Day 30

It was between 2:30am and I suddenly realized why the guy was screaming the night before. A screech owl was having a conversation with its prey or a predator for about 10 minutes. It was a cross between a cat screaming, a hawk's cry, and fingernails on a chalkboard. I'd never heard it in the wild and it was definitely an experience. At least this time I wasn't angry and could go back to sleep after a few minutes. Definitely not something to scream about.

Today was the day to go pick up Dave so I got up and updated the blog. It started sprinkling so I checked the weather and noticed there was a pretty big storm on the way. I woke the kids up and we got on the road for Asheville. It was early but I knew I wouldn't have a problem finding something fun to do there.

We were on the road so early the fog hadn't quite lifted so we all were excited to see the view at the first overlook  we passed. We'd decided to name these mountain islands while back and finally had an opportunity to capture a fitting picture of them!

The fog on the road was pretty thick as well and Brayden decided the best was at the end of the Twin Tunnels so we went through them a few times for some pictures.

I used the rest stop app on my phone to find the nearest rest stop and headed that way. Being from Pensacola with only one interstate I misread which interstate I should be driving on and ended up going about 10 miles out of the way. Once I got back to the correct interstate I ended up going the wrong direction and another five miles out of the way. We finally made it to the rest stop and lugged our clothes and bags into the bathroom. We tried out best to transform our stinky camp bodies into something we could walk into an airport with.

With our rush to leave the campground I left all our bowls and spoons at the campground in the bear box. My planned breakfast of yogurt and granols turned into a family tub of yogurt with granola poured on your bite. The kids thought it was hilarious!

We had a little time after all my detours so we headed to Vortex Doughnuts. We ended up about one minute from the second u-turn I'd made earlier. Always an adventure! One of my favorite things about Asheville is all the art surrounding us. The kids loved this mural on a building next to the cafe.

We hopped back in the car and shoved some delicious sugar in our mouths. I knew he wouldn't be hungry but we grabbed one for Dave too. I knew we'd get in trouble if we hadn't!  We headed toward the airport and everyone was all smiles. We'd been counting down the days for awhile and the kids were really missing him.

I chuckled and shook my head as we passed the rest stop where we'd changed earlier and got off at the next exit for the airport. Nothing like zig zagging all over the city! As we were heading toward the stairs in the parking garage I got a text from Dave that he'd landed - perfect timing! In about 10 minutes we were all giving him hugs and talking over each other in our excitement to have him with us. I'm sure he was a little overwhelmed!

Since Dave had already eaten we headed straight for Trader Joe's for all our regular snacks. The kids were sad when they realized their favorite Vanana yogurt wasn't in the cooler and there wasn't an empty spot for it. Seems I'm going to have to make it at home from how on. Hopefully mine will measure up!

Our next stop was one of our favorite restaurants there - Asheville Brewery. We'd eaten there four or five times but my GPS took us to the original location we'd never visited. We'd definiely have to make this one a stop next time as it had a movie theater inside as well - fun!
Dave sent to the kids with a couple dollars to the arcade while we relaxed and had our favorite Asheville beers. After four of us were full the 13 year old finished what was left on everyone's plates. He's a bottomless pit!

We made it back to the campground in the late afternoon with just enough time to set up the second tent before the daily rainstorm came. Evey ducked into the tent with the kids and Dave and I ducked into ours. It was our chance to catch up on all that's happening at home as well as those 97 things I needed to tell him since we'd left.

The rain finished just in time for dinner so while Brayden and Dave through the football Laney and I made a pile of quesadillas. Ryan was the photographer assigned to capture the football toss - she took more than 150!!






We'd been sitting most of the day so once dinner dishes were put away we walked around the campground and played.  The kids wanted to go back to the amphitheater to do some crazy kid improv so we watched them play a few rounds until we couldn't stand the gnats anymore.







It started raining again just before our regular bedtime so we quickly brushed our teeth and slipped back into tents. Dave and I played a few rounds of Nertz before he practically passed out on the cards. Seems he was excited to see us this morning too as he'd been awake since 3:45am!