Heading up the Coast

Having two days to hang out with Family was great.  On Sunday we went to the Fun Factory in Franklin.  One of those "one stop shops" for everything fun.  They had an Arcade, a  9-hole mini-golf,  go-carts, laser tag, and a bowling alley.  We got there just as they opened at 2pm and stayed until they closed at 8pm. It was SO MUCH FUN!  They had online coupons for the Pizza Buffet and then $20 worth of games/things (like mini-golf etc).  It was $15 per person and that's all we spent.  It was incredible. It would have cost us a bit more but as it was a slow day the lady behind the counter let us do everything for free.  Bowling? Free. Laser Tag? Free.  We did pay the $2.50 to do mini-golf and the go-carts were bo-go.   It was way more fun than I had expected. Jamie can have fun at any arcade (especially ones that have credits on the Simpsons Pinball machine like this one did) but I tend to get bored really quickly.   But I loved it.   I think I liked the deal of the whole thing. Generally I'm not good at video games so it feels like a waste of money to play when I die within 1.5 minutes but getting everything for free and having had a deal in the first place made me really enjoy it.  I even got to play little Eric in Mario Cart and I BEAT HIM!!  You might say that beating a fourth grader at a game is no real accomplishment, but YOU try to beat a kid at a video game that he plays all the time!  I think I won because I made him play the "easy" round and he over-thought it as he's used to the "expert" level.

Overall, It was a great visit and we woke up early to see the kids off to school monday morning and then we were out the door by 9.   We drove about 7 hours up to New Market and stayed at the Blue Ridge Inn.  A random place we got a $30 coupon for from the rest area. Originally we were going to camp but we are both getting a little tired of traveling and once we started we decided to just splurge.  The hotel was really cute.  Free and fast wifi, clean rooms, resident cats (outdoor) and a wagon wheel decorative motif.    I was happy to be in a hotel because it makes getting up and out much less of an ordeal and I wanted to make a stop in Front Royal before we got to DC.

I had read online about a donut shop in Front Royal, Virginia that a young woman had opened called "Naughty Girls."  The shop has a 1950s pin-up style and the local churches started to picket and boycott her.  Throwing trash at the windows and other such stupid things.  I wanted to detour and support them.  As a perk, the donuts were DELICIOUS and they deliver next day across the country.   If you want donuts, and you do.

After our "carrot cake" and "wakin' bacon" donuts, we continued on to DC to visit Aida. A friend I've had since High School.  She's just had a baby and I wanted to see her (both Aida and the Baby).  Both are beautiful and I really enjoyed seeing my old friend again.  The baby slept the whole time and Aida's wife was at work so I didn't get a full family visit but it meant I got undivided-Attention from Aida.  Which was, really, what I wanted.

Tonight we are camped at the Greenbelt Recreation Area oustide of DC and tomorrow we are visting Eunjeong, a friend from Korea and then we're headed up to see my Aunt Kathy and Aunt Anne in Philadelphia!

Heading up the Coast! Almost home!

Fun Factory!

Blue Ridge Hotel 

Wagon Wheels

Front Royal Naughty Girls Donut Shop

MMM!  Carrot Cake Donut 

Aida! 

Hanging out with the Southern Branch Lyons

Hi! 

We are in Waynesville NC for the weekend visiting the Jamie's Brother and his family.    As I've already mentioned we got in Friday night and went roller skating.  Yesterday we all slept in (glorious) and then we went Shooting. Our new favorite countryside activity.  

 

Setting us up for lots of fun. 

Make sure it's level! 

Brothers!

AT Day 169,170,171 with the Lyon's

Miles 0
Total 1910

Sights: Family! A chicken show, trunk or treating,
We've been having an excellent time visiting family.   We got here Thursday night and had a delicious dinner of pork, potato and carrot followed by an introduction to "Doctor Who", an excellent sci-fi show.  
Friday was wonderful. Jamie and I borrowed a car to go to Walmart-our first walmart experience since being on the trail and let me tell you-we bought to much.  
Then Billy and Alicia took us to downtown Waynesville. It was super cute and artsy. There was a great coffee shop-complete with sullen barista and huge comfy orange sofas.   We came back to meet the kids and Jamie and I babysat while Billy and Alicia went out.  It was really fun to hang out with the kids as I've (shannon) has never really gotten to know them very well.    I've really loved hanging out with them.  Also, we played some great rounds of DanceDanceRevolution.
Saturday I went to a chicken show with Alicia. They raise chickens and have about 2 or 3 dozen. I'd never considered chickens before and it was so interesting to hear about all the different kinds of chickens and see how cool they were.  It was so cool.
Then we went out "Trunk or Treating.". It's a thing all the churches do. People bring their cars and open the trucks in the parking lot.  Then the kids can all go trick or treating at them.  It was really fun.  We went to two different ones. The first one was Methodist and they had fried oreos, a petting zoo and a bounce house. The second was much more religiously themed, it was a Baptist church and each of the games was themed around different bible stories and the people were all dressed up as different Bible Characters.   That one was really fun with good games and hotdogs and cookies.  They had a great raffle for the kids and as it was all mostly centered inside one room it was easier to relax.  
When we got back, we were all sugared up so we watched Hocus Pocus.   It was a great night of Halloween fun!
We're heading out today after lunch. We're sad to be leaving but if we don't get back out there-we never will. 

 

 

Halloween! 

Trunk-or-Treating