Busy Bee

Friday was such a great day. We had lunch in town at this cute little place called The Best Cellar. I had a turkey sandwich and the most delicious mashed potatoes ever. Afterwards we went into the town of Boone - home of Daniel Boone and Appalachian State University (which is the most beautiful college campus I've ever seen). We went to the Mast General Store and stocked up on old-fashioned candy right from barrels and souvenirs and even two little wall hangings that match my living room decor to a "t". Then we went into the town of Blowing Rock, another adorable town, and I found another antique-looking wall hanging that matches perfectly from the store Andrew dubbed "The Copper Store" that I was not allowed to go into. PS. It's actually called The Brass Exchange and I wish I had listened to him!

Afterwards, Mrs. Kisz and I visited Johnny and Virginia (and Zoe!) at their condo down the street. Virginia bought/found all this old furniture, stripped it down, painted it white for the bedrooms and black for the living room, then distressed it herself using a sander to make it look antique. I got so excited and inspired!

We were all tired, so we had sandwiches for dinner and then vegged out in front of the television. Mrs. Kisz and I pulled another one of our up-all-night-having-girl-talk nights and I think we finally hit the sheets around 2am.

Saturday we had a nice breakfast out on the porch in our rocking chairs. The skies looked a little scary but we didn't let them intimidate us. We took a drive to Grandfather Mountain and drove to the top. There is a swinging bridge that connects two of the peaks and it is a mile high up in the sky. I got lots of beautiful pictures and Mrs. Kisz spotted me from one peak to the other and I think she got a couple great shots on her camera, too. I got another souvenir (these aren't for me, by the way - I don't really do souvenirs - a certain someone who wished he/she could've taken the trip will be surprised when he/she sees the little souvenirs I picked up) and then we headed halfway down the mountain. There were animals in their natural habitats - bears, cougars, eagles, otters, and deer - and a historical/nature museum. Again, lots of great pictures that I will post as soon as I get the right equipment!

All the driving and sightseeing finally caught up to me and I passed out in the car on the way back to Beech. We stopped at Lowe's so the Kisz's could buy a new grill because theirs hadn't survived the trip from Florida. Then we stopped at Fred's General Store and picked up a bottle of North Carolina Scuppernong wine, delish! Johnny and Virginia ironically invited us over for beer and wine because they knew I was leaving in the morning, so we visited with them for an hour or so. We went home and Mr. Kisz grilled streaks and Mrs. Kisz made another fabulous dinner. We all went to bed early.

I woke up sad knowing I had to leave and my body insisted on being tired, but I knew I had a long drive ahead of me so I tried to get moving at a reasonable hour. Of course that didn't happen but we had a big breakfast and they helped me load up the car. Rags went swimming that morning, for the second day in a row. Now let me explain: Rags hates water. Hates baths, hates being sprayed or splashed, hates puddles (avoids them at all costs on walks) even hates when I take baths because he thinks the water is going to hurt me or something! Well Beech Mountain has a stream that goes along the entire walkway and Riley loves going in it. I think Rags got curious and started wanting to walk along the water on the first night. On the second day, he got brave enough to take a drink for the stream and decided it was good water and took lots of drinks from it. He got his paws wet and tried to get a drink from this little waterfall, but fell in and got wet. He didn't seem to mind that much. By Sunday he was all about it. He went in way over his head and swam around like a dog is supposed to! He secretly loved it but was trying to act all nonchalant about it. I was sad to put him in a car for 14 hours but knew he would love being around Shaggy (my dad's dog who is from the same dog parents as Rags, just a different litter) and going up to our lake house.

I got in the car around noon. After I took the "scenic route" off the mountain, I got into the center of Beech Mountain, then Boone, and then eventually got on 77 north. That led to 81 north in Virginia, which I was on forever. It also goes through West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It rained the whole way minus West Virginia, which of course we are only in for a half hour. Then I got on 84 east which was the worst road ever, literally. Potholes everywhere, no lights, trucks driving way too fast, constant construction meaning only one lane open. I wanted to cry. I also wanted to give up for the night and get a hotel, but I was so close (yet so far) so I hauled the last three hours as quickly yet safely as I could. After 14 straight hours of driving, I got to Longmeadow only to find my parents' house, and the entire neighborhood, without power after a lightning strike. My dad met me outside at 2am with a battery-powered lantern and helped me with my bags. Within ten minutes of pulling in the driveway I was passed out in the guest room. All the Red Bull and coffee was making my mind race and my body jitter, but I was so exhausted that I passed out anyways.

Power came back on around 5am and the air conditioning came with it. It's pretty hot here so that was nice but I had to get out of bed and turn it down - it was too cold! Around 7:45am the dogs woke me up wanting to come cuddle, so I got up and checked my email for the first time in almost 20 hours. I had an email from 6:30 Sunday night from Andrew, letting me know he arrived safely in Israel that morning and had spent the entire day at the beach. He's now seven hours ahead, so that means he wrote the email at 1 something in the morning so it must have been a good, full day :) We probably won't get to talk much over the next few weeks but hopefully we will both be too busy to notice.

I should be tired, but I'm not. I think I still have so much caffeine in my system. My body is tired but I can't sleep. I am going to stay in bed for a few hours just to relax. I still have to watch Army Wives from last night. I'm going to see if Jason or anyone else from the Springfield Falcons, my old job for those of you who don't know, wants to get lunch later. I am excited to see my mom when she gets home from work because she was obviously sleeping when I got home and I was sleeping when she got up this morning.

Tomorrow Bryan and I are going out on the boat as long as it's nice out and then going to Mohegan Sun and staying over for the night. There will be lots of pictures and another update after that!