Spring Break Road Trip Re-cap.....

We had an adventurous Spring Break this past week.
Kev convinced me to drive out to Asheville,
NC to visit where he is currently working.
I liked the idea....
but was a tad bit nervous because I have a tendency
to fall asleep in the car.
I am almost certain I have never personally driven more than 3 hours in one
block of time.
It scares me not to know where I am....
I am very uptight about the possibility of
missing the turn off and not knowing for miles or hours,
and then not being able to figure out how to get back on track....
I am bad with directions.
I'm forgetful.
I jumble stuff up in my mind.
I don't see that great in the dark...

I am one of those people who pretty much stays within
the Pineda and Melbourne Causeways.
That is my playpen and I am very comfortable with in those perimeters.
There is more than enough to do in here.

 I am like one of the ants in line on The Ant Movie....
do you know the ones?

Unless someone else is driving.
In that case I would LOVE to go ANYWHERE!
So this trip was a bit of a switch.
Here are a few driving snip-its:
(Be sure and click on the left upper corner of the screen so you can watch full screen.)

I never let the tank get below half the entire trip.

NO WAY!

Why have something to (possibly) worry about?

My goal was to stop every three hours.

Period.

My bladder would have liked to have burst on numerous occasions...

but it didn't.
(a time or two I did break my rule)

The kids aren't drinkers like me....so they really didn't care either way.

I figured out a system for my driving that worked much like I
would work a goal for running....
I loved it.
I didn't start out so organized, but over time my plan
came together and it made the time click right on by.

You already know about stopping every 3 hours.
other stratagems -
I would get a treat or snack on the hour,
 then get another something at the half.
I would hold off and force myself to wait until such and such time
before my next Choffy, and so forth.

I force fed myself and the kids one hour of spanish per every two hours of
books on cd, or random music.

I would purposefully put the next desire just out of reach....
this served to stretch out the time,
and helped me stay awake and interested until
reaching the next milestone.

Hey, at least I know what works for me.
I am goal driven.....that's how I roll.

One of my life saving secrets was to stock pile loads of Choffy 

into every empty container that I could find with a tight fitting lid.

I took in a steady stream until late afternoon on each of my driving days.

This was very helpful.....

as it is a natural energy source due to the

theobromine.

and it is "mucho delicioso".

and kept me quite happy.  

You can certainly learn more....and even order your own

"Bliss in a Cup" by visiting 

drinkchoffy.com/melissachristensen

well....

you can!

These kids are luckier than they know.....

they call it boredom...

maybe,

but as an adult I know differently.

This is a dream come true for anyone over the age of 29.

The first two nights we stayed at a nice hotel across from

DILLARD'S Clearance Center....!!!

No Way!???

if you know me at all,

 you know I could not have dreamed up a more amazing scenario.

We (I) had a little fun there.....not enough....not near enough.
but it was still a fun surprise highlight.

Just a few really quick finds - 

Lawson LOVES Sanuk shoes,

they are outrageously priced though (IMO), reg. $60,

Mac and I found a single Sanuk shoe, size 7 in the mens shoe section.

It was half off at $30 + then take an additional 50% off.

One problemo.....as I mentioned we could only find One.

We looked and looked, got the clerks involved.

No luck.

Finally we put the shoe back, kinda bummed (so close, yet so far away)

Then suddenly, M walked over to this random shelf w/ a basket on top....

and yep.... miraculously there was the missing Sanuk.

T H A T really happened.

L was pretty darn happy.

I found a very, very cute coat clearanced out for $12....

In fact,

I found a ton 

of coats to love, but I held myself to one
(dumb-bo right?)

One fun thing we did was go to the movie Hugo, at the 

theatre....the movie was not the highlight....

the eating dinner in the dark while watching the movie 

was the 

AWESOME part!

The feast was delish!

Great idea K....You DA MAN hon!

Being smashed in the hotel room got old fast,

but the FREE daily breakfast was almost worth it.

I LOVE those pancakes soooooo much!

press a button and your pancake (or 3 in my case) is out in less than 3 min.

I would never tire of those cakes.

Not ever....real butter and syrup slathered over them,

cut into each with a plastic knife and fork,

making little slice marks into the styrofoam plate.

Oh YES!

To clean up walk over to the discreet disposal container.

set it in.

 walk away.

Thank UUUUUUUUUU!

We did end up moving to a nice camping park down the road a few miles.

Much better.

Much more like the spring break I would imagine.

Ethan didn't appreciate the fact that he had to get out of bed for the 

remaining days of our trip.

That was made known.....a time or two.

Canoeing, paddling, fishing (no bites, but still), hiking,

running on trails, EATING AT 5 GUYS on consecutive days

.....ok nothing to do with the cabin,

but still a dang yummy highlight.

Our family had never eaten there before this trip!!

Asheville was beautiful in every way.

Everyone said so.

Everyone also said, "You have to go to the Biltmore House"

It is the largest home in the USA.

250 rooms, 43 bathrooms, 8,000 acres to roam....

It was surprisingly busy.

It was actually a lot of fun.  What made it interesting and enjoyable 

was the audio tour we took.

With out the audio and all the interesting facts about George W. Vanderbilt,

and his family, and this ultra over the top house it would have

been nothing special.

As it stands though, 

I am very interested in learning more.

Have any of you ever read any historical fictions about 

the Vanderbilt family??

I bet it would be fascinating.....I gotta find a good one....Devin??

Gardens galore.
You are not allowed to take photos inside the home....bummer.

I would be lying if I said the kids did not burn out and

start whining towards the end.

The Garden walk was pushing it for them.

K really wanted to get involved with the Hunger Games hype.

We have all read the series except for him (L is on book 2),

and K wanted to do something special for 

the kids and get in on the action before we all went to the show on our last 

night in town.

We drove from here to kingdom-come through the Graggy Mtns

of North Carolina looking for where the Games were 

filmed.

We hiked up.

We hiked down.

Back up, then down.

After all was said and done and whined over.

It was actually a good time K.

Thank you for the fun, unique idea.

Look closely at the photos below....this is our tribute to the Games.

At one point during a brief stop during our adventure,

they boys were throwing around their football.

We kept saying, no guys, put it away, this is not a good place to play 

catch.  We were parked at an over look....so next to a steep mountain edge.

Well, turns out it did not end up going off the side of the mtn,

but rather down the inside of a drain...?

We lucked out, as we were getting ready to drive off a few 

forest workers came along, Kev asked where that drain went....

just casually mentioning that we'd just lost our football.

Oh, no prob, I'll get it.

(eyebrows up)

No way did I think a man could fit through there.

Can you imagine how creepy that would be?

Guess he's used to it.....

this guy is a HERO in our book.

It was a wonderful trip.

I would hop in the car and do it again in a few months.

The main thing I learned is that we need even more water in the car

and more licorice, both chocolate and red,

and one more book on cd.

Everything else was almost spot on.

Like the amount of Sixlets.....

How was your spring break??

What'd ya do?

Where'd ya go?