travel
Table Rock
Lake Jocassee 2019
Just a little over a year ago, we went camping for the first time at Lake Jocassee -- not our first visit, but our first time camping there -- and we knew that we would have to go back. Again. And again. This year, we returned, taking our same camp site -- our beloved Site 20 -- and going to the same places, doing the same things. With one difference: K, finishing up a course, stayed home.
"I can study better for the final without you all anyway," she rationalized, but of course we all wanted her to go with us as much as she wanted to be there.
Still, it created a new dynamic as I explored an adventure with the Boy and the Girl. There's a difference in fun in threes that makes us rely on each other a little more and realize -- for the millionth time -- just how much K brings to our family.
For one thing, we're much more relaxed about getting started in the morning. If it were not for K, I don't think we'd get half the things done we usually get done. K is the early riser in the family, and even when we're on vacation, she makes sure we're up and eating at a decent out, out for our first adventure, ready for our second well before lunch. Without her, we managed breakfast by 9:00, usually making it to the water an hour later as we went to get ice for the cooler, to drop off the trash, and to accomplish various meaningless tasks.
Part of that might have been the inability to split tasks due to having only one adult present, but honestly, we just got up a lot later than we would have earlier.
It's tempting to say that everything else was the same, but how could it be? Everyone's a year older, a year wiser. The Boy made a friend and spend a good bit of time on his own with his friend J, in sight but most decidedly independent. The Girl floated out to an isolated area and lived in her own world at times. The Dog wanted -- actually begged -- to get in the water.
The next day was more of the same, but with a major change: the rock we discovered last year that was simply a lovely spot to go and watch the sunrise and do some fishing, became a jumping platform. The Girl, seeing me and others do it, leapt into the water without much hesitation at all. The Boy? Well, J his new friend was there, jumping off with abandon. The Boy didn't wait: off he went after a quick check to make sure I was in the water to help him if needed.
Sunday on the Trail
This weekend, we went back home -- back to the southwest Virginia/northeast Tennessee area in which I grew up. Dear family friends invited us to spend the weekend with them for a few reasons, but most important was to give Papa a chance to meet with people who had been unable to attend Nana's funeral. That was what Saturday was all about -- spending time with folks who'd been like family to us. Most of the people I'd known since I was E's age. It was just what Papa needed, and in fact, the laughter that generally filled the house that day was a balm for us all.
Sunday was for our immediate family: a bike ride down the Virginia Creeper Trail, a 34-mile multi-purpose trail built on the old railroad line that ran through the area.
We went along the first half, from Abingdon to Damascus. The longest the Boy had ridden to that point was about ten miles; this was to be about seventeen.
But seventeen miles through probably the most beautiful route any of us have ever ridden through, over fourteen railroad tressels, some of which towered probably 200-250 feet, some of which were surprisingly long.
The Boy powered through it like a champ. All our riding this summer has sculpted a seven-year-old with more endurance than I had at his age, and he pushed through the ride at a fairly impressive speed of 6.8 mph (according to my Fitbit).
At one point toward the end, he began complaining that he couldn't make it. "I'm too tired!" he fussed, but we took about a ten-minute break and he was willing to push through the final miles.
During the last two miles, we got a challenge: a pair of riders called "on your left" and passed us. They looked to be in their sixties but dressed in cycling gear and riding fairly expensive-looking gravel bikes, they were experienced. They encouraged the Boy as they rode by us, and then as they pulled away, I suggested, "Why don't we try to catch them?" I anticipated a laugh that the suggestion was ridiculous, but E clicked into a higher gear, stood up from the saddle, and powered ahead. "On our left!" we called out as we passed to the gentlemen's cheers. "But can we keep this speed?" I thought. At one point, we slowed, and the riders neared. The Boy stood again, pedaled as fast as he could, and pushed through the last half mile or so to our stopping point. Our competition caught us, congratulated him, and gave him enthusiastic high-fives. "I guess you showed us, young man!" one said.
On the way home, though, there was only one thing to do...
Visiting the Old Country
Wednesday Virus
The Boy wanted to go to school today. He really wanted to go. Mainly because they weren't going to be in school -- it was field trip day to the local science center where they have a Tesla coil, explode hydrogen balloons, and generally thrill kids of all ages. But the rash he'd gone to bed with, the little splotches on his cheeks, had spread all over his body.
"E, we have to go to the doctor," K explained.
"But it's nothing. Look -- it will go away in no time."
She tried to explain to him the risks of passing something on to other children.
"They won't get it! I know they won't!"
In the end, he lost. The doctor said it was a virus going around. "He's through the worst of it, but you should keep him home today."
For today's pictures -- fifteen years ago in Budapest and Poland with Nana and Papa, when they came for our wedding. I was going through pictures this evening, revisited these, and did some editing.
Zakopane in November
Return to Bristol
We spent the morning and early afternoon in Bristol today. It's the first time we've been there with both kids. One of the highlights of the day for me was to take them to my old elementary school. I showed them the spaceship that I and my friends used to fight so many battles, and L took the helm while the Boy tried his hand at attacking.
Afterward, a little walk downtown. The Girl was fascinated with the idea of State Street -- one foot in Virginia, the other in Tennessee. I was just happy to find Uncle Sam's Loan Office (i.e., pawn shop) was still open. I must have gone in there 100 times as a kid to look at their guitars, hoping beyond hope that they'd have some mispriced gem that I could snatch up.
Lake Jocassee, Day 4
Lake Jocassee, Day 3
I don't remember how the idea came about, but somehow we got into our heads to get up in time to watch the sun rise over the lake. We knew that either the small beach or the rock (or both) would provide an excellent view, so we got up just as the sky was brightening and headed to the beach. L, deep asleep and unresponsive to most everything, stayed behind.
We first went to the beach, but that was a mistake: a small rise on the other side of the lake blocked the view of the sun breaking over the horizon so that by the time it was visible over the rise, it was relatively high in the sky. It took some work in Lightroom to make the shot look like a sunrise when in fact, it looked like this.
We decided that we should check out the rock outcropping with the idea that we might try again the next day. It was clearly the better location of the two.
The Boy was with us, but he wasn't really interested in the sunrise. He wanted to fish. I'd mentioned the previous day that early morning efforts lead to greater fishing success, so when he heard us talking about going out to watch the sunrise, he was eager to take his fishing pole with him.
I talked him into heading out onto the rock outcropping and he cast his line. I positioned myself so the sun was just out of the frame and clicked off a picture. I didn't really think anything of it, didn't really think it would be an image of much more significance than all the other pictures I took, but when I got it home and in Lightroom, I had one of those rare experiences as an amateur photographer: I thought, "I took that picture?!"
Definitely, it's in my top five all-time best pictures.
Morning we spent on the small beach. We weren't the only ones with that idea, though.
That could have been a bad thing, but camping brings out a certain type of family, generally speaking, and we all were getting along famously soon enough. One of the families had small, child-size kayaks, and we asked if E could try it out.
He was instantly hooked. "We have to get one of these."
He enjoyed kayaking with adults as well, but not nearly as much. That independence, once he got a taste of it, was incomparable.
Finally, as we were getting dinner ready, the Boy noticed a young man in a neighboring tent site.
"Mommy, can I go play with him? He looks bored." We went over what he should say, had a little practice session with him ("Hi, my name is E. Would you like to play?"), and sent him on his way.
