Summer 2016 Family Road Trip!

Summer 2016 Family Road Trip! 

Maybe it’s because I travel overseas so much that I more recently have had a craving to see more of the US, or maybe it’s because Griffin is finally old enough to handle, and even enjoy road trips, or maybe it’s because we live in a concrete jungle (which I love), that I craved the great outdoors, that we decided to take this road trip for our family vacation.  Make no mistake, this was all my idea, but when I pitched it to Steve, who probably would have been happy just sitting at our neighborhood pool doing nothing for a week, I mentioned that Asheville supposedly a microbrew and biking/hiking/rafting mecca and he was all in.  It all started about two years ago, when I listened with envy as my friend Sally talked about their cross-country road trip with her two boys, as they moved from Baltimore to California. Last year I visited my old friend Tara and she raved about this place called Asheville, which happened to be the place another friend of mine, Jen lives.  And Jen and I have been talking about doing a house swap between our downtown Baltimore rowhouse and their Asheville, NC country/mountain house for a while now. While the house swap didn’t work out this year, it’s almost better because they’ll be there while we visit!

Here are a few notes and photos from our trip!

Day 1: Baltimore to Natural Bridge, VA

It’s not exactly recommended to go on a 4-day trip to Haiti for work the week before your self-planned road trip vacation, and get home at 6pm on Friday the night before you leave. But alas, this is our own trip so we can be on our own schedule.  We didn’t rush on Saturday morning, but did unload Griffin with friends at the pool so we could finish packing and run a few errands (and hopefully tire him out before the drive). We brought lunch to the pool, ate, hung out with some friends, and then got on the road by 2pm, and headed South-West.  By about 4ish Griffin was already getting ancy, and we’d seen one too many signs for Virginia wineries, so we decided it was a sign. We got off the highway and followed the signs through long and windy beautiful country roads until we found a winery called Kindred Pointe.  Except all the signs were for one called Caves Valley Winery, so we’re thinking the Kindred guys got smart and set up shop just down the road from Caves Valley, so they benefitted from all that traffic. Alas we never made it to Caves Valley.  But the renovated horse stables-turned-wine tasting space at Kindred Point was awesome, and Griffin loved running around the grounds, checking out the horses and then the vineyard while we did a quick tasting. Turns out the owners are Boxer lovers too, but the king of the house, a 100-lb male boxer named Oscar, was inside taking his afternoon nap, so we didn’t get to meet him.

Then we were off again, headed to Natural Bridge, VA.  Griffin convinced me to sit in the backseat with him to play checkers (there are pros and cons of having an only child…) but the game got pretty heated via a disputed rule interpretation, so we only played one round.

The drive to Natural Bridge didn’t take long though.  We checked into the super quaint Natural Bridge Hotel, and they told us about live music over at a pavilion on the grounds, where they also had a snack bar with sandwiches and burgers and stuff.  So throwing bedtime away with reckless abandon, we headed down there about 7pm.  The Natural Bridge Hotel is on a large complex, currently privately owned (but some parts converting to a state park in Sept), which includes the natural bridge itself and trails, plus the natural caverns. Your tickets include most everything, and are good for 48 hours. So we headed down the trail and steps to the pavilion, which is just before official entrance to the bridge. Expecting a Riverside Park style community outdoor concert series, we were surprised to see 3 people in polos on instruments, with a mostly empty pavilion and patio, besides a handful of other people.  No matter, we had good pulled pork sandwiches, beer, and a calm riverside seat while Griffin bounced around watching the musicians and checking out the area. We packed it up just before 9, and managed to get him to sleep in our antiquated but clean double room, where we were able to sit on the veranda outside in these great old school rocking chairs while he fell asleep in the room. The best part was that the hotel bar wasn’t too far and allowed Steve to open a tab and bring beers to our patio. Perfect!