Creeper, Seaside, Stunning Sand & Seas, & Concerts

July was an awesome month with lots of fun travel. I kicked it off at Foxcroft Wine Bar with an awesome dinner with Julie. On a completely unrelated note, I’ve been having a lot of itching spells lately and so I saw an allergist who tested me for external factors. It turns out that I am allergic to a whole bunch of things like oak, elm, birch, all grasses, dogs, cats, mites, and mold. During the appointment, when they asked me if I had pets and I told them I did, they asked for the dogs to not sleep in the room or bed with us and I just laughed. Not going to happen. They did recommend that I get chemical and food allergy tests as well, so I’m working on lining that up at the moment. 

The girls and Trent had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Jones one afternoon and later that week, the four of us (and Nana) made our way to the annual Spurlin family reunion at the Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus. We stopped for lunch in Blowing Rock, which has become sort of a tradition. When we arrived, we stayed in the lodge, and enjoyed chili cooked by the aunts that evening. Of course, each night we danced around the campfire while the kids roasted marshmallows. On Friday, we rode the Creeper Trail and think there were around 27 of us that participated. We decided to skip the restaurant midway down the trail and just head straight to the Wicked Chicken. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out very well because the servers were quite rude, so we decided to try out Wilson’s Cafe and grill next to the bike rental shop, which was well worth it! The next day, about 15 of us decided we were going to take a long walk and hike part of the Appalachian Trail. This was definitely a blast! About half of the crew turned around when we were halfway through the hike because we looked at the elevation and it got pretty strenuous. After only seven miles of hiking, I earned a newfound respect for those that hike the entire trail. It’s no joke. Once we were done hiking, we went to the distillery to hang out for a bit, came back to the cabins for some relaxing, and then went back out to the brewery for our annual cousins’ evening out. We let Brayden join us this time since she’s nearly an adult. She had a blast, as did Nana, who danced on the bar for a minute. This had everyone laughing like crazy, of course. Janet put on her teacher hat and read another one of the dirty books on the shelf. Between cards, Jenga, dancing, cornhole, delicious food, and endless laughter, it was another successful reunion. I absolutely love these people and am beyond lucky to be related to them!

When we returned, the kids watched the neighbor’s cat, who occasionally bit them (we later found out this was a sign of endearment, but who knew!?!). Hanleigh had an orthodontist appointment and we are still in the dark as far as how much longer she has to wear her braces for. I’m sure this is intentional. Brayden continued to work three or four shifts a week and the four of us enjoyed an evening of yacht rock at the Ballantyne Amp, a new outdoor amphitheater that is just awesome. We are so lucky to have it so close! 

After working the next week, it was time for a well-deserved beach vacation! This time, we decided to try something different and go to Seaside, Florida on the panhandle. A lot of people have been telling us about how beautiful the water and sand is there, so we decided to see it for ourselves. It’s about a 10-hour drive from Charlotte, so the four of us (and Nana) decided to stop about halfway in Macon, Georgia. It’s such an adorable town! Of course, we had to stop at Buc-ee’s since neither Trent nor Hanleigh had been there before. Their mouths were open wide just like Brayden and mine’s were the first time we went to one. When we arrived at the house, we were blown away. It was absolutely gorgeous!!! It was only a five-minute walk to the beach, had plenty of space for everyone, and a gorgeous pool and backyard to relax in the afternoons and evenings. Kyle and Cammy, Cooper, and the girls met up with us as well, so we had a big crew! In typical beach-trip fashion, we had theme nights every night: dress like someone else in the house, paint a portrait of someone, wear three ponytails and mustaches, and exchange embarrassing t-shirts. We went to an infamous place called Red’s for dinner, and the days were filled with morning runs in the sweltering heat, exploring Alys and Rosemary Beach via cruiser bikes (which, by the way, those are the most picturesque little idyllic beach towns I’ve ever seen. It hardly seems real…like the Stepford Wives neighborhood!), laying out on the beach, and swimming in the crystal clear turquoise water. We had many conversations on whether we would go back or not. I thought it was beautiful, but Trent did all of the driving and I think was having PTSD about how long it took to get there. He would rather go to the North Carolina beaches because it’s a lot quicker. I get it…they each have their trade-offs.

While we were at the beach, both dad and Terry celebrated their birthdays as well. When we came back from our trip, we had dinner with Trent’s dad and came back and sang happy birthday to him in the kitchen. Happy 72nd to my dad and happy 79th to Trent’s dad! Hanleigh spent a Sunday afternoon with her friend, Ariana, at Carrigan Farms, which is a local rock quarry that lets people jump off of various platforms and such. They had a great time. She also spent one of her weeks at a Shakespeare in the Park Camp where they reenacted some of his most famous plays and even put a spin on one of them in modern day with typical teen catchphrases. 

I flew to Spokane for our annual corporate marketing meeting, which is always such a good time. It’s probably the most fun meeting that I go to because it’s a chance to learn more about marketing and connect with my amazing coworkers, as well as factor in time for some great teambuilding activities. This year, we stayed at the local casino, which unfortunately made you walk from your room through the smoke-infested gambling area, just to get to the meeting rooms. At one point I thought I would try to play the game of “how long I can hold my breath”, but the casino was too large. Gross! We were in meetings all day, but had fun dinners and activities. One evening, we went to the on-site concert pavilion to see Bachman-Turner overdrive. I knew they had a few hits themselves, such as “Taking Care of Business” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet. But, what was super awesome was learning how many songs the lead singer had written in his career and how many bands he had been part of. It was very impressive and the concert was better than I thought. 

Trent continued going to the Thursday run club at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, which I will join more once the weather gets a bit cooler. It’s just too hot right now. After I returned home on a red eye from Spokane Friday morning, the four of us turned around and flew to DC early Saturday morning for what would be about a 30-hour round trip fun adventure. Our main purpose was to attend a concert. More on that later. When we landed, we attempted to check in to the hotel, which turned out to be the wrong one (that was hilarious) and ventured out to Washington’s finest spots, like the Natural History Museum, the Hirshorn Museum (modern art) and then had lunch at a food hall. We came back to the hotel and started getting ready for the Luke Combs “Growing Up and Getting Old” tour at FedEx Field. We took an Uber there and arrived just in time get some drinks and food and see Mitchell Tenpenny kick off the show. Of course, we were standing the entire time, knowing all the words, and just having a blast. Jordan Davis was next up and the show just continued to get that much better. But the creme de la creme was Luke Combs, who none of us had seen in concert before. We had seen Mitchell and Jordan about four times previously, but were super excited to see Luke perform. He was incredible! We didn’t sit down at all. So many of the songs are so emotional, especially now that Brayden is a senior, so there were a fair amount of tears shed during some of the more coming-of-age songs. I would see him over and over again in concert. It was such a triple threat to see three of our favorite country artists in one place. Amazing! The next day, we woke up and went to a delicious breakfast place called A Baked Joint and walked around the United States Botanic Garden, followed by walking nearly the entire length of the mall: from the Capitol, past the Washington Monument and the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. We crammed all of that in from 9:00 a.m. on a Saturday until a 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday. It was awesome! We rounded out the month with a dinner for all of the August birthdays in the family: Sofia, me, Kyle, and me, Kyle, and Hanleigh…hosted by Nana. We were loud and obnoxious, at times inappropriate, and had a blast playing Wizard…a typical night in our family! It was the perfect end to the very fun-filled month.

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