Phillips Ponderings: 30 Hours in the car, 3 different locations--Our First Family Vacation

Last week Saturday, we packed up our suitcases plus all of Kyper's gear and headed south.

Joel grew up going to Maggie Valley, NC. His great-aunt and uncle owned a huge house in the mountains and also a little cabin where family could stay. Joel wanted to share this place with me and Kyper, so we headed down. After a great 10 hour drive we arrived. Kyper is such a trooper in the car--we are so blessed!

We spent that evening unpacking and settling into the cabin as well as waiting for Joel's brother and sister-in-law. They had to roast a chicken before leaving, so they didn't arrive until 11:30pm. Since we had started our day at 4:30am, we weren't able to stay awake to greet them.

These are the cabins we stayed in. You can see our view.

After a breakfast of eggs and bacon, we packed into the car and toured the area. We hiked up Waterrock Knob, saw Sliding Rock, and saw Looking Glass Falls (waterfall).

Pictures from Waterrock Knob

Sliding Glass Rock (you can slide down this) and Looking Glass Falls

We took Monday morning pretty easy. JP, Joel and Kyper ended up going to Jonathan Creek and saw another waterfall while Katie and I went downtown Waynesville, NC and looked in the local shops. Later that evening, we met up with Joel's great-aunt, her sister and her sister's husband. They just happened to be in town. His great-aunt Gloria is the one that owns the house in the mountains, but she lives in Florida the majority of the year. She treated us to a wonderful dinner out and then dessert at her place in the mountains. After dessert we watched Dancing With the Stars. It was a great evening filled with laughter. Gloria's sister Noni told us stories of her fishing success--she once caught a 600 lb tuna. She would have won a tournament if the tuna had been whole--supposedly it had a few bites on it. She also is a top-notch hula dancer and even danced for someone very famous.

Pictures from Jonathan Creek

Dinner with Great-Aunt Gloria, Noni and Hugh

On Tuesday, JP and Katie headed back home to Arlington, VA. But, on their way out of town we all stopped by a store called the Dish Barn. It is like a thrift store but primarily has dishes with a few other miscellaneous things like rocks. After the dish barn, Joel took me to the waterfall he, JP, and Kyper found on Monday. We headed back to the cabin for the afternoon and Kyper's nap. After dinner, we did a little touristy shopping.

Pictures from Soco Falls

On Wednesday, Joel and I cleaned the cabin and packed up our things and headed to Arlington, VA. So, after another 8-9 hours in the car, we arrived at JP and Katie's home in VA. They cooked us a wonderful steak with some nice herb sauce. Those cooking classes have really paid off--not that they were bad cooks before, but this dinner was superb.

It was great to see JP and Katie again, but their home was really only a pit stop for our next destination--Conshohocken, PA (very close to Philly). So, Thursday morning, we got in the car again. On our way, we went through Baltimore. We stopped there to go see the National Aquarium. It was awesome and Kyper really liked to see the fishies. After the National Aquarium, we drove 2 more hours to Conshohocken. We had dinner at the hotel and met a friend of Joel's from DMU--Scott.

Pictures from the National Aquarium.

Why Conshohocken? Well, Joel had a test there on Friday. It was the practical part of his Step 2 boards. He had to meet with 12 paid actors who were playing patients. He feels like he did well. While he took the test on Friday, Kyper and I hung out at the hotel. Friday night, we hit the pool/hot tub, went out for pizza and caught up on the show Community. The hotel room was awesome. Or should I say rooms. Our hotel room had two rooms! One was the bed with the bathroom attached and then there was a living area that had a kitchenette in it. (We are talking, a little stove-top, microwave, garbage disposal, and full size fridge.)

After a nice breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning, we packed the car and drove home. It took about 9 hours to get back. Kyper again was a trooper.

It felt very good to be home after being gone for almost 5 weeks, since Joel's rotation in Traverse City happened right before vacation. We really wanted to make it home on Saturday, so we could go to church on Sunday. It was so good to see all our friends!

Here are some other random pictures pictures from our trip:

The trusty van that made the trip with us. (We borrowed Joel's mom's van due to some of our own car troubles.