Jim and April's Roadtrips

Waiting for the judges to finish.  It’s been an interesting weekend.  There were several accidents due to the icy road conditions.  Thankfully, no one was injured.

We got some nice shots as you can see below.  Jim won best of show for his dog houses picture. This park allows shooting anywhere, even out of state. 😉  One of the winning photos was actually shot in Virginia.  The speaker, Ian Plant, was very good.  We’d like to return in the spring.

There were a lot of points we couldn’t reach due to the icy roads. The lodge layout is kind of sprawling. Since the weather had left ice on the walks as well and only the main ones had been cleared, we walked and climbed almost as far going back and forth to our room as we usually do hiking at Pennyrile.  Next time we’ll try to arrange something more convenient.

Awhile back, a good friend who lives in Hawaii asked me about doing a guest post for her blog.  She suggested something about the “Nowhere” status updates I did on Facebook when my daughter and I were driving across country last July and August.

So, I’ve been looking back over my pictures and thinking about other places I’ve been that would qualify as “the middle of nowhere.”  I haven’t completely worked out the direction the post will take, but I’m looking forward to the experience.  Most of my writing is just for our own sites.  It will be interesting to put something together to fit someone else’s expectations.  I’ll put a link here when it’s finished so you can go there to read it.  It will probably be some time during the week of January 20th.

As you may have gathered from the countdown widget, we are also getting ready for another Road Trip. It’s a photography workshop in Eastern Kentucky at Pine Mountain State Park.  That’s near Cumberland Gap.  It’s the first time we’ve done a winter trip.

I’m not really much for outdoor activities in winter time.  My tendency is to hibernate.  I do love the mountains though, as you may have noticed.  So I’m going along and trying it out.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate with snow or sunshine instead of rain and ice.  In any case, there will be photos.

November is a roadtrip month.  Many people travel long distances to spend Thanksgiving with family or friends.  We won’t be traveling (physically) ourselves this year, but other people will be coming to us.

One of my sons lives in Atlanta and he plans to bring his two daughters up for that weekend.  His older son, Colt, is coming with his wife from St. Louis.  The rest of us live here, but we seldom eat together.  Having a big family dinner for  holidays used to be one of our holiday traditions.  Lately, we are so wide spread and busy that it just doesn’t happen as often.

Sometimes there are only the four of us: my oldest daughter who lives with me and two of my brothers.  At times, it’s been a temptation to just make a pot of spaghetti and forget what day it is.  This year though, it looks like we’ll have a crowd again.  Not everyone, my youngest daughter and her kids are in Charlotte and they won’t be able to make such a long trip just for one day.  My oldest granddaughter lives 4 hours away and she will have to work on Friday, so eating dinner at 6pm here won’t be practical for her either.

Our schedule has traditionally been to serve at supper time.  That way people with in-law obligations at the traditional time can still come to our house late in the day.  That was started by my mother and we’ve stuck to it.  It usually works pretty well.

The thing is,Thanksgiving is a roadtrip whether you go somewhere or have people come to you.  Even if you are far from home and wind up eating in a restaurant alone, something my youngest daughter and I did several times, it’s a trip down memory lane.

Holiday meals are times of nostalgia.  A time to remember our childhood and/or our children’s childhood.  The memories may be sweet or bitter but, either way, they will begin the journey as Thanksgiving Day approaches and carries us away to visit yesteryear.  The journey continues on through December until that most emotion fraught day of all, Christmas.  May your trip be a pleasant one and, if it seems more on the bitter side, may you make find ways to make better memories for next year’s journey.

OMG….I just spent an hour typing a post and adding a photo.  I hit publish and the @#!$%^& computer said “You don’t have permission to do that.”  Now the whole thing is gone!

We are about to leave for Pennyrile Forest State Park to participate in the Fall Photography Weekend.  For more information on the event, check out the post on our local Photography Club website.  We have been doing this, along with several other members of our club, for several years now and it is always a funt weekend.

Sorry, I don’t have time to write more at the moment, I still need to pack.  This past couple of months have been really hectic.  I’m going to be editing all the photos clear up to Christmas.  I can’t believe how fast time is flying by.  I am ready to stay home for a while.