Spring Break 2021

 Friday, March 19, 2021

We had a great breakfast this morning at my favorite Hampton Inn, then we left Asheville at 7:45am for Nashville.  Around 9:45 we got to Knoxville and made a quick detour through the University of Tennessee campus then we stopped at a nasty gas station and switched drivers.  

Trip Summary:

8 states

3 national parks

3 MLB stadiums

3 NFL stadiums

5 major US cities

8 colleges (9 if you count University of Pittsburg).

Favorite College:

Grant: UNC

Ryan: UNC

Barb: UNC

Nick: UVA

We’re got to the airport extra early, to avoid the stress of the departure.  We were able to check in pretty quickly (of yeah, we put 2,400 miles on that poor van), then we all got a leisurely lunch at the airport food court then boarded, left and arrived back in Dallas, all on time.

This trip was busy and eventful but not hectic.  It still felt like a vacation and I think everyone had a great time. Signing off until June!

Spring Break 2021

 Thursday, March 18, 2021

Today was another long but fun day.  We left our cabin at 8am and first drove down to the University of Virginia.  We drove all through the campus and it was pretty.  From there we headed towards Duke, stopping in Scottsville, VA for a cup of coffee (Barb & Nick), apple cider (Ryan) and an iced caramel macchiato (Grant) at a cool coffee/bookstore – Baine’s Books & Coffee. 

We pulled onto the Duke campus at 1:30ish and that campus was stunning.  (Noteworthy that they had just announced a full-campus lockdown due to 240 or more positive COVID cases.) But as Ryan described it – it was a little bit too bubbly – too perfect.  After Duke, it was on to UNC Chapel Hill and dang, it was my, Grant and Ryan’s favorite of all the campuses we’d seen.  It was now like 2:30pm and we were starving.  Most places near campus were closed for dine-in but we finally found a place called Al’s Burger Shack and we were allowed to eat outside.  There was no bathroom so we went next door to the Beer Study -a cool beer bar.  The burgers were delicious and the French fries were seasoned with dried rosemary.  I don’t know if it was really one of the best burgers ever or if we were all just starving but regardless, it was good.  

When we walked back to the minivan, it initially wouldn’t start and I felt panicked.  Ryan googled something quickly and we got around it but dang, I can’t say I didn’t start mentally catastrophizing!

After UNC, we drove to Asheville and that drive was little bit scary.  It was pouring rain and as I was passing an 18-wheeler on the left, with a retaining wall on my left, I had a panic feeling/premonition that the truck was going to crush us against the wall.  As soon as I had that feeling, one of the tires of our car hydroplaned.  And dang, it was scary.  I had to pull over into a gas station and cry for a minute because I had so much adrenaline in my system that my arms and legs were shaking.  After that, the weather cleared up and we stayed at a beautiful Hampton Inn, literally across the street from the Baymont Inn we stayed at SIX years ago.  I quickly walked on the treadmill in the fitness center (which was opened) then we drove downtown and intended to eat at Mellow Mushroom.   The wait was long and it started to get cold so we walked a but up the street and ate at Wasabi, a Japanese restaurant.  Ryan had chicken fried rice, I had veggie hibachi and the boys ate sushi.  It was actually very good but it was also close to 9pm.  The rest of the country operates on a different time construct than Texas!

It was raining as we were leaving the restaurant so we all ran back to the car and that was literally the only time we got “caught” in the rain.  This trip had a gloomy forecast, so much so that the kids’ packing lists said RAIN COATS in all caps.  We weren’t bugged by the rain on any hikes.

Back at the room, we called it a night!

Spring Break 2021

 Wednesday, March 17, 2021

This morning we left our cabin around 9 and drove over to New River Gorge National Park, the newest (63^rd) national park.  The drive was a little convoluted as my phone map took us to a random point that added a lot of time, a lot of winding, scary driving time, to our drive but we finally got to the main visitor center at 1:30pm.  And wow, this was a great national park.  The bridge, the main feature, is the third highest bridge in the united states and was built in 1977.  We pulled into the visitor center, which was supposed to be completely closed and it was actually open to get maps and passbook stamps, which was a nice surprise.  We ate a late lunch at a picnic table, literally in the parking lot of the visitor center, then we got our passbooks stamped and walked on the nice boardwalk down to the lookout of the bridge – it was beautiful.

National Park #47!! - note the sign has a cloth covering with the new name.

From there we drove a short distance, to the Endless Wall Trail (All Trail rated it the best trail in the park). 

