Day 5 ~ North Carolina to Virginia Beach

 Driving through North Carolina was incredible. What struck me the most was all the beautiful flowers all along the way in the medians.

And there were little forests, planted in a triangle shape at the on/off ramps.

We were intrigued by the "cut-outs" in the mountains

I was so excited to see my brother. 

The backstory is... We had an abundance of losses in our family in a short period of time. Everyone was hurting and dealing with the tragedies in their own way. In 2010 I almost lost both of my brothers at the same time. My youngest brother was in a very serious accident that I didn't even know about. My other brother passed away on the same day as my sister-in-law and I had a really hard time dealing with it. I didn't know about my youngest brother's almost fatal accident until the funeral for our other brother. I haven't been able to see and hug my little brother since then and I was aching in my heart.

We drove from Durham down to Goldsboro to have lunch with my brother, Derek.

It was wonderful! My sister-in-law, Derek's wife Missy, was able to join us also : )

I don't know why we didn't take pictures. I guess I was just overwhelmed with emotions.

~ On to Virginia ~

We had mapped out 2 different ways of going to Virginia Beach, as it turned out we didn't take either one : ) 

Trees... Lots and lots of Treeeeeeessss!!! : )

When we first arrived in Virginia it seemed to be all about Peanuts.

There were signs everywhere for all things "Peanut"

Then we got into the city

I didn't get the shot I wanted to get... just missed it. But the architecture shows up a little in this one.

~Another tunnel~

And this time we are literally going under the water so it was a first for me also!

 It doesn't seem right... crazy even... but we were under the Chesapeake Bay water

And as you can see on the Subaru, it was 82 degrees at 4:20 p.m. : )

When we were back above ground and water... Jets were flying over us and all around...

 See this sign... This is an important piece of information

 If you love jets (and fortunately we do) you will looooove Virginia Beach. Notice I said "IF you LOVE jets" because they fly over ALOT! 

 I am a little embarrassed that I didn't know what these were exactly... I had to send pics to my brother and he told me they are F/A-18 Hornets, probably "Super Hornets"... Oh yea, I knew that ;-)

Our destination for Day 5

 Our "home" for the next 3 nights

Actually we spent most of the time with Michele and Ryan Newbrough (Richard's daughter and son-in-law) at their RV site... We just slept here. It was pretty much perfect.

If you are wondering about mosquitoes

We brought a little Citronella Lantern that worked great!

We put it in the tent and zipped it up

When we went to bed there was not a single mosquito inside and we didn't have any the whole time we were there.

~ The End of Day 5 ~ 

I have ALOT of pics to go through for the next couple of days... we went to the Aquarium and the Boardwalk and the Beach with Michele and Ryan... I will get the next blog up as soon as I can.

Thank you for taking this trip with us.

Patty Hagedorn Photography

Day 3 ~ Light At The End of The Tunnel...Day 4 ~ Lake Junaluska

Day 3 ~ The sun came out! 

It was a beautiful morning. We had both been able to get a good night's sleep! We took our time, enjoying the sunshine and the lake and Paris Landing, Tennessee as we packed up. I had been wanting to get a photo of the bridge (I think it's called Rainbow Bridge), but there hadn't been good sunlight until the last morning.

Our tent worked out perfectly! We will be setting it up again in a couple of days in Virginia.

Our Campsite was beautiful.

After that first night it calmed down and Paris Landing was a really nice place.

This tree has a face that looks like it has seen many things...

Or maybe it is just sad to see us leave ; )

This Bluebird came to see us off and we loved it...

The Bluebird of Happiness...

Driving over the bridge, crossing Kentucky Lake...

On to the next leg of the trip... driving through Tennessee to North Carolina.

Destination for Day 3 ~ Lake Junaluska, Waynesville, NC.

We were just outside of Nashville, TN and we decided to stop for lunch at Red Lobster.

We were thoroughly enjoying our meal when we got the text.

Mom needs heart surgery... life threatening... 

There was more but I honestly don't remember what it was.

Our hearts sank and we became silent.

We finished our lunch and went outside.

We sat in the parking lot debating what to do.

I had to choke back tears... we were so close to North Carolina, to my Mom Marie, Dawn and Randy, seeing my brother... but maybe we should go home.

We were at a crucial point, if we went forward we were too far to go back in a day.

Poor Richard. How hard this was on him. His heart was so heavy :(

Some more texts were sent to get more information. 

Finally... after 2 hours... he made the decision to go forward.

I didn't take pictures until we were getting into the mountains of North Carolina...

 There is something about entering those Great Smoky Mtns... It's like a piece of my heart and soul is returned to me.

We made it!

I didn't know that Richard had never driven through a tunnel before...

So this was his first.

Light at the end of the tunnel...

~~~

Appropriately this is the last photo I took that day.

~~~

We made it to Lake Junaluska and were reunited with Dawn Grasty, Randy Weisbaum, and 

 Mom Marie.

There were big, long hugs and lots of tears.

We all settled in for an evening of catching up.

~ The End of Day 3 ~

(Note here... Richard's other brother told him if he turned back and didn't keep going on this trip he would kick is butt!)

Day 4 ~

Coffee and Breakfast at Chez Metcalf... On the back porch of Mom Marie's

The Garden

Bleeding Hearts... Aren't they perfect?

I don't remember the name of these but I love them

Mom Marie took us out for a drive around the lake... 

These are my photos of Lake Junaluska

These orange flowers were the brightest we had ever seen in the sunlight.

 This gentleman creates carvings out of fallen dead trees here... and those gorgeous pink flowers were abundant all around the lake this year!

 A mountain species of Dogwood Trees... (And Randy in the background )

Dawn and Randy

Dawn and I have been besties since 2nd grade

Randy had a crush on Dawn in 3rd and 4th grade and now, after 43 years they are together

Randy is moving from Nevada to NC next month.

The 4 of us, Richard and myself, Randy and Dawn, were all friends in 3rd grade and look at us now!

 This is my Mom Marie... She is Dawn's mom by birth and my mom by heart!

Mom Marie took pictures of the 4 of us reunited after 43 years but I don't have any yet. I will share later. 

We hated leaving Mom Marie's house

But we all had to go on. 

We followed Randy and Dawn to Durham where Dawn currently lives and Randy will be moving to very soon : )

We had such a great time... it really was wonderful.

If you want to visit Lake Junaluska I highly recommend it...

We will be back!

~ The End of Day 4 ~

Patty Hagedorn Photography