Our Spring Break road trip started out great. We went to the D.I. state tournament in Mount Vernon, Ohio to watch several of the Beachwood teams compete. Colin's friends' team had a great performance and ended up getting first place. They will go to the global tournament in a couple weeks. However, after that our road trip took a turn for the worse. We got stuck in traffic in WV. There was a really bad accident and we didn't go anywhere for almost two hours.
We stopped shortly after that to get something to eat and I took this picture. There was a really light snow. I thought it would be the last of snow that we would see for the year.
I was very wrong. We drove right into a blizzard. We were parked on the highway for over five hours. We finally got to this hotel - which had no power - and slept a few hours.
The roads were better in the morning but they were still plowing and cleaning up accidents. Our hotel and this photo were in Wytheville, VA., which is in southern Virginia. Some areas got over 15 inches.
We finally got to Asheville and had lunch with Audrey, Josianne and Tom. They took us to a great brunch place. Lots of hipsters, though.
We were only in Asheville for two days but we did a lot. The boys and I went hiking, we went to an awesome toy store, we drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway, Tom and Josianne showed us around downtown and some other cool areas - thanks guys - and on the last morning we went to the Biltmore Estate.
This is it. It was built by the Vanderbilts in the early 1900's.
It was absolutely amazing. This is the back porch.
The conservatory.
Inside the conservatory.
View from the back.
While we were there, the costumes from the movie "Titanic" were on display. This one was very popular. There is also a winery, restaurant and hotel on the property but we didn't have time for those. It was definitely worth the price.
The boys had a great time.
And found some new hats.
From Asheville we went straight to Roanoke. All of the boys were very excited to see each other.
We went hiking the first day.
The trail led to this boulder field.
We made it about halfway up.
Just after that hike we went to Natural Bridge State Park which was very close to our hike.
Pretty cool.
The second day we went to Dixie Caverns.
We got to see a bat. It was only about two inches long.
The boys loved it.
At the end of the tour they turned off the lights and we got to experience complete darkness.
We started our last full day in Roanoke by fishing. Chris and Evelyn's house is right on Smith Mountain Lake, which is where we caught this giant perch.
Then we played miniature golf. Mitch was the big winner.
Then ice cream, of course.
The kids all had a great time playing with each other and it gave the adults plenty of time to relax and drink wine.😀🍷 Thanks for having us. See you this summer.
Then it was off to DC to visit Aunt Natalie.
The cherry blossom festival was going on. Not all of the trees were in full bloom but this one was.
There was a really cool Japanese performance that we got to see.
I think that's the Jefferson Memorial.
Nate and the boys.
The Washington Monument.
We drove by the White House. It's nothing compared to the Biltmore.
This was at the Freer Art Museum.
This bird was hanging around Nate's porch. Does anyone know what it is?
Thanks for having us Nate.
See you soon.
1 comment:
What a memorable road trip!
Post a Comment