  It was around a 2 mile, relatively flat trail, and it took us out to the edge of the river.  The views were beautiful.  This national park is pretty spectacular. It was quite the detour but totally worth it.  That was our 47^th national park 

View from the trail of the river

Nick drove us home and we got back to the cabin at 7:15. We are up our leftovers (grilled cheese, bacon, PB&J, etc., then Grant beat me at chess again and we sat in the hot tub for a while.  Then showers and laundry.  It’s 10pm now and we’re sitting in the living room watching Liv & Maddie on Netflix. 

We won’t be up much longer as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

This trip really has been incredibly fun and everyone has gotten along well

Spring Break 2021

 Tuesday March 16, 2021

Today was a little bit epic.  We got up this morning and had coffee, eggs, bacon, fruit, etc., all cooked in our own little kitchen then we drove into the park to tackle what turned out to be an 8.25 “very strenuous” hike – and it was.  The trail was called the Cedar Run Trail to Whiteoak Cedar Run Link to Whiteoak Canyon Trail to the Whiteoak Canyon Fire Road.  

That should have been a 7.4 mi loop but the Whiteoak Cedar Run Link Trail was closed due to treacherous conditions so we had to take a longer route that ended up being 8.25 basically either straight uphill or downhill.  BUT we got to see tons of waterfalls, six of which were thirty feet or taller and the largest of which was 86 feet tall. 

We started the hike a little before 10am and didn’t finish until 3.  We enjoyed four (I think) creek crossings, the last of which involved Grant falling off a rock and getting his entire foot wet (and I should mention that when we started the hike it was 29 degrees outside and when we finished, it was 38).

Around 12:15 we stopped for our now mainstream trail meal of pepperoni, cream cheese and Ritz crackers with fruit.  The back part of the hike was just straight uphill so we made Twizzler stops, stopping every 30 minutes for everyone to have 1 Twizzler stick. 

My stomach bugged me the whole time so we fondly called it my fiery lake of poo inside my lower intestine.  But the lake is stilled dammed up so hopefully it will be emptied tomorrow!

The hike was exhausting but rewarding.  

Once we got back to the car, we drove about 20 miles south to the Swift Run Gap Entrance and exited the park there, stopping in Elkton for McDonalds drive-through!

From there we grabbed a few more items at the grocery store in Luray and made it back to our cabin around 5 – I think. 

Ryan fell asleep, Grant and I played chess (after I took a quick bath because dang, I sweat a lot) and Nick had some work to do.  Dinner was sandwiches – PB&J, grilled cheese, grilled cheese and bacon, and an egg sandwich.

After dinner we sat and watched Rain Man and the kids loved it.  It’s now 11 and we’re all going to bed.

It was a pretty easy decision to not spend tomorrow in Shenandoah and instead make the three-hour drive over to New River Gorge, officially to us, Park #47!

This trip has been busy and crazy AND relaxing - a strange combination.  So far, five major cities, four colleges, with three more to go, and two parks with one more to go.

Time to go to bed!!

Spring Break 2021

 Monday March 15, 2021

Today was a fun day.  We left our hotel around 7:45 after a quick downstairs breakfast.  We drove through Akron, OH over to Pennsylvania, mine and the kids’ first time visiting the state. Around 10, we entered Pittsburg and wow, it was beautiful!  We saw the Steelers stadium (PNC Field) and the Pirates stadium – both just smack in the middle of downtown. 

Steelers Stadium

Then we drove over to see Carnegie Mellon University.  It was surprisingly nice and not just right in the middle of the city but off to the side just a bit.   Ryan liked it probably more than the other three we’ve seen so far (Vanderbilt, Louisville, Ohio State) and said she could see herself going there.  It’s also like $70k per year for tuition.

From there we wandered, and I mean wandered, through the back roads for four hours – otherwise, to take the turnpike would have cost $80+ in tolls, assuming of course, that we had a toll tag.  We stopped once at a gas station outside of Pittsburg then stopped again just outside of Cumberland, Maryland, at a Chick-fil-a for lunch in our laps.

It was around 2:45pm when we entered the north end of the park through Fort Royal, VA.  

Park #46

All of the visitor centers are still closed for the season but the park is oriented in a skinny 100-mile NE to SW fashion and when you enter at the north, you enter a mile marker 1 on Skyline Drive.  

From there, all overlooks, trailheads, etc. are referenced by their mile marker. We drove to mile marker 50ish, seeing several deer along the way, and hiked the Dark Hollow Falls Trailhead.  I think it was around 2 miles round trip.

Oh, it’s very cold here and it was supposed to rain the entire trip and so far, we’ve dodged all of the rain.  I don’t think we’ll be so lucky come Wednesday but so far, so good.

