Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 10

JESSUP, MD - Fianlly made it home about 6:30 pm. We had got up latter than I'd hoped and had breakfast at Waffle House. We left Roanoke a little after nine.

Decided that since it wasn't THAT far out of the way, to take Nathan to Mustoe to see Nanny's home place. We visited the house, church, and the cemetary where a lot of her family (including parents) are buried. We ate lunch at the Mountain Hideaway up the road in Montarey.

On the way back to 81, we stopped at the Confederate Breastworks overlook. Enjoyed the view, read some of the markers, and even found a cache on the site.

It was great to hitting the landmarks that meant we were home. Congestion on 66, the Beltway, seeing the Welcome to Maryland sign at the Legion Bridge, taking the 95 north exit, entering Howard County, taking the Laurel exit, and finally arriving home. Every one got a big cheer from each of us.

Already starting to think of ideas for Nathan & Dad's Next Big Adventure 2007.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 9

ROANOKE, VA - We left Aunt Barbara / Uncle Bob's around noon and stopped at DQ for lunch before hitting the road for real. Decided to take the "fast route" and head north with the intent of getting on I-81.

We ran into some serious thunderstorms just before getting to Virginia. That slowed us down ALOT. We ended up stopping for dinner at Cracker Barrel in Bristol hoping to wait out the storm a bit. Worked a bit, rain wasn't so hard afterward.

Did not reach Roanoake until about 10. Starting to wish that I hadn't made reservations, so we could have stopped earlier. At least we'll have a shorter trip today. We're thinking of making a special stop, but I'll wait to mention until we do. Nathan is still sleeping at 7:36.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 8

YOUNG HARRIS, GA - Headed out around 10:30 to the highest point in Georgia - Brasstown Bald Mountain. On the way, we headed partway up another mountain for a cache. Hadn't realized it would involve driving up the side of a mountain until we got there. Found without much problem, though. The CRV did a nice job once I put her in first gear.

When we got to Brasstown Bald, we had a 0.6 mile hike up from the parking lot. We could have taken the bus, but that would have been wimping out. We finally reached the top after about 30 minutes. Please not that Nathan had a tough time keeping up with his old dad. Had some great views from the observation tower, but it would have been even better if it hadn't been so hazy. We walked back down as well. Suprisingly, that was nearly as much of a workout. Met a woman who'd jogged / walked up and down the 4 mile road that the bus takes. That was nuts.

After stopping at Hardee's for some lunch fit for a couple of mountain climbers, we met Uncle Bob and Aunt Barbara at the boat. We landed on the shore of a penninsula that I'd found had a cache not far from the water. We didn't find it, thought. Will have to try from the land next time we visit.

Came home took some much needed showers and had dinner. After a bit, Nathan and I went to Fun World - a local amusement center. We had fun at Skeeball, pinball, mini-golf, and some racing video games.

Plan to get up early (for Nathan, that's before 10) to do a couple of more urban caches nearby. Plan to head out of town around lunch.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 7

YOUNG HARRIS, GA - Started today out with a little North Georgia Geocaching. Found a 3 stage cache that started on the campus of Young Harris College. Turned out it was located at a small waterfall that Aunt Barbara had wanted to take us to anyway. It eventually let us to a very interesting archeological siteof some possibly ancient Indian petroglyphs. One Cherokee story relating to the rocks is that the marks, many of which look like animal tracks, were created when the animals left the "great canoe" after a world wide flood and the rocks were still soft. Aunt Barbara accompanied us and lent some important assistance. As a reward, she learned why the nearby Track Rock Road was so named.

From there we swung by the house on the way to the lake for a cruise on their yet unnamed boat. We spent a couple of hours out on the water with some beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and forest. Nathan and I each had a turn at the helm. Nathan was very serious and real professional behind the wheel.

Went home to relax and take it easy. Had a great dinner. Later, Nathan asked Aunt Barbara to make him a milkshake. Then she made us a couple of ice cream sodas. Hey, it's my vacation. I can indulge, can't I?

Mapped out a couple of caches to try in the morning. Also hope to visit Bald Mountain, the tallest point in Georgia - just a few miles down the road.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 6

YOUNG HARRIS, GA - Before what would be a long day on the road, we made a quick farewell trip to the beach. After a couple of quick stops to fill up our cooler and grab a few souvenirs, we finally got on the road just after noon. We didn't get far, though, before we had to stop at Sonics for lunch. Probably a good idea since we hadn't really have breakfast. Nathan was excited about that since we always see commercials, but don't have any near us.

Not too far out of Myrtle Beach (an hour?), we passed through the home town of country star Josh Turner. Don't recall the name, but it wasn't much. Nathan did pretty well for most of the trip, but was getting very anxious to at least reach Georgia by five or so. Finally, around 7:15, we arrived in Georgia. Did see a "Welcome to" sign, so had to settle for a Chattahoochee NF sign. Made me want to pop in an Alan Jackson CD.

We got to Aunt Barbara's and Uncle Bob's around 8:30. A bit longer than I'd thought it'd take. Apparently, my original itinerary did say it would take about 8 1/2 hours, but once I mapped out our routes in the atlas, I didn't even look at the original online directions. Bed was sounding very appealing.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 5

SURFSIDE BEACH, SC - Started the day out by doing a little local geocaching (www.geocaching.com/about). Scouted 9 sites, but stopped after 5 finds and 1 DNF. It was time for lunch. Gotta eat!

Then we went to the beach where Nathan met a friend (Alex, 8) who was visting his grandpa. They clicked like anything and he forgot about dad. That was cool. Alex even gave Nathan some skin boarding (?) lessons.

