Bristol, VA

Well, we're back safe and sound; sorry to disappoint you all. I'll see if I can recall all the wonderful adventures we had.

We got up Monday morning, packed the car, and headed out. Now remember we were supposed to be leaving at about eight or so in the morning; we left at eleven. The trip went quite well; we watched Andy Griffith, Caleb and I played Phase 10, a great game by the way, and I listened to a basement tape. We arrived at the Windhams at about five o'clock that evening, had a delicious dinner, an interesting conversation about Elsie Dinsmore, God, and evil, and then went to bed. End of day one.

Tuesday, mid-morning, we went with the Windhams out to see their new property. We had a nice picnic and hiked up their mountain. It was just gorgeous! The woods were beautiful and the creek so nice running through the trees and fields. We came back down and while the parents talked, all of us kids played in the creek. We had a great time trying to catch crawdads, falling in the creek and getting completely soaked (yes, I did; try not to laugh too hard), finding the smoothest rocks, and just happily playing together. We also visited Paul Bunyan's Tombstone (bet you didn't know he was real!), Cat's Crevice, The Steps of the Merpeople, Crawdad Sea, and Island of Death. Later, we went over to the McCroskey's place for dinner, had a wonderful time with them, went back to the Windhams and went to bed. End of day two.

On Wednesday, the men (Mr. Windham, Dad, and Caleb) went to a men's breakfast that St. Peter church has every Wednesday morning, then they went to Snaps. If you don't know what Snaps is, ask Caleb, or listen to the Firearms Basement Tape. Mrs. Windham, Mom, and I went out for lunch that afternoon and had a wonderful time. We went to the neatest little restaurant and shopped at a huge antique shop right beside it. When we got back to the house, the Williams were over there and just about everyone was out shooting guns. Unfortunately, I didn't get to share in the excitement. We didn't get to spend a lot of time with the Williams; I guess they didn't want to spend much time with us; but they left, we had a quick dinner, and Dad and Mr. Windham set off to do a Basement Tape. They arrived late and we all went to bed. End of day three.

Thursday, we get up, eat breakfast, pack up the car, say goodbye, and set off. We stopped by my grandparents house in Waynesville, NC and spent some time with Gramps (Dodi was headed to my aunt's house), inspected his apple and cherry trees, played croquet, and watch Andy Griffith while Mom and Dad took a nap. We got home a little after eight that evening, unpacked and went to bed. End of day four; end of trip to Bristol.

We are now all worn out, but we truly had a wonderful time. The Windhams were great to us. We read the two chapters of the Hobbit together, set off fireworks and smoke bombs, swapped stories, and enjoyed one another's company.

In case you are wondering, Dad and Mr. Windham did indeed throw a few darts and the way I heard it, Dad won two games and Mr. Windham won one. But Dad said he couldn't take much pride in winning because the games were pathetic. That's what Dad said; I don't really know because I didn't get to watch any of the games.

Oh, and I now know the ending to the Firearms Basement Tape if any of you are interested; just thought I'd let you know.