You should know that traveling (by plane + car) from Boston to Alabama takes almost half the time that it takes to drive from Durham to Huntsville. Shocking, isn't it? It's a ten-hour drive from door to door. Isn't that crazy?
Lucky for me, my in-laws live about halfway between my house and my parents' house and are always kind enough to let us stop over for the night. You bet your bottom dollar that I did. Both ways.
Our drive from Durham to Johnson City was lousy, weather-wise. It rained profusely the whole way. The kind of rain that keeps you from seeing more than 15-20 ft in front of your car (technically, it only rained that hard for 3 hours, but it did rain the whole way). That, AND the fog on the mountains around Boone made visibility even worse. It was just not fun. Although, Claire was kind of a dream child during that drive.*
We got to JC in time to visit for the afternoon, eat dinner, and for me to join my mother-in-law and her friends at a Kelly Minter event. It was definitely a nice break from the rain. Unfortunately for Claire, she wasn't able to go and visit her beloved CWEEK (creek) in the backyard...because, as she pointed out, it had become an OCEAN! Complete with ocean ducks floating around.
The next morning had us up and going bright and early with NO rain! But with tons of fog! Yay (except not). It was still unbelievably foggy by 10:00 am. I thought fog was supposed to burn off by then (?). Finally (FINALLY) we arrived in Madison and were able to chill and relax (for about 18 hours). We got back into the car the next morning (Claire was starting to sense a pattern, and she wasn't too thrilled about it...and I was getting weary of it myself, truth be told) and headed to Anniston, AL.
The purpose of our trip wasn't rest and relaxation (I'm sure you've figured that out, based on all of the car time). We actually headed south so that we could help my mom and aunt with preparing my Granddaddy's house to be listed. He passed away last year, but they haven't had the opportunity to do all that needs to be done to prep the house. It's a big (and emotional) job, so we all pitched in the best we could. For me, this took the form of sorting through closets and boxes and creating piles to be thrown out, donated, or sent home with a family member. For Claire, this meant spending time playing with my dad's mom (Grammy) and having a ball running around.
I'm happy to say that we accomplished a lot at the house and had a good time visiting with one another, even if the task at hand wasn't the most uplifting.
Back in Madison, after more car riding from Anniston, we were able to visit with two of our favorite friends, Senora Romine and Mrs. Tidwell. It was a nice way to wrap up our trip! Bonus: both visits involved food from some of my favorite North Alabama food joints.
The drive(s) back to Durham were loooong. And not much fun, what with sitting with my car in park on the interstate just outside of Chattanooga for an hour, changing a dirty diaper with Claire standing up in a regular stall because of the absence of a changing table (and no room to change her in my car), more torrential rain, and smoke/fog on the mountains that had me struggling to see the end of my car's hood (um, yikes, and HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE UP THERE??). But, we made it. And Brad, who we had left to write his term paper in peace, was very happy to see us. I'd say the trip was a success all the way around.
*I'll write a post about my neurotic planning for Claire's entertainment and amusement for anyone who may be interested. It was a trip in and of itself.
My pictures are a little scattered/random/etc. I was kind of busy the whole time, so we're lucky I got any, folks:
Playing with Ray Ray and having a blast.
Watching The Magic School Bus (dvd-playing device not pictured) with Grammy. And holding hands.
Going on a walk with Grammy! On our way to Target for a quick, mid-morning popcorn break.
Watching something with Poppy.
Taking turns riding in the car with Rosemary.
Posing for a "multi-generational" shot. That's my cousin playing in the same car about 25+ years ago. We've (the cousins) all spent our fair share of time playing in that car.
Having a blast bouncing on Nana's bed.
This was supposed to be an adorable shot with my parents. Unfortunately, mom committed the unforgivable offense of holding Claire's hand so that she'd stop waving it around. We were rewarded with this face. Heaven help us.
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