R
Raverlaw
We really enjoyed our little impromptu vacation to North Carolina and Virginia. I can't believe how much I missed *talking* with you all while we were away - I didn't take the laptop because I didn't want to have to deal with work issues and it is a major hassle at airport security gates. I'm still catching up on all the posts and new threads from while we were away.
If I missed a personal response to those of you who had surgery while I was gone, I'm sorry- I lost track of who was going in and when because I was away from the computer and so relaxed.
We flew to Raleigh and immediately looked up Bryan, who is staying with his wonderful and gracious parents, Alma and Don, while he recuperates. Bryan has dark hair but otherwise doesn't really resemble his poodle, Abby. We had a great visit and felt at home with Bryan and his family. His mother cooked the best meal we had on the entire trip, and even had some nice California red wine on hand, as my reputation and preferences had apparently preceeded me! Bryan and I compared scars and meds (my scar is longer and he takes WAY more meds) and Alma took pictures. I have a nice picture, too, which I will post later when I'm logged on at home.
From Raleigh, we drove through Greensboro and Winston-Salem to Asheville, where we had a nice meal at the famous Grove Park Inn and toured the Biltmore Estate. We also drove to Cherokee, near the Tennessee line in the Great Smoky Mountains, and took in native and mountain craft exhibits. We hiked around and climbed Chimney Rock (location where Last of the Mohicans was filmed) on a beautiful sunny day, and then climbed the observation tower at Mount Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi) and drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock. We stayed at the Chetola Resort, which is a nice facility, and celebrated Easter there. The weather was cold and rainy by then, so we took the Parkway to Roanoke, VA. and then went on to Charlottesville, where we toured Monticello ( in pouring rain and fog ) and the Michie Tavern. Richmond had the fabulous Museum of the Confederacy (can you tell we like historical sites?) and then we spent two days in the Yorktown area seeing Colonial Williamsburg, the Yorktown battlefield and the Jamestown colony site.
We stayed in Chesapeake for a night and went to the Nauticus, a great childrens' science museum, along with the Hampton Roads Naval Museum (wonderful!) and the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA.
Then we drove down the coast to the outer banks of North Carolina, stopping at Kitty Hawk and spending the night at the cute little village of Nags Head. We saw lighthouses at Bodie Island and Ocracoke Island, and climbed all 12 stories to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (tallest in North America!) - and on the 8 week anniversary of my OHS, to boot! I could never have made it to the top of that lighthouse before my surgery, but I practically ran to the top!
Then back to Raleigh and a final visit to the Museum of Natural Science there before catching the flight to Phoenix and on home. Not bad for a whirlwind trip!
And Cort; we usually take the Eurovan and drive, but this time we cheated and flew to the area first - still not a bad road trip. Ask me about the trip from California to Maine and back some time!
It was good to get back to home cooking. The hardest part of the trip was trying to eat heart-healthy in restaurants - particularly in the South They FRY everything! and I could taste the excess salt in everything I ordered. I skipped my regular weekly INR test since I was on the road and hoped that I wasn't getting too much Vitamin K since the only healthy things I could find were seafood and salad. I got tested again today and will see if ten days of road trip sent me way out of whack.
By the way, North Carolina is beautiful in the spring, and the people were uniformly friendly and pleasant. I recommend it as a destination.
Finally, it was just WAY cool to meet Bryan after getting to know him here, and I'm anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet more valvers from this forum. If any of you are coming through the Cambria area (on the California coast, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, just south of Big Sur) please send me a PM and we'd be glad to try to get together.
And I'm still serious about hosting a VR reunion here on the deck! Maybe we could start with a "left coast" reunion and take it from there?
Anyway, it's good to be back (I may even find my desk sometime this week).
If I missed a personal response to those of you who had surgery while I was gone, I'm sorry- I lost track of who was going in and when because I was away from the computer and so relaxed.
We flew to Raleigh and immediately looked up Bryan, who is staying with his wonderful and gracious parents, Alma and Don, while he recuperates. Bryan has dark hair but otherwise doesn't really resemble his poodle, Abby. We had a great visit and felt at home with Bryan and his family. His mother cooked the best meal we had on the entire trip, and even had some nice California red wine on hand, as my reputation and preferences had apparently preceeded me! Bryan and I compared scars and meds (my scar is longer and he takes WAY more meds) and Alma took pictures. I have a nice picture, too, which I will post later when I'm logged on at home.
From Raleigh, we drove through Greensboro and Winston-Salem to Asheville, where we had a nice meal at the famous Grove Park Inn and toured the Biltmore Estate. We also drove to Cherokee, near the Tennessee line in the Great Smoky Mountains, and took in native and mountain craft exhibits. We hiked around and climbed Chimney Rock (location where Last of the Mohicans was filmed) on a beautiful sunny day, and then climbed the observation tower at Mount Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi) and drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock. We stayed at the Chetola Resort, which is a nice facility, and celebrated Easter there. The weather was cold and rainy by then, so we took the Parkway to Roanoke, VA. and then went on to Charlottesville, where we toured Monticello ( in pouring rain and fog ) and the Michie Tavern. Richmond had the fabulous Museum of the Confederacy (can you tell we like historical sites?) and then we spent two days in the Yorktown area seeing Colonial Williamsburg, the Yorktown battlefield and the Jamestown colony site.
We stayed in Chesapeake for a night and went to the Nauticus, a great childrens' science museum, along with the Hampton Roads Naval Museum (wonderful!) and the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA.
Then we drove down the coast to the outer banks of North Carolina, stopping at Kitty Hawk and spending the night at the cute little village of Nags Head. We saw lighthouses at Bodie Island and Ocracoke Island, and climbed all 12 stories to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse (tallest in North America!) - and on the 8 week anniversary of my OHS, to boot! I could never have made it to the top of that lighthouse before my surgery, but I practically ran to the top!
Then back to Raleigh and a final visit to the Museum of Natural Science there before catching the flight to Phoenix and on home. Not bad for a whirlwind trip!
And Cort; we usually take the Eurovan and drive, but this time we cheated and flew to the area first - still not a bad road trip. Ask me about the trip from California to Maine and back some time!
It was good to get back to home cooking. The hardest part of the trip was trying to eat heart-healthy in restaurants - particularly in the South
They FRY everything! and I could taste the excess salt in everything I ordered. I skipped my regular weekly INR test since I was on the road and hoped that I wasn't getting too much Vitamin K since the only healthy things I could find were seafood and salad. I got tested again today and will see if ten days of road trip sent me way out of whack.By the way, North Carolina is beautiful in the spring, and the people were uniformly friendly and pleasant. I recommend it as a destination.
Finally, it was just WAY cool to meet Bryan after getting to know him here, and I'm anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet more valvers from this forum. If any of you are coming through the Cambria area (on the California coast, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, just south of Big Sur) please send me a PM and we'd be glad to try to get together.
And I'm still serious about hosting a VR reunion here on the deck! Maybe we could start with a "left coast" reunion and take it from there?
Anyway, it's good to be back (I may even find my desk sometime this week).