After the hike, we drove back up to mile marker 30ish and exited the park on Hwy 211 to the west.  We drove a few miles into the town of Luray, VA and got some groceries (steak dinner, breakfast, lunch and drinks).  Then we FINALLY arrived at our cabin in Shenandoah Woods – we’re staying at the Lakeland cabin, address 136 Log Cabin Drive, Stanley, VA.  This place is great – although there’s a super nasty smell outside that we think is from the neighboring chicken coop.

We got settled, turned up the heat, ate steaks, played chess, sat in the lovely hot tub, baked cookies and are now in bed at 11pm.  The kids are upstairs in the loft – 4 single beds and a game table – and we’re downstairs in the “master”.  We have one bathroom, a full kitchen, living rooming, dining room and a washer and dryer… and it’s very clean!

It was a lot of driving but tomorrow is ALL DAY in the park and it’s gonna be fun.

Spring Break 2021

 Sunday March 14, 2021

We woke this morning and were actually able to eat a breakfast in the dining room of the hotel.  The view over to Cincinnati was great as was the food.  

Then, around 9am (with Daylight Savings Time in effect) we headed towards Cuyahoga.  The drive was easy.  We drove through Columbus on our way to Cleveland and drove all through THE Ohio State University campus and it was beautiful.  It reminded Nick and me of A&M.  Ryan has no interest in going there but it was great just to see it. Our only stop was right outside of the park for gas and a quick lunch at Subway (because everything else was closed for dine-in) – the Chinese restaurant, the pizza restaurant, the McDonalds.  We arrived a little after 1, at the Boston Mills Visitor Center and damn it was cold – not so much cold but SO windy.  We quickly purchased hat pins and magnets and grabbed a map before jumping back into our minivan to warm up.  The parking lot seemed full but very few people were in the visitor center.

The park was strange – it seems like it was built within an existing community and I’d read online that when it was made into a national park in 1974, it was with some controversy as many in congress couldn’t understand what was so special about it – I agree with those members of congress.

We drove over to see Brandywine Falls – very pretty - 

then headed south to the Ledges area of the park and went on the 2.2 mile Ledges Trail – pretty but not spectacular – but fun.

After that we just weren’t all that interested in seeing more so we headed towards our hotel and say the Everett Covered Bridge along the way. 

We’re staying at a Holiday Inn Express on Brecksville Rd in Richland, OH.  It’s just so-so but there wasn’t much else around.

We stopped first at the Pilot gas station/Wendy’s next door to the hotel and attempted to order Frosties but the Frosty machine was broken.  After checking in we drove up to Cleveland (about 20 minutes north) and saw the Indians stadium, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Browns stadium, Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland in general.  

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Cleveland Browns Stadium

The downtown was clean and deserted.  No one was there – everything seemed boarded up and it was another strange experience, much like Chicago was.  But we found a great pizza place and parking spot and had an enjoyable dinner at Pizza 216 on Euclid Avenue.  Then we went next door for expensive ice cream at Cathy’s inside a stunning-looking Hyatt. 

From there we drove back to the room.  The day was great.  The park was an expected disappointment but damn we’ve done Ohio.

We’re back at the room now, it’s about 8:15, and we’re all relaxing and looking forward to staying at the same place for the next three days!

Spring Break 2021

 Saturday March 13, 2021

This was intended to be a two-park spring break trip.  Fortuitously, on Wednesday, we were at a softball happy hour and a person I’d never met before brought to my attention that a new (the 63^rd) national park was added in West Virginia in late December 2020.  I knew nothing of it but have since converted this into a three-park trip.

So we left this morning at 6:45 after opting for prepaid airport terminal parking.  We arrived to the longest bag-check line I have ever since.  Since we were only checking one bag, the kids and I went on through the security line and left Nick to check the bag. 

I always get stressed getting onto a plane but this was our first time flying since COVID so I was really amped up.  After temporarily losing my ID in the shoe that I was wearing, the kids and I went to the gate.  45 minutes later Nick was still in line.  He texted that he was being told by an airline employee that the bag and he would not make the flight in time, despite arriving 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of time.  With some divine intervention he was the 2^nd to last passenger to board the plane and all of our luggage and bodies made it to Nashville on time.

We arrive around 10:45, rented our Dodge Caravan and drove over to the Vanderbilt campus, stopping first at the Slider House for a tasty lunch of sliders. 

Nashville was a bit of a surprise/disappointment to Ryan who had this placed fairly high on her list of potential schools.  We were surprised that the campus was so integrated with the city.  She was still glad that we drove through it but she definitely didn’t get any happy feelings (she’s in 9^th grade and Grant’s in 7^th).

