Wild and Wonderful

We're back from a week in wild and wonderful West Virginia. It was a good week. It was nice to see all of Isabel's family, and the kids especially enjoyed their cousins. We stayed at the Confluence Resort, about 30 minutes from funky Fayetteville (actually, about 30 minutes from pretty much anything -- it's a little bit remote), and from the New River Gorge Bridge, which is what you see on the back of a West Virginia quarter.

The remoteness took a little getting used to. We drove in on the interstate, and then on increasingly smaller roads, ending with about 30 minutes of driving on "no fault" roads (so called because accidents are nobody's fault). These are paved, single-lane roads with a strip of gravel on either side. When a car comes in the other direction, you swerve to the gravel to the right so there's room for both cars. The locals generally did this at about 40 mph. Fortunately, instinct tells you to swerve out of the way, so you get used to it quickly. By Thursday, I could "drop two wheels" without raising my heart rate too much.

I was able to get a newspaper a couple of times, though it was a 30 minute drive to get one, so I waited until we were on the road anyway, and then bought one and savored it the next morning. The facty that it was day-old news really didn't matter much, since the lead stories in the newspaper had to do with the grand opening of a new Subway restaurant (I'm not making that up).

The remoteness had its good points. Without too much light from nearby towns, we were able to see hundreds, maybe thousands, of stars in the sky. And I'd say hello every morning to a mama deer and her two babies while I drank tea on the deck and wished I had a newspaper to read.

Some other highlights:

* Before we left, we had spent a night with the in-laws in Maryland, which is always nice. My brother-in-law Lee broke out his accordian, and soon John was begging for a lesson. He took to it immediately. I'm sure that's partly because he plays piano, and easily figured out the fingering. But it's also because he's a natural goofball, and the accordian is a goofball instrument. It's now on his list of musical instruments to learn, right after oboe, tied with bagpipes.

* My sister-in-law Sally was sweet enough to think of me when she saw some Coast Pacific Force soap in her supermarket, and brought me a few bars on the plane from Florida. Interestingly, that Coast soap is a different size and shape, and with different packaging, than the Coast soap my mom bought for me in Massachusetts. But it still has that great Pacific Force scent. Thanks Sally!

* We spent a full day on a whitewater rafting trip down the Upper New River. Very fun, and very exhausting -- my shoulders hurt for a couple of days afterwards. Isabel and Catherine rode in one of the eight-person rafts; John and I shared an inflatable kayak (a "ducky"), and Peter rode in his own ducky. Click here for the web site of the outfit we rafted with, and some pics of their Upper New trips (but not of us, since they accidentally erased the files). It was all great until the last set of rapids, known as "Surprise." They're class III rapids (starting to a get rough, but not life threatening). The raft made it over OK, but everyone in a ducky was thrown, including Peter and John and me. I was almost too exhausted to get back into the ducky. A helping hand from one of the guides was much appreciated.

The highlight of the rafting trip, though, was seeing a bald eagle. We saw it three times -- once from a distance, diving for a fish, and then twice more perched in trees by the side of the river. It was probably fifty feet away from us. Awesome.

* We played some Capture the Falg, some baseball, and some touch football during the week. I suffered a severe groin pull during Capture the Flag, reaggrevated during football. But it kept my mind of that shoulder injury from pulling myself back into my ducky after we went over in the rapids.

* We shared a house with our Oregon in-laws, which was great. We were treated to some incredible vegan meals, and brought home some recipes and ideas for milk- and egg-free meals for John. Biscuits with gravy will never be the same for me.

The only bad thing about staying with the Oregon folks: I don't know what my brother-in-law Tom did to provoke Catherine, but a couple of nights into the trip, she used those big green eyes of hers to convince Tom to stand up from his chair, and then she moved in behind him and gave him a wedgie. I assume Tom provoked it -- my daughter would never do such a thing on her own. (And yes, she understands now that giving a wedgie to an adult is inappropriate.)

* My sister-in-law Mary and I went for a nice 45 minute, roughly 3.5 mile run one morning, along some beautiful trails in the woods. A little slower than normal, but we were being careful to avoid mud puddles and tree roots. Running with Mary has become a nice tradition, and ensures that I get at least one run in during a vacation.

* The trip home was long -- seven hours on Saturday and again on Sunday. We listened to lots of nice music with the kids, including a tape called For the Children, which we bought before Peter was born. We probably hadn't listened to it in four years. It features a whole bunch of famous musicians singing kids' songs. We used to sing a lot of them to the kids when they were babies. Listening to it, I could almost feel Peter in my arms, eight months old, in a fuzzy blue sleeper, getting heavy as he drifted off as I sang "A Child is Born" to him. It was a nice memory.

Of course, when the tape came to Bob Dylan singing "This Old Man," I got a reminder that Peter is now 12 and a devotee of classic rock. He heard the song, turned down the volume of his iPod, and said, "Is this Bob Dylan?" Thinking we went back to his own music, I was a little surprised when he sang along with Dylan, but changed the lyrics slightly: "With a kick-knack, patty-whack, give the dog a bone, Everybody must get stoned."

* Nearing home yesterday, we stopped at a BK on the Jersey Turnpike. At 1:37pm, Isabel officially became an Old Lady. That's when she ordered her lunch: a coffee and a fish sandwhich. I think they gave her the 15% senior's discount automatically, based solely on what she ordered.

It was a good week. A bunch of physical activity, lots of visiting with family, and few reminders about cancer. I'll resume the cancer talk soon. Lots of lymphoma news to catch up on from when I was away.