Summer into Fall 2023

I’ve started this blog post several times but haven’t ever seemed to get it finished before the next event happens. With that in mind, I’ve condensed it to the highlights. Spoiler alert: the overall theme of this post revolves around transportation.

To celebrate Kristie and Jay’s 20th wedding anniversary, we hiked from Carver’s Gap on the AT to 19E. We’ve done this hike many times, but this one was especially special and pretty.

In June, school came to an end. Parker took his driver’s test and is officially legal to drive by himself. Ansel has rejoiced as she now has an Uber driver. With his newfound freedom, Parker spent the summer working at his first job, The Davie Tavern. It ended up being a good experience for him.

While Parker was busy working, Jay and Ansel took a road trip down to Cairo, GA for a family reunion. It was a lot of fun reminiscing about summers spent in Cairo, and Jay enjoyed showing Ansel around. They stayed in Thomasville and enjoyed walking around the downtown area, dinner at George and Louies, and marveling at how the temperature could sit on 98 degrees around the clock. They enjoyed seeing Catherine, Spanky, and Harper and seeing many cousins who they haven’t seen in many years. Ansel especially enjoyed multiple stops at Buc-ee’s.

The rest of the summer involved hanging out at Roan Mountain. Kristie, Mom Mom, and Ansel rafted on the Nolichucky so that Mom Mom could show the world that she isn’t old yet. Jay did a lot of fishing on the Doe River.

School started with Parker AND Ansel at West Forsyth High School and Jay at Mount Tabor High School (a 9th, 10th, and 11th grader). Parker drove Jay to Conway and they enjoyed seeing Stan and Martha.

While out in Colorado, Kristie went climbing at Arapaho Basin via ferrata. She had a great time! Her rental car (truck) was a Toyota Tacoma. Jay commented to his friend David that Kristie thought she was a badass exploring Colorado in her Toyota. He responded that she IS a badass, the Tacoma just lets everyone else know. He is right!

Kristie has been traveling a lot and has been looking for things to do on the plane and in her downtime (what little exists). One thing that she has done is needlepoint and crocheting. One Saturday, we were running errands and she told Jay that she wanted to go to a “yarn store”. The “yarn store” ended up being in Thomasville, NC, some 35 miles away. As we were cruising through town, Kristie indicated that we just passed it and told Jay to turn around. The parking lot that we turned around in happened to be High Thom Motors. Kristie had called ahead and lined everything up to but Jay a new Beta motorcycle for his 50th birthday! The subterfuge involving a yarn store was a first for the guys at the shop. Of course Jay couldn’t drive home in his shorts and sandals, so Kristie decked him out in full gear for his ride back to Lewisville. He has really enjoyed cruising around and exploring Forest Service roads up at Roan Mountain.

Jay has found the fountain of youth with his motorcycle, but he also enjoyed celebrating his birthday by taking a climbing trip with his friend James Ponce up to Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain. Appalachian Climbing School took good care of them and they enjoyed seeing and catching up with their old friend Wes who runs it.

When Parker started driving, he inherited Kristie’s Subaru. It’s a good, safe, practical car, but he has always had his eye on Jay’s baby (I mean truck). Parker would probably tell you some story about unfulfilled promises. Parker finally got a truck of his own (2012 Nissan Frontier). Since it has a manual transmission, Kristie wants him to take it slow, but he is ready to go.

Mom Mom came down for Thanksgiving. She and Kristie had fun on a girls getaway to the Biltmore House and dinner at The Grove Park Inn. Kristie’s cousin Lance and his family came up for Thanksgiving dinner.

It’s been a great few months and we are excited about more future adventures.

Upon completion of this blog post, I realized that there were probably not enough puppy pictures to satisfy Kristie so I’ve added some to the end. For those wondering, we don’t have three. The little white Schnauzer is the Ponce’s dog Hazel.