We then drove up to Cincinnati via Louisville, KY. None of us had ever been there before and we decided to take a quick drive through campus.  We saw the baseball field and football field, not realizing that if we’d just looked to our right as we were looking to our left at the baseball field, that we would have seen the Kentucky Derby track.  Ugh.

After a short drive through campus (very pretty campus and very high acceptance rate), we drove through a McDonalds for a drink, a quick look at a college women’s field hockey game and gas.

Then on to Cincinnati where we are now.  We’re technically still in Kentucky but we’re staying at the Embassy Suites on the banks of the Ohio River, the border between Kentucky and Ohio.  After a short complimentary happy hour in the lobby, we walked across a bridge into the city – my first time ever in Ohio.  

We’re very close to the Reds stadium so we walked around and checked it out.  It really was spectacular, as was the bridge we walked across - the John A Roebling Bridge.  

We were going to eat at Galla Park for dinner but it was like a crazy spring break party restaurant so we settled on Moerlein Lager House for dinner.  The place was good but unless we wanted to wait an hour, we ate outside and it was cold.  We also switched over to the Eastern time zone and tonight is daylight savings time so it’s currently 10pm.  Overall, this was an unexpectedly fun day!

Favorite Part of the Day:

Ryan:     Dinner/city/ball park

Grant: Dinner/city/ball park

Barb: walking across the Ohio River / ball park

Nick: ball park

Worst Part of the Day:

Ryan: Stress at the airport

Grant: Mom losing her ID in her shoe

Barb: Nick almost not making it onto the plane

Nick: Business of the airport

Everywhere we’ve been, the people have generally been friendly and have generally worn masks.  No one’s lost their minds over COVID and people seem more relaxed than I expected.  The “happy hour” at the hotel had lots of people and we were allowed to gather and stay in the bar area.  Compare that to a year ago at the Embassy Suites in Chicago where we could go down for a glass of wine but had to take it back to our room to drink it.  I definitely since that things are starting to loosen up a bit.

White Sands 2021 - National Park #44

 Sunday February 14, 2021

We woke up at 5:30am to a snow storm.  It was unnerving.  We rushed to get out the door so we packed up quickly and hit the road around 6:30 and dang, it’s been an unprecedented adventure.  

Waze took us through the Lincoln National Forest and some of the roads hadn’t been snow plowed.  We actually followed a snow plow for part of the journey.  In fact, we’ve seen more snow plows than cars for much of this trip home. Cars skid all arounds us.  Rather than driving 55 or 60mph, we drove 30mph.  It was pretty scary.  

We finally arrived in Lamesa at 1:30pm or so (with losing an hour after crossing into TX) and we stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch.  When we went to open the door but it was locked but as we were walking back to the van, an employee opened the door for us.  

We’d been “racing” to get back to Dallas before 7pm to pick up Hooper from PetSmart but Nick called and they told us they’re closing at 4 because of the weather so it’s taken some pressure off but we’re sad that he has to sleep up there all by himself.  It’s 5:40 now and we’re still driving and have 125 miles to go so it’ll be after dark when we get home.

This was definitely an adventure.  We stopped near Abilene for gas and it was five degrees outside with a negative windchill factor.  Hopefully we’ll make it home in time to wrap our pool equipment pipes before they crack.  Wish us luck getting home because I probably won’t check back in again. 

Overall, fun trip with a white-knuckled drive home, making National Park #44 UNFORGETTABLE.

Post script:

We got home around 8:30 or 9:00pm and our pool filter was off the charts full pressure so we turned our equipment off.  It dropped below zero Monday night.  Our sprinkler system was damaged, many of our pool pipes cracked and our pool froze over.  Most people lost power - we did not.  The storm lasted a good week and school was cancelled due to strain on the power grid.  No Texas alive has ever experienced anything like this in this state.  Snowmageddon is an event we'll never forget.  Damn, what the hell 2021? Dad dies, we all get COVID and now this? (And my mom lost power for more than 3 days and has tons of damaged pool equipment) 

this is our above ground pool piping

White Sands 2021 - National Park #44

 Saturday February 13, 2021

Well, today and last night were fun.  We rolled into the Holiday Inn around 6:30 and discovered that none of the Alamogordo restaurants are open for dine-in.  So, we went to Super Walmart and got a few things (Keurig coffee, windshield wiper fluid, since our rented minivan ran out, etc.)  Then we stopped at the Subway for Grant, Ryan and me and at Dell Taco for Nick and we ate back in the room.  Grant has recently gotten back into chess and we’ve been watching this show on Netflix, The Queen’s Gambit, which is all about chess, and so we all played some chess, watched some tv and went to bed.