When we finally left the beach, we went by the open mic night that Mike (Bug) was hosting. Unfortunately, he'd broken his finger and wasn't able to play. We would have seen him play quite a bit since there was only one other musician who showed up. There was a comedian who made his rather brief debut tonight, but he only told one joke and said he'd exhausted his material. He'll have to work on that if he's going to make it in show businesss. (video available upon return)

I ended up going bowling with this struggling stand up. He didn't do badly and I think he's looking into some physical comedy ideas to supplement his limited repository of jokes.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 4

SURFSIDE BEACH, SC - After a big day at the beach yesterday, we slept the morning away.

Headed out around noon to go bowling per Nathan's request. Along the way, he changed his mind and wanted to go miniature golfing. We played two rounds (diff. courses) in the 95+ degree heat instead of bowling in air conditioned comfort. He did get two hole-in-ones, so I guess it was worth it.
Came home and had a couple of tuna fish sandwiches. I was going to go out, but Nahtan requested tuna at home. He's so thrifty. Sometimes.

After our late lunch, we haded for the beach for a couple of hours. Surf was much closer to the traditional "sissy waves", as Aunt Donna says.

Had thought we might get together with Mike, Mike, and Matthew today, but "little" Mike broke a finger at football practice this morning. He's an aspiring musician AND a wide receiver. We'll, he won't be either for a month or so now. At least we got to see him play at church Sunday.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 3

SURFSIDE BEACH, SC - Attended church service with Aunt Donna and Mike. It's a small new non-denomination congregation and Mike is their praise "band". It was a long service, but very energetic and a good message. Afterwards, we went to the Golden Egg for breakfast. Nathan's eyes were (again) bigger than his mouth. I don't know what's up. At home, we can barely get him to eat in the morning.

Unfortunately, Roger had to leave this morning for week long business trip.

The four of us went to the beach for a few hours after getting home. The surf us unusually rough for down here. Nathan and I would head up the beach a way before getting in with our boogie boards since we'd be carried south pretty quickly. It was lie a ride at a water park. We'd go in, get taken past our spot on the beach, get out and hoof it back past our spot to start over. It wasn't really warm enough for Aunt Donna or Mike, but Nathan eventually got Mike in the water.

Big Mike, Bev, and Matthew came over for dinner. Couldn't even recall the last time I'd seen them. Hung out for a while and watched the first quarter of the Skins - Bengals pre-season game. Nathan and Matthew spent the time outside bird watching. They seemed to get along really well.

Plan to let Nathan sleep as long as he wants tomorrow. We may be getting together with Mike, Mike, and Matthew to go to a water park or the beach again.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 2

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Once I was able to get Nathan up, we started the day with a good breakfast as a local pancake house. He ordered a lot of food and we even bet whether or not he'd be able to finish it. It was close, but I won and he had to not watch any DVD's on the way to Myrtle Beach.

After we checked out, we headed over to Colonial Williamsburg for a series of re-enactments covering event in the former Virginia capital from 1776 to 1781. First, we ran into Patrick Henry. He was taking questions from the audience. I didn't get a chance to let him know that Sandy had portrayed him in elementary school, though. Other noteworthy figures that we "met" included Benedict Arnold, Lafayette, and George Washington.

Nathan enjoyed it (despite the picture) and we plan to go back some time this year. I learned an important lesson, too. Charge my camera battery every night while on vacation! It died, just as I was bout to get a nice shot of the original "George W."

We finally headed out of town around 1:30 and did not arrive in Myrtle Beach until 9:00. Perhaps my plan to take the scenic route and avoid interstates could have been better thought out. As it turns out, "little" Mike was performing at a local coffee house and we missed his last song by maybe half an hour. We stayed long enough to catch a couple songs by two other singers, including Sister Otis (www.sistaotis.com). Although she's originally from Detroit, she's sort of a local favorite. Unfortunately, I only got to see one of her songs, before Nathan just had to leave. I'd put him through a tough enough day in the car that I didn't want to push him.

Finally got to bed around 11:30. I think we both slept very well.

Nathan & Dad's Big Adv. - Day 1

WILLIAMSBURG, VA - It was almost 10:30 when we left home. After stopping to pick some cheap sunglasses, we went by to see Sandy before heading out of town. Since Sandy couldn't accompany us, we decided to take along one of her bears. Ginger will go everywhere we go and we'll take pictures of her adventure to share with Sandy when we return. We stayed for about an hour, but before we left Aunt Irma and Aunt Joan came in for their regular Friay visit. That was nice since we'd had such a short visit. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for a hearty lunch, hit the ATM, and were on the road by 12:40. It was beautiful day - partly cloudy and 80 degrees. We put the windows down and opened the sun roof.

We decided to avoid the interstates and have enjoy the ride without being rushed. We took US 301 south to US 17. When we got to the 301 / 17 junction, we stopped at Horne's for some Hershey's ice cream at their counter. Nathan had a hot fudge & strawberry sunday and I had a chocolate shake. Then he decided he wanted some fries to go. We were back on the road by 3:30.

We got a little turned around when we got close to Williamsburg, so didn't get to the hotel until six. Checked in and headed back out to Colonial Williamsburg. We tried to get tickets to a participatory demonstration of the life of a Revolutionary soldier, but had some problems and ended up at at the hotel pool after getting some dinner. We plan to go back in the morning for some re-enactments.

Self Proclamations is Back

Well, I'm going to give this a shot. The new "Self Proclamations" will be a mix of family news, political stuff, and whatever else comes to mind.

The first updates will be of "Nathan and Dad's Big Adventure" road trip starting Friday, 11 August.