Home, James

... actually "home, Charlie". Ha!  We are on our way home.  After two days in the car from breakfast until dinner (and late dinners at that), we finally decided that a shorter day in the car was the best idea. We still have a ways to go before we get home (8+ hours, but we have the advantage of moving from the eastern time zone to the central time zone), so we should be home tomorrow with enough time to unpack and settle in.

I mentioned earlier that I'm not a big fan of car rides for the sake of driving, so I had misgivings about this trip.  And I have to confess that there were times when I would have said "yes" in a heartbeat, if DH had asked if we should head home.  But there were times when all that time in the car was worth it.  All in all, I'm glad we made the trip.  I hope DH enjoyed it, as I'm not sure if I'll ever be up to a road trip like this again.  Ha!

We left late Wednesday afternoon and made it to Paducah in time for a late dinner ... just before the rain came through.  Thankfully (?) Hanock's of Paducah was closed. Ha!  We hit the road Thursday morning ... I was able to get in a few hours with my needle and thread.  You get a little sneak peek at my July BOM for my Facebook group ... I'll share the finished block after the reveal on Facebook.

After I finished that, I moved on to work on my 4" EPP bow ties.  I got a few done before we hit the mountains and the hand stitching was set aside. 

We stayed on the Parkway Thursday night at a delightful Inn. We had a gorgeous view of the mountains from our room and from our own private balcony.

Dinner at their restaurant also featured equally fabulous views ... and spectacular meals as well.  If we had returned home Friday morning, the trip would have been a success in my books.

While the rain moved on by Friday morning, it left behind low-lying clouds which hindered some of our views. Thankfully the clouds lifted and we were able to get in some spectacular views.

Including the Linnville Falls

And the Linn Cove Viaduct

 

By mid-afternoon, we were both ready to call it a day, but we were still almost 3 hours from the hotel we'd made reservations at.  Thankfully we made it ... and crashed for the night.  

This morning, we slept in (until 7:30!) and took our time getting ready before hitting the Parkway again. We made it to Natural Bridge

before heading over out for home.  

Some thoughts about our trip:  Both DH and I were surprised that there weren't more lodging or dining establishments on/close to the Parkway.  Friday morning, we passed one inn with a restaurant just a couple of hours from where we stopped Thursday night ... it was still at least an hour and a half before we were ready to start thinking about lunch and definitely not ready to stop for the night. There was another inn beyond where we stopped Friday evening ... we pushed ourselves to make it to our hotel (a few miles off the Parkway) so there was no way we could have made it further. 

We were both a little disappointed with the Virginia portion of the Parkway. The terrain was a lot more like what we would encounter in southern Illinois, just a couple of hours down the road from us. It was pretty ... rolling wooded hills, but it wasn't what we were expecting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, nor what we'd seen on the North Carolina portion of the Parkway. Truthfully, the views on our drive home on I-81 in Virginia and I-64 in Virginia and North Carolina were more spectacular than the views on the Parkway in Virginia. 

Most of all, this trip confirmed that I'm a "beach gal", not a "mountain gal" and that I'm not a "road trip gal" (hauling our stuff in and out of the car each evening got old in a hurry ... I prefer to get where I'm going, unpack and settle in, even if for just a few days).  But DH had been dreaming of this for several years now, and I'm glad that he's been able to cross this off his bucket list.  

Now, I'm going to take it easy, watch my Cardinals and stitch some bow ties.  

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy