Epic Road Trip Lessons

We are currently stationed in North Florida until tomorrow, visiting family and picking up a tractor John bought on-line. Our trip began with an epic 4 hour stint on the Maine Turnpike in York County, complete with an ice storm, a closed highway and a few car pile-ups. It really didn't seem that bad when we pulled out of the dooryard!

Needless to say, we didn't make it too far on the first day. However, here are a few things we have learned along the way:

• An iPhone can make all the difference when you're on the road! Leading us to a delicious Vietnamese Pho restaurant in the suburbs of Atlanta that was open on Christmas Day and a coffee roaster in Greenleaf, PA . 

• Priceline can be fun while your riding in the car! Bidding on 3.5 Star hotel deals, always with a pool, for $45....Thanks Priceline App!

• Enticing a 5 year old on a road trip requires the promise of a swim in the hotel pool, daily.

• The hotel pool never seems to open before 10 making an early start a challenge.

• Listen to your Dad, get the spare for the trailer.

• Asheville, North Carolina is lovely. And so are her biscuits!

• Never have I found a barn full of antiques that didn't have something I lusted after

• The Blue Ridge Parkway will take your breathe away, especially when you are towing a trailer!

• The Great Smokey Mountains might be calling me.

• Waterfalls are all the rage. Especially when they are the destination on a hike with a 5 year old.

• Seeing a dozen of these guys nibbling on the side of the road in the Smokey's on Christmas Eve was a real treat.

• Oysters from Apalachicola.....enough said.

•  Vegetation.....hmmmm....I do love a hedge of rosemary in bloom and a pot of loveliness on a front porch. Zone 8 is inviting in December.

 Tomorrow we start the venture home, leaving the Forgotten Coast of Florida. Our upcoming days will be complete with more family visits and books on tape, interesting restaurants found searching the iPhone. 

We've heard tell of a bit of snow at home, but the word is the cow is getting milked and the cats miss their girl. The seed catalogs are with us, earmarked with pages of notes. The work of a winter farmer is good this week.

Blessings on the meal (especially the oysters!)

Stacy

Correction: The last blog that folks received by email noted that State Rep. Amy Volk, Republican from Scarborough voted in favor of NOT eliminating BPA from baby bottles. She was actually absent for the vote so is on record as not voting. We apologize to Amy.