Every Horror Movie Starts With a Turnoff…

Dave:  How about we take 40 back to Lexington?  It’s the scenic route…

Me:  Because four and a half hours in the car with those maniacs is enough and we have to do it again tomorrow?  Adding any more time to that is nuts.

Dave: Yeah…

Me:  I’ll do it if you really want to, but dude…

Dave:  No, you’re right.

So it was decided that we’d take 75 like normal human beings.  Until we stopped for a great lunch in Knoxville and we temporarily lost our minds.

Orangina, sweet tea, and crepes will do that to you.

Half an hour later…

Dave:  Remember when I was talking about 40.  This is where it would have met up.

Me:  Oh, cool.

Dave:  If we get off here, we can go through the mountain in this huge tunnel.  I was looking at it on maps last night.  Then it will meet back up with 75.

Me:  I mean, if it’s not super far off the route, I don’t care.  Do you really want to do it?

Dave:  It’s a little longer.  It’s an adventure. 

Google Navigation:  Pull up to blah blah blah road and make a U-Turn

Google Navigation: Pull up to blah blah blah road 2 and make a U-Turn

Me:  Ha ha ha.  D, I think it wants us to make a U-Turn.  You know where you’re going, right?

Google Navigation: make a U-Turn here

Dave:  Yeah, it’s fine.  It’ll re-calculate soon.

Google Navigation: MAKE a U-Turn

Dave:  You could turn the voice off.

Google Navigation: For the love of God, turn your asses around, you will never survive this.  *only a slight exaggeration*

We finally pull onto this slightly small road and it finally re-calculates the route.

Me:  ok… hey wait… D?  We don’t have cell service. 

Dave:  Yeah, Michelle.  We’re in the middle of nowhere.  It’s scenic.

Me:  Um, we stay on this road, right?  Because I just lost the GPS signal.

Dave:  HOW do you lose a GPS signal on the top of a mountain?

Me:  And why are we on the top of a mountain, where is the tunnel???

Forty-five minutes of hairpin turns and car sickness and really really scary scary ‘houses’ in the middle of nowhere later… we are talking straight Deliverance here, no way we are stopping anywhere.  Also?  I’m not quite sure what the entire yard full of weird looking cages/traps was about…

 

So, Dave is apologizing profusely,  we have not been through a tunnel, and I’m sick, sending several panicked texts to my sister and Nikki when we FINALLY hooked back up with both a GPS signal and with 75.

I’ve never been so happy to see a highway in my life.

And for your viewing pleasure, I shot a video for you about fifteen minutes in… you know, before I wanted to vomit repeatedly all over the car.  It was mostly because I could see someone finding all our bodies somewhere and I wanted evidence that it was all Dave’s fault.  This right here is a good indication of how weird we both are, Dave’s fake southern accent is a bonus for your benefit because I assured him I’d be putting this on the internet. 

Asheville.

An overnight in Lexington with Aunt Lisey.  I think she needed it more than the kids did.

Next, we were off to Asheville to have loads of time with the 86’n It crew.  After a great egg hunt downtown, Marc + Nikki made the best dinner and we let the kids run wild in the backyard.  I snuggled Mina and tried to convince the Davester that we need just one more in our brood.  He maintains a ‘no’ on that one, but I can tell he was waffling a little bit holding her.

 

I’m pretty sure Finn was holding the door shut so Tate was trapped in the playhouse here…

And then Nikki and I were off for some last minute Easter Target-ing.  The Easter Bunny even hid eggs and baskets all over our room.  I wonder how he found us?

Then a long nap at the hotel before another amazing dinner and lots of play time.  {Until Finn proceeded to vomit in their new bathroom from the overabundance of candy eating… just keeping it real for you, my peeps.}

 

 

Monday brought a bouncing off the walls, very much recovered Finnegan.  Franca took us to one of her favorite parks for some time outside on a gorgeous day.  A yummy lunch followed at The Blackbird… if you ever have the occasion, go there.  Everything was outstanding, especially the french press coffee, it was locally roasted and the best coffee I have ever had.  Y’all I have had A LOT of coffee.  It was that good.  Also, the lemonade.  Unreal.   

Lunch was followed by a crazy trek all over the city for the boys and a nap for the girls.  Swimming.  And barbeque for dinner that deserves it’s own post.

 

 

One last egg hunt, some bathroom reno photos, and we packed up and were on our way.  The Davester decided we were going to have some adventure, damn it.  Just wait until you hear about that on Thursday.  Hint:  He’s never picking anything again.

