just wasn't that great. After a quick stop at KMart just because we felt like it, we headed home to call it a night and to watch the WVU game.



That wound up being a huge letdown - boo!

Easter trip - day 1

Hmm...well I guess it could kind of be day 2 since we drove to our rental Thursday night. We (my parents, my sister & I) were up pretty late after we arrived just checking out the house we're staying at and unpacking. This place is unreal. It definitely housed a complete family and so of course I'm determined to figure out what happened to the family. Plus this location isn't exactly a huge vacation destination so this place was definitely not built just to BE a rental. It has an awesome deck, a great pool, tons of updates so someone spent a lot of money on this place and now it's "just" a rental that's renting for a decent price. So yeah I'm intrigued. I'm a nerd like that.

So anyway, yesterday despite my best trickery (turning the clock back an hour to get Tyler to stay in bed longer) the kids were still up & at 'em before 7. *cry* We lounged around the house watching some TV and then the kids took a bath in the huge jetted tub that's here. Delana was scared to death of the jets though and wanted out. After everyone was ready, we did our usual exploration of the area. We stopped a few spots to see some sights but mostly we drove around looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains and stopping at various shops. That's how we roll, especially on day 1. My dad loves to just drive so we let him. It was a fun time though and we finished off the day with some ice cream, of course. Everyone in my family loves ice cream so any trip we take involves ice cream.

One of our stops had an old railcar and the kids thought it was pretty neat. But then they soon found the water and that was much more fun for them, as in throwing rocks and stick into it. Oh the things that amuse kids!






We got back to the house around 7 and then played outside on the amazing swingset here at the house. Then the kids went off to bed & we enjoyed the rest of the evening with some pizza and beers. It doesn't get much better than that I'd say.