Day 24

I was up for the before the sunrise this morning so I had plenty of time to get to my rock to watch. All the birds and woodpeckers were waking up making so much noise it sounded like a symphony warming up!

Emily and Evey had packed up the bottom section of their tent and the screen tent the day before since it was dry so they were ready to go before we were this morning! We got on the road early to be able to set up  and come back to ride horses. We made it to Linville Falls by 10:30 to set up and discovered we were again in full sun.

I spotted a site on the river across the meadow so we moved there before the kids had too much set up. My favorite spots are on the water and it was tucked up under some trees so at least we would be able to have shade most of the day for all of us. Emily and Evey don't have much of a choice when they set up as their tent is attached to her car. It is a very cool setup but it definitely had some disadvantages too.

After a quick lunch we got on the road to meet our horses. The kids were beyond excited. I followed my crazy GPS again so it was a good thing we'd left a little early. Ever since the kids changed the voice to the Garmin guy it wasn't to route me off the parkway to go places. He does have a few funny things to say along the way and often tells me how amazing I am so I left him guiding us. Once I spend a day somewhere I'm usually pretty good with getting us around.

After a quick stop at the post office we made it to our spot to meet the guide. We should have known something was up when I'd noticed the parking area on the way in didn't have his red truck and trailer parked there. I had a few voice mails so I called him to check to see if we were maybe in the wrong area. When he answered he apologized and said one of his horses had kicked the trailer door that morning and he'd been at the vet's office the whole day. Needless to say our ride was canceled. We were all very disappointed.

The kids were even more disappointed when I announced this would be the perfect opportunity to do our laundry! Emily found us a spot a few miles away and I promised everyone we would try to find another guide while we were there. This laundry place was probably the least maintained place I'd ever been in and did not seem to have any kind of ventilation at all. We were sweating just walking in the door. The next place was about 10 miles away so we got to work trying to spend the least amount of time there.

I found another place we could go horseback riding near our next campground so we booked it for the day before Dave arrived. It was too far away for the kids to get excited yet but at least my kids had a bunch to look forward to in the next week!

My kids were the most helpful with laundry than ever since they knew the quick it was finished the quicker we could leave. I have to admit it is pretty nice to get through 4 loads of laundry in an hour.

We walked out all red-faced from the temperature inside and decided the last thing we wanted to do was to cook so we headed to a local grill - the Come Back Shack. It is a burger joint but they also had tuna steaks and veggie burgers so we thought it would be perfect. The kids enjoyed filling out an order form to have their burgers exactly the way they wanted. And they were delicious with fresh hand-cut fries too!

The kids all sat together and enjoyed their food while Emily and I googled all the questions they'd had since we'd had service. They were most intrigued by the pictures of the blue ghost fireflies. We grabbed everyone milkshakes and headed to the grocery store for a quick stock up for bread, fruits & veggies. The water at our campground was tinted a little yellow so we each also bought several 3 gallon jugs of water. It all barely fit in my car with all of us!

Once we unloaded Emily's stuff and reorganized ours, Brayden and I made an extra trip for ice. The girls played in the river making a pool for clams and other tiny fish they caught. Ryan spotted a newt too - a first for all of us!














We were looking forward to sleeping in our tent tonight as the rushing water next door was a lovely constant white noise. We read a few chapters of our latest book - Schooled - and were all out within seconds.