As mentioned in an earlier post, we took a summer trip to the mountains of North Carolina and the beaches of Jacksonville. We had originally planned on traveling to the west coast, however we had to postpone those plans until next summer. We then were working on going to the Poconos, but the day we were to leave, there was trouble with Gma and Gpa's house up there, so we were not going to be able to go.
We decided to look in the NC mountains, and needed to find a place where Cooper could come along. We found the Lazy Bear Lodge, in Sylva, NC. Lazy Bear was at the end of a long climb up the mountain, with very few houses anywhere near, and almost complete silence. It was fantastic! The only dicey part of the trip was the drive in and out of the gravel road, with Kristin driving. :)
On the drive up we stopped in Atlanta, with a trip to the varsity for some hot dogs and Frosted Oranges. The next day we traveled to Tallulah Gorge, which was a beautiful spot in Georgia, with some outstanding waterfalls, and excellent hiking. After a couple hours at the gorge, we had lunch (pimento, jalapeno, bacon burger!!) and stopped a flea market (Claire!). Then we continued on to the Lazy Bear Lodge. A long day, but we had a ton of fun and were happy to find the house was so cozy and the weather very cool.
We spent the rest of the week doing the sort of things we would do in the Poconos, such as hiking, swimming in rivers, tubing, and jumping off waterfalls. One really neat thing we saw was called Sliding Rock, which is a natural waterslide. They have lifeguards and everything. It's a giant, relatively smooth rock, that water is rolling over, and provides a 60 foot ride for the swimmers. It was pouring rain when we were there, which was OK because we got to ride more often. Luke took a shot to the ribs from one of the guardrails, but that didn't deter him from continuing to ride!
We went to an Asheville Tourists game (low a affiliate of the Colorado Rockies), and we spent a day at The Biltmore Estate. Both of those trips were a ton of fun. We sat in the hot tub at the house, played some board games, and the kids just explored around the house as well.
We stopped in Jacksonville on the way home, and me and the kids went to the beach for a couple hours two days. Kristin stayed in the room with Cooper, because we couldn't leave him alone. The kids, and Daddy, had a spectacular time body surfing and riding the waves in the Atlantic. We bought Luke a boogie board for day 2, and he did great with it. We've taken it over to Ft Myers beach a few times, not quite the same at real waves. We've promised a trip to the east coast so he can ride some real waves again. He's even decided he wants to be a pro surfer when he grows up!
It was a week filled with "bucket filling" for me. There's nothing I enjoy more than spending time with my family, with everyone locked in on what we are all doing, without being distracted with life's little everyday trifles. Hopefully the kids will have great memories from this trip and our time together, as I know I will.