 

 

One more night in Lexington with Aunt Lisey and home.  Exhausted and happy to have spent time with good friends.

We’re ready to go back any time you’ll have us Nik. 

Austin.

Last week, we went to Austin.  It was an unplanned, last minute trip, we flew into Dallas and drove three hours to Austin.  Dave’s uncle has been in the ICU for three weeks.  We are so incredibly thankful that it did not end with the outcome we were all expecting.  The doctor used the word remarkable, how often does that happen?  I am not going to share much more than that because it isn’t my story to tell, but the magnitude of this gift is infinite.  We would love it if you could send a good thought for his continued improvement.

In between hospital visits, the kids wanted nothing more than to be outside soaking up every bit of the warm weather.  We even saw swim practice being held outside.  In March! 

 

 

  

We stayed in Dallas the night before we left.  The DFW Marriott front desk staff were sweet enough to give us a room with a view of the airplanes landing.  Finn was thrilled and I think Dave was too.

I even got to sneak a visit in with Jess, who has been my blog friend for years and years now.  Love her.  She is every bit as incredible {and gracious about my crazy family} as I expected she would be.  It took us years to meet in person and now I get to see her again next week for Blissdom!

Chicago

We decided to steal away as a family, to Chicago for a day. 

On trips like this, we do cheesy things like hold hands in the car.  We talk about things like things our upcoming bathroom remodel, things going on in our lives, and Dave's career.  We talk about seeing our friends, Finnegan, and this blog.  I always put my feet up on the dash, mostly because it makes Dave twitch.  Finn and I usually take a snooze, there is just something about the moving car that does it.  Dave gets a few blissful moments alone while we do, to listen to Tower of Power or Dave Matthews.  It's all very Leave it to Beaver until we start arguing about Dave's driving or politics or mostly just Dave's driving. 

Finn was completely enamoured with the city.  He would run to the window and say, "you see that big city? Mama, you see the cars?  Look at the cars down there."  The view at night from our hotel was spectacular.  All of those twinkling lights = crack to a 2 year old. 

We had dinner at Rose Angelis.  Fabulous, fabulous pasta.  And since we were two bottles of wine in... all my pics look like this... 

Except this one, because it was taken by Dave.  Can you tell he was the designated driver?

I wish I were kidding.

For now though, just imagine a gorgeous salad with slices of cucumbers, purple new potatoes, treviso, watermelon radish, golden beets, red onions, brocolini, Granny Smith apples and croutons in a Florentine caeser dressing.  Sauteed cheese raviolis with a pesto gogonzola dipping sauce that I am pretty sure Dave wanted to make love to. Pillowy gnocchi with prosciutto, scallions, walnuts, and apricots in a marscapone cream sauce. Gorgonzola tortellini with grapes in a walnut pesto cream sauce.   I can tell you that there were 20 other things on the menu we would have tried as well.  Portions were unbelievably large so we did everything family style.  If you are anywhere near Chicago, go there and experience it yourself, I promise it is worth every calorie.

Then, it was off to bed {much too late} and up with the sun for the little munchkin.  We were whisked away the next morning {get it?  WHISKED!} to brunch at Yolk. 

I highly recommend the scrambler with chorizo & cheddar, it so brought back good memories of Aunt Letti making it for us in Atlanta.  But there were eggs benedict combinations and pillowy pancakes and crepes filled with peach cobbler and french toast made of cinnamon rolls and very cool light fixtures against orange ceilings.  Something for Bunny everyone.

And then running around Grant park.  For snow kicking, and watching a building being removed.  Brick by brick, so as not to disturb the two it is was nestled between.

And visiting Grant not Grant, because Grant isn't in Grant park, but some obscure man on a horse who's name has escaped me now.  And Agora project, the giant statues of legs and feet.

And the weather was perfect for wandering.  And sneaking into the Spice House and Old Town Oil and spending WAY too much money wanting to take everything in the store home with us.

And just like that, we're back in the car, headed home, #59 crossed off my list.

Steph & Jeff, you all were incredible hosts.  {Sirius & Miss Violet too.}  And we will be back for a visit soon, when we can enjoy a whole weekend and not just 24 hours, because it went by much much too fast.  Though it does seem that we got in six months of gossiping and job talk and innappropriate hilarious Jeff comments and flip flopping and wine and chocolate oreo eating and all of the wonderful things that come from being in the same room rather than Facebook, Email, texting, & telephone calls. 

Miss you already.