Our Mini-Break

There is a lot of irony in driving 10 hours so you can get in a car and drive all day around a racetrack. But, sometimes you have to drive a long way to have lots of fun.

Matt's Pors*che club rented out V*I*R for the weekend and we ALL decided to go thanks to the NJ teacher's union that provided us with three days off from school so they could attend a convention in At*lantic C*ity. We loaded up and headed to the Virginia/North Carolina border bright and early on Thursday morning. We picked up Matt's Por*sche pal, Paul, and his racecar and were on our way.

Chloe was fantastic on the long trip. She watched movies and slept most of the time in the car. Oliver, well, he's not one to sleep in the car. In fact, the car has the opposite effect on him. He stayed awake the entire drive, happy most of it, but when you are 16 months old and refuse to nap in the car and stay awake for 12 hours straight...well, you can guess what kind of mood that would put him in.

Oliver, not enjoying his car seat so much.

The racetrack has accomodations, but they book pretty fast and we missed out. The racetrack sits in tobacco farmland, with two sizable towns both 30 minutes in either direction, one in Virginia and one in North Carolina. When I was searching for places to stay, I was able to stumble on a house rental on a lake in North Carolina only 15 minutes from the racetrack. It was also priced comparably to the area hotels. It was a done deal for the long weekend.

Tobacco drying. This was the farm down the road from the house we rented.

Matt and Paul raced Friday & Saturday and had their fun cut short when the CV joint came loose on the car after the first run Sunday. With no replacement part, the guys couldn't keep driving and we decided to head home on Sunday instead of Monday morning.

Tech inspection on Thursday evening, after we arrived at the track.

Of course, what do you do with children at a racetrack? Well, we looked at the cars...

And we watch Matt race. Well, some of us did anyway.

And we goofed off a lot.

On Saturday, we got adventurous and went farther afield. I had suggested we go to some civil war sites, but Chloe nixed that idea pretty quickly. She wanted to go hiking. I wanted some scenery. Oliver, well, he shares his opinion pretty loudly, but its usually incomprehensible. We decided to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was COLD!!! We had to stop and buy some gloves and hats.

At an overlook. The city of Roanoke, VA is in the background.

We went for a hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The kids and I even scouted out a possible summer vacation spot. We also enjoyed the southern hospitality and cooking. Chloe finally had to ask a cashier, "Why did you call my mom sweetheart?". Chloe also pointed out that my Texas twang got a little more country too. She came back with a new, favorite word..."GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!". She giggled everytime she heard someone from the area say it. She thought the long, drawn-out O's were hysterical.

Though our trip was cut short, it was still a goooooooooooooooooooood one!