On this delightfully sunny October 13th, I'd like to wish my sisters Beth and Becky a warm Happy Birthday! They are turning 45 yrs old today. Now all three of us are deeply ensconced in our mid 40's (well I'm 47 which feels a lot closer to 50 than 40, but you get the idea). I hope that they have plans to to do something fun and exciting today to celebrate.
The Asheville gang plus Miriam and Alex from Durham celebrated Holly's 50th in the Virginia mountains this past w-e. We rented a big cabin that used to be the one room school house for the Whitetop Va community, where we stayed to take advantage of the Virginia Creeper bike Trail and hiking in nearby Grayson Highlands State Park. The family who owns the house turned it into a family cabin with gas logs, a big open kitchen, sleeping porch and loft in addition to actual bedrooms downstairs. We were a little cramped all eleven of us stuffed in there together, but this is the gang that goes camping, hiking, and canoeing all the time so intimacy just means having your own bathroom. We had a fabulous time with everyone arriving Friday evening just as the weather turned from blue skies to drizzle. We enjoyed a big potluck dinner with lasagne and eggplant parmesan followed by Susan's famous pound cake for dessert. She made a new one, tweaked a bit with the addition of cream cheese. It was the best I'd ever eaten and her other ones are pretty fantatstic. Ellen celebrates her birthday Sunday Oct 18th, so we got to fete her Friday night, and sang to Holly Saturday night. Seven years ago, Ellen rented the very same cabin for our group on her 40th birthday, so it was really fun to go back to the same spot. They even had a candle still decorating the house that she had left there 7 yrs ago. We had to get all nostalgic about that when we realized it.
By the way, while I'm thinking of it, nostalgia really is under rated. I think it's one of the reasons we go to these places with our group. We have so many terrific memories of old trips in the area, of staying the last time at this same cabin, of all the cold bike rides from Whitetop to Damascus when it's freezing even in July. This time did not disappoint either as we had a cool drizzle most of the day. But hey, we didn't let a little thing like light rain keep us from having a blast. The colors were at their peak, the bikes were all functional, and we even figured out how to shuttle then back to Whitetop without much ado. Everyone was such a good sport about the trip, all aspects. We enjoyed great food, funny stories, a beautiful mountain view, the bike ride, an entertainment show complete with dancers, and plenty of fun. I am thankful everyone was able to go to celebrate Holly's 50th and Ellen's 47th. More fun and funny memories for later (not everyone is brave enough to fashion a rain poncho from a plastic bedsheet, but we have just the gal for that too!)
Here are some photos from the trip.
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