 This morning we drove about 15 minutes to White Sands National Park.  When we first pulled up, I was disappointed to see that they were still using the national monument sign but as we pulled into the visitor center parking lot, we saw another, new sign that used the word “Park”.  We had to wait in a line to enter the Visitor Center so it was just one family at a time, but that was fine.  We were able to buy magnets and hat pins.  YAY!!!!

We bought an annual pass (hoping to visit five more national parks this year) then drove to the very end of the park and “hiked” a five-mile loop trail called Alkali Flat Trail.  It was not flat but it was very cool.  Up and down the dunes the whole time and you had to look from one marker to the next to determine where to go.  This was definitely like no other hike we’ve been on.  It was a little monotonous but everyone got along well and we took our shoes off and walked barefoot through a lot of it.  There were also a surprising number of dogs on the trail with us.  And the weather was PERFECT -sunny and cool but not cold. 

After the hike we returned to the parking lot around 12:30 and drove over to the Roadrunner picnic area and ate our now famous trail lunch of pepperoni, Ritz cracker and cream cheese sandwiches – that and apples and oranges. 

We drove back into town and drove over, just to see the New Mexico Museum of Space History.  It was closed but cool to look at from the outside.  

From there a trip through the Sonic drive-in for “happy hour” drinks, then back to the hotel room. 

We’d planned on leaving tomorrow and driving to Marfa, via El Paso, then spending the night in Fort Stockton and coming home Monday.  BUT we’ve been getting email warnings about making sure all outside pipes are wrapped because it’s going to be 6 degrees tomorrow night and 1 degree Monday night.  Nick and I are both a little nervous about the weather, the pool, the house, etc. so we’ve leaving very early tomorrow and driving back to Dallas, hopefully arriving before 7pm so that we can pick up Hooper.

This afternoon we hung out in the room and played chess and Qwixx – very fun – then Nick picked up Johnny Carinos Italian food for dinner and it was good.  Now, it’s 6:45pm, feels much later, and we’ll all just hanging out in our very comfortable room.  I think we’re going to watch a movie and then hit the sack.

Crazy short trip but I’m so glad we were able to knock out park #44.  It didn’t disappoint and it’s been so nice to just get away from the city.  Now fingers crossed that our pool is still working when we get back.  The temps won’t rise above freezing until this coming Friday.  I think this is the coldest it’s ever been in DFW.

White Sand 2021 - National Park #44

 Friday February 12, 2021

Both the kids (Freshman at Ursuline and 7^th grader at Greenhill) have a four-day winter break this weekend.  And it’s also, literally 20 or so degrees in Dallas so we decided to rent a minivan and drive to White Sands, NM, which, until recently, was just a national monument but last year President Trump made it the 62^nd national park.  When we started this, there were 59 so this one was never planned.

We rented the van this morning from Love Field, packed up, dropped the dog off at Pet Smart for a few days (☹) and hit the road around 8:30am or so.  We drove west to Abilene and stopped at a decent restaurant for lunch (Lytle Land & Cattle Company).  

As we left the restaurant, it was lightly snowing.  And dang, just past Abilene it’s a wintery wonderland.  Every tree limb of every tree is covered in snow.

We also hit some ice patches on the roads and saw a car spin our right before our eyes.  We passed several big rigs toppled over on the side of the road and lots of wrecked cars.  It’s a mess.

It’s 4pm now and we’re approaching the TX/NM border and it’s 21 degrees.  Supposedly, it’s 60 degrees plus in Alamogordo, NM, which is where we’re staying but we’re only 3.5 hours away and it’s hard to imagine how we’re gonna gain 40 degrees of temperature. 

It’s been relaxing and fun so far – everyone mostly sticks to their devices but we’ve seen some beautiful havoc from this unprecedented winder storm.  And just thousands of birds out by the wind farms that at first glance, look like crops. 

The kids are getting along great and this trip is bringing up old memories of almost one decade ago when we went on our first ever National Park trip with a three and five-year old to Carlsbad. 

It’s a strange time to be away from home.  We don’t return until Monday and it’s expected to drop to 7 degrees Sunday night and possibly 1 degree Monday night. 

But so far so good. 

We’re staying at a Holiday Inn and we’re stocked with our own eggs and bacon, in anticipation of COVID turning what would otherwise be a good breakfast, into a bag of carbs and a cup of coffee 😊