As I was compiling my thoughts and pictures about the last six months, I realized that I have lost all sense of time. I know that we did a lot of things, played with Lulu, school started, Mom Mom came down for an extended visit, and like everyone in America, we quoted the poet, and contributor to Kristie and Jay’s first date, Merle Haggard singing to ourselves “If We Make It Through December.” What I don’t know is did we do that in July, August, October, November, or December?
As the summer ended and throughout the fall, we made many trips to Roan Mountain. One trip included a beautiful day on Lake Watauga. We rented a pontoon boat from Fish Springs Marina and enjoyed cruising around the lake. On another trip, our friends Ben and Ginger Cunningham joined us. On that trip, we explored Linville Gorge. On another trip, Jay and Parker went up with the Ponce boys for a boys fishing getaway. On our last trip for the season, Lulu really got to experience some cooler air. At the cabin, it was cold with some remnants of snow on the ground. We decided to drive up to Carver’s Gap for our traditional hike up to Round Bald. We were about a mile down the road when everything turned into a white, frozen tundra. Lulu loved it! We were able to make it all the way to Round Bald. It was a beautiful view of the area that I have never seen before. On our way back to Winston-Salem, we stopped by Elk River Evergreens and picked out a Christmas tree.
When not at Roan Mountain, we were usually at the Whitewater Center. Our trips down there have been well documented, but Parker added a new trick to his bag over the latter part of the summer. He’s been tackling the expert Comp Channel.
Parker’s other kayaking achievement was that bagged his first descent of Section 3 of the Chattooga River. Parker and Jay joined Jay’s friend Dave Williams for a gorgeous day on the river which concluded with Parker styling Bull Sluice Rapid (unfortunately, we didn’t get it on video – next time).
School started and was a little different than the past few years. Jay taught his classes from the basement aided by a green screen that he and Ansel built. Students would have never known that unfinished walls and visible insulation were the real backdrop. At his school, his classes consisted of 45 minutes of synchronous instruction using Zoom followed by 45 minutes of asynchronous work that students were assigned. Parker and Ansel did well in their virtual learning. Most of the time they were on Zoom for the entirety of the class.
As previously mentioned, Mom Mom came down to spend the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) with us. We’ve enjoyed having here around. Of course Christmas felt weird because we weren’t out west skiing. We are all in much need of a big trip following the social distancing that 2020 required.
