May 2016

May started out great with a visit to my sister Liz in NC.  She has bought a beautiful house and moved from DC the end of last year.  Mike came down with a cold and was in bed for about 3 days while we were in Hendersonville.  Nelson and Olivia made me Carne Asada for dinner one night with fresh pico de gallo and black beans.  It was wonderful!  Liz also made stuffed peppers for dinner before we left.  Due to Mike's cold, we didn't get out much but did manage to enjoy a morning exploring in downtown Hendersonville. 

We left NC and headed back to Ohio.  Mike had to have his new crown "installed".  It was a quick overnight trip and then we were off to eastern PA to visit with cousins Terry & Dave, Al & Karen and Marion and Jay.  We had a very nice time just kicking back and enjoying some home cooked food.  Thanks Tair!!  And no stop is complete without breakfast at the Hellertown Diner - twice! 

After PA we were planning a trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland then meandering down to Kiawah Island SC but that got tabled when I received a call from my niece Emma telling us my sister Becky was hospitalized.  Needless to say we were back in WV shortly.  I couldn't do much but stare at her while she lay in her hospital bed and will her to get better.  Since the doctors never did discover what caused her illness, I'm thinking my staring might have made everything better - HA!  She says I'm the bossy one but I think that it is the duty of the oldest child to be exactly that when necessary.  Oh, and as oldest, I get to also decide when it is necessary.  Rank has its privileges.  So once Becky was discharged, we drove her down to Liz's for some R&R.  She will be in NC gaining strength and fattening up for a couple of weeks or so. 

I also had to tell Mike that I was so very, very tired of hotels after 8 weeks on the road.  Thank goodness we were able to rent a beautiful cabin on top of a mountain in Bat Cave NC.  This picture below shows what most of our mornings looked like.  We loved sitting in the two rocking chairs and watching the mountains.  Two days we had rain and were totally surrounded by clouds.  It felt there was no one else on Earth but the two of us.  There was enough moisture in the air to cause condensation on the leaves of the trees so it sounded as if it was raining when the water fell from leaf to leaf.  My favorite observation was 'watching the breeze'.  Yep, we could watch the wind move the tree tops down the mountain before the breeze ever reached our porch.  The peace and quiet was absolutely what I needed.

View from our Cabin on top of the mountains

Our first night here was just scrambling to find the cabin and then getting food shopping and dinner.  We had a wonderful dinner on the deck at La Strada overlooking Lake Lure.  Great Italian food but those portions were HUGE.  We had our leftovers for linner (lunch/dinner) the next two days.  Mostly we just stayed in the cabin and had Becky and Liz over for lunch one day.

In case you don't know, Lake Lure NC is next to Chimney Rock NC.  Dirty Dancing was filmed at Lake Lure and the Lake Lure Inn and Spa has two suites named for Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze.  There is a current sequel being filmed nearby.  One of the dancer's is Jennifer Lopez's boyfriend Cesar so she was in Hendersonville about 2 weeks before we got there.  Also, Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day Lewis was partially filmed in the Chimney Rock area.  The cost is $15 per person to go up onto Chimney Rock so we snapped this pic from downtown Chimney Rock.  I'd rather spend that $15 on wine, tequila or good food.

 

Chimney Rock - Rather unimpressive

 

Next adventure will be heading back to Texas so that we can fly off to Los Barriles BCS Mexico on June 1st.