Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Smokey Update #2

Vacation continues and trying to keep the kids entertained and happy goes on. Except for yesterday, that was for me. Our little mini-road trip out to Biltmore was all for me. It took a little less than two hours to get there but since we were this close I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and see it. Background info: Biltmore is the largest home in America, 250 bedrooms built in the late-1800's by one of the Vanderbilts. It is still owned by the family but has been open to the public for a long time and in varying stages of restoration during that whole time. Dan and I went to Hurst Castle a few years back and were amazed by that but it no where the size of Biltmore. We were there for four hours and only did the house tour and a couple gardens. It was getting really hot and the kids were tired so we skipped the stables, the farm, and the winery was never on the agenda.

The weird part of the day was my favorite part. It seriously was the drive. The drive from our resort into North Carolina was so great. Very pretty, with forests, creeks, and the best part mountain driving. Remember the good ol' days when you would go for a drive? Dan and my favorite thing to do back then was driving the canyons (when we lived in Utah) just choosing one and driving up and maybe picking a different way to come out. We loved getting lost. What a difference $.99 a gallon makes on driving habits. And not having kids or just a baby.

This drive was like doing one of those drives again. It was like driving the I-15 Arizona Gorge in between Utah and Nevada except without the crazy L.A. drivers. It was wonderful.

Today was a trip to an out-of-the-way place called Townsend. Where there was a scenic loop called Cade's Cove and then we went to a cavern. On the docket was some tubbing on the river there but we ran out of time thanks to some laundry mishap at the resort here this morning that may have resulted in the boys going commando today and our rooms becoming one vast clothesline. We will try to squeeze that one in tomorrow. Of course, Bug had to mention how funny it was that he wasn't wearing any underwear in the public bathroom at the cave today while I tried to play dumb. "Mom, isn't is so funny that I don't have any underwear on?" "Um, what?" "It's funny that I don't-" "Bug, you don't? Oh man." Then I just quickly grab the kids and get out of dodge before anyone else can exit their stalls.



These bugs are everywhere. And whatever freaky sound they make fills the whole air. We we driving on the grounds of Biltmore with the windows down but the music very loud, just the way I like it, can't hear the kids so much. And DD asks me what that noise is, I hear it and just think the road must be made of something different here and it is just the tires on the road making the sound. We get to the parking lot and turn off the car and the sound it Hitchcock deafening. I got a video of the sound but I won't even try to upload it with dial-up. When I get home I will post the noise.

I am so excited for tomorrow, I have the biggest surprise ever for the kids on our last full day of vacation. I am bursting with nervous energy for them, oh it's so good. I can't wait to see their faces for this one.

6 comments:

M A Haddox said...

Are they locusts? I remember a movie called Lucas or at least had a nerdy kid names Lucas in it. He loved bugs and the girlfriend of the High School quaterback was sympathetic to him and his geeky ways. I remember the jocks wanted to kill a locust when it hit their car window and all Lucas could do was coddle it. The movie did well in that it got my sypathy's for the bug, let a lone nerdy Lucas. I think in the end Lucas somehow got on the football team and tried to tackle someone but ended up dragging him a long way. Then he got the wind knocked out of them which, of course, gave concern throughout the whole crowd.

Seeing as you and Dan love movies to laugh at, I'm sure this would be one of them if you haven't seen it already. Ask Dan about it cause I'm sure he remembers seeing it, if you haven't.

So I'm guessing it was a locust... (your digressing is contagious)

Laura said...

m. haddox is correct, I think! Here in Texas, we've always called them locusts. Although, they may also be called cicadas? (sp?) From what I've read of cicadas, the bug may be the same, just called something different depending on what part of the country you are in.

My kids love them. If you pick one up and hold it just right, you can get it to make that noise and they get a kick out of it. Of course, they also love lightning bugs (fireflies?) - they catch them and wipe the bug's glowing butt on them to make their skin glow.

Never realized how gross that is until I wrote that sentence - ew!

Have a great vacation - thanks for the updates! :-)

Laura said...

Okay, my inner nerd got the better of me - from Wikipedia, cicada=locust, plus a whole bunch of other names. Here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicada

SuperCoolMom said...

Yep. We have Cicadas here. They get really loud towards the end of summer when it's dry and hot. They leave cool skin skeletons on the walls that they have shed. gross but cool.

Biltmore sounds very cool. I love to go to places like that. We went and toured a bunch of amazing mansions in Newport, RI. Very fun.

Susie J. said...

Definitely a cicada... and those things are EVIIIIIIL. So obnoxious. So ever-present in the midwest. I will not miss them when we eventually move.

MNATTH said...

That is really great that you are on vacation with your kids. They will remember it I'm sure. My kids are still so young that they'll forget everything we do-so we don't do much. (maybe Moose will remember). Vacation sounds soooo good right now!