"I don't mind telling you I had pretty low expectations. And I'm surprised to admit I'm having a really good time. You really surprised me." - my teenage son, regarding our fall break trip.
We've been making lemonade around here lately.
You know the old saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." It's all about turning things around. That's just what we did.
In my last post, I whined about being disappointed about matters big and small, including the fact the government shutdown had thwarted our plans to visit Washington DC - and all those national parks and monuments - for fall break.
Lemons.
Instead, we put on our thinking caps as a family and decided to save the funds set aside for DC in the hopes of going there another time. That meant no trip to Disney, the beach or other far-flung place that would consume lots of dollars. We decided to go local - relatively - and spend a couple of days at a state park a couple of hours' drive from here.
Unexpected lemonade.
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| The view. |
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| Sunning themselves on a cool fall day at the lake. |
The weather was perfect. The scenery was breathtaking. The accommodations were cozy. The food was great. The cost was affordable. We hiked, rode horses, shopped, walked, explored, swam. We read, rocked in rocking chairs, and just rested. We laughed so hard we cried at times.
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| Covered bridge at the entrance of the park. |
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| Sun peeking through above a wooded trail. |
I admit we felt like we were settling: this was just going to be a little trip to say we did something over the break, but it probably wasn't going to be noteworthy in any way. We were wrong (as noted above by the most discerning member of the party).
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| Change is coming. |
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| Got them to look at me by saying, "Here kitty, kitty," the universal language of animals. |
We enjoyed the season right at the cusp of the dramatic change that's waiting in the wings (and right before peak tourist season and prices!). And then promptly beat a path home to hang out and relax the rest of the week.
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| Home. |
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