Winter Adventure

 The school calendar gave us an entire week after New Year's until school started back this year, so we packed our warm coats and headed north for a winter adventure.  First on the agenda was The Blowing Rock in North Carolina, with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains.  

That evening, we settled in to our quaint hotel in downtown Blowing Rock, walked around the town, had dinner and then swam in the indoor pool.  

The next day we visited Grandfather Mountain State Park, where we drove over treacherous and foggy mountain roads, hiked rocky terrain, crossed the mile-high shaky bridge, clambered over large boulders jutting over the edge of the mountain, looked for bears, and just generally worked on developing a strong and persevering character.  Judson cried because he was scared of the high mountain roads.  Wren cried because she was scared of the steep trails.  In the end, we all persevered and were mostly happy campers.

Back at the hotel, it was another evening of working out the jitters from earlier in the day by swimming in the pool.  

The following day was supposed to be a wash out, so we opted to go underground...to a cavern in nearby Bristol.  Once again, we ventured across the foggy and scary mountains to get to the caverns, where we were part of a small group to tour through deep and dark caves.  That afternoon it appeared that the rain had cleared, so we ventured out for another "short" hike to see an old manor near the hotel.  What was supposed to be dry turned out to be what seemed like a spooky hike through the clouds.  We didn't see a whole lot (though we did see the manor - eventually), but we were soaked by the end.  Oh, and what was supposed to be "short" turned out to the almost 5 miles.  What's a few extra miles when you're working on building strong character in your children?  There was some complaining and maybe a few tears, but we made it.  Nothing a little time in the indoor pool can't handle.  

The last day, we tried our hand at snowboarding.  I'm not really sure what we were thinking.  I guess we forgot how much gear is involved in skiing and snowboarding (and how we would likely have to carry at least some of it for the kids).  We never made it past the practice hills, but Caleb and Wren seemed to figure it out pretty well.  Maybe we'll try it again...when they're teenagers.  

It was quite the winter adventure!  The kids' favorite part?  Adventure, being outdoors, time together?  No, the indoor pool, of course.