Yesterday afternoon we heard what sounded like an airplane circling our house, so we looked up to see what it was… Turns out it was a guy in a hang-glider with what look like a giant fan strapped to his back! He had taken off from the high school football fields that are behind our … Continue reading
While Trevor stayed home, the rest of us went for a hike in the DuPont State Forest to day to see Triple Falls and High Falls. It was a nice day and we wanted to get outside because tomorrow it’s supposed to rain. On the way up, we hopped out onto the rocks in the … Continue reading
And up they go! Making it look easy. With a little style. Dale watched… Then we found a nice place to read while they figured out how to get back down. The blue blazes led us back to the car. Next time, to the top!
On Christmas morning, we drove about 150 miles to Crowders Mountain near Charlotte so the kids could go rock climbing with their new gear. Unfortunately, the rangers decided to take the day off and thought everyone else should too, so they closed and locked the entrance to the park. We had to turn around and … Continue reading
Trevor was a bit tired when we got back from mountain biking. Dale got busy preparing pumpkin cheesecake. Kyle cooked a steak on the BBQ while Kelly made vegetables. While everything was cooking, we had a computer face-off. After dinner, it was time to open presents. Trevor gave us Buffalo Bills winterware.
Trevor arrived at the Asheville airport around midnight on Friday night. It’s nice to have everyone together. It rained for several days before the kids arrived, so we were especially happy to have a nice sunny day once they were all here with us. So, we headed for DuPont State Forest for some mountain biking. … Continue reading
Kelly found heaven at Mast General Store in Asheville. Candy!!!! They have a strange bike storage system here. It also works with unruly children. And they have a Mellow Mushroom Pizza Restaurant! We’re seeing a movie while we wait for Trevor’s plane; he lands around midnight.
This morning we hiked up the road behind the house. There was a nice view from the top. We trail blazed on the way down. The road less traveled.
Here’s a short post of our exchange home for the Holidays. Above, is a view from the road and below is a view from the creek (we finally had a sunny day). They have a japanese style hot tub. And a huge garden. Kyle and Kelly are with us now!
We decided to drive to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, today to check out the skiing at Catahoochee Ski Resort because we were planning to spend a day there skiing once Kyle, Trevor and Kelly all get here. We drove through the Pisgah National Forest to Waynesville, then to the slope, a two hour drive. It … Continue reading
We’re staying near Penrose, North Carolina, in our exchange family’s house. Today we took care of grocery shopping, got in a little exercise, and generally lounged around. Dale cooked dinner at home tonight. She loves the big kitchen here, especially the commercial gas range and oven, and the butcher-block table. There’s a big yard and … Continue reading
We met our home exchange family at our house on Wednesday, showed them around, then left to spend the night with Mother in Deerfield Beach, on our way to North Carolina. Here’s Mother in front of her apartment on Thursday morning as we were leaving, holding her early Christmas present, an iPad2. Thursday, we drove … Continue reading
After leaving Robbie’s in Lower Matecumbe Key, we went to an art festival at Holiday Isle. Lots of looking, but no buying for us. Next, we stopped at Founders Park in Islamorada on the way home. There was an all-day reggae festival called Bayjam going on. We stopped and listened to a couple songs. It’s … Continue reading
For lunch yesterday we went to Robbie’s marina restaurant and after eating, Dale fed the tarpon. The pelicans looked on… …except for this guy; he wasn’t interested. He just wanted something to snack on.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house in the Keys and my Mother, Sandy and David came down to spend the weekend with us. Dale spent the last two days cooking. Here’s the exhausted chef. Time to carve the turkey… …’cuz the fixins’ are waiting… The food was great and it was good to be … Continue reading
Today, we drove to Miami to go to the annual Miami Book Fair. I used to go every year when we lived in Miami, so it was nice to go again after a couple year hiatus. I went in search of history books and this year Dale accompanied me and found several good mysteries. The … Continue reading
We’re in Miami this morning, hoping to have lunch with Kyle. As we got in the car this morning in the Keys, we were greeted by these pretty blooms. Just thought this picture was nice enough to post.
There’s an annual event sponsored by The Miami Herald newspaper in South Florida called the Tropic Hunt. We’ve been participating since the mid-1980s when it first began; Dale and I came in third place that year, and Kelly and I made a father-daughter event out of it more recently. The Tropic Hunt is part scavenger … Continue reading
Yesterday, we got up early and drove to Miami to watch Kyle and his friend, Jordan Ziegler, in an Iron Man competition. The race is a half triathlon, consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bicycle race, followed by a 13.1 mile run. Kyle and Jordan started at 7:00 a.m. and … Continue reading
Friday we drove to Deerfield Beach to have lunch with Mother. She made a delicious soup for us. Nothing like home cooking! After our visit, we continued to Hollywood and camped at a county park. Friday night we went to a comedy show in Ft. lauderdale featuring Kathleen Madigan, my favorite comic. Saturday we did … Continue reading
Well, we’re almost back home, but this is the part of our travels that is normally the least interesting. We’ve made the journey from Gainesville to South Florida (and vice versa) so many times that we now just endure it as a necessity to get out of Florida. So today we decided to do things … Continue reading
This evening, Kelly took us to the Rock Gym where she works part time. Trevor also works at a rock gym in Buffalo. Dale had gone rock climbing before with Trevor, but I had never tried it. It’s more fun than I had thought, and it’s also good exercise. I can see why the kids … Continue reading
This morning we had an early lunch with Kyle and Kelly. But, first, we stopped at Kelly’s house so she could show us her slack-lining skills. Trevor’s really good at this, too, and I’m guessing that Kyle enjoys this sport as well. Kelly tried to help me and Dale learn, but we didn’t get very … Continue reading
After caving, Kyle and Kelly and their gang drove to Atlanta and then home to Gainesville. We took our time and drove just past Atlanta, went to a movie, and then stopped for the night. The next morning we drove to Gainesville and then yesterday we drove a little further south to Micanopy where we … Continue reading
One carload of the college campers decided to call it quits and headed back to Gainesville, but Dale and I took their place in the second cave. The cave opening didn’t look that difficult, but it turned out to be a rock crawl for the first 50 feet. (That’s Dale in the blue shirt, white … Continue reading
The Road Less Traveled 