Our Fabled Nest

Another weekend, another adventure! That’s what we love about our life! Adventures, weekends, tasty food, good laughs and making beautiful memories. This weekend we took off for some quality time with my folks and grams. While our almost five-hour drive is usually quite uneventful, this one not so much. Honestly, more drama than we wanted but we survived! Hubs rolled his ankle while we were packing. It was rather dramatic, and I watched it unfold in slow motion. He stumbled down the stairs, rolled his ankle and did a graceful duck and roll into the gravel. Along with his ankle, he skinned his knees, elbow and was very sore. He then proceeded to hobble around and managed to drive while his ankle continued to swell. We knew he needed to see a doctor asap, so he reached out to one of his connections. Thankfully, he was first on the waiting list in Hickory for an orthopedic Friday morning. Turns out, he has a torn ligament and small fracture – poor guy is now in a boot for the next four to six weeks.

As we thought it was a bad start to our trip, it actually became a little worse. A right tire on the RV blew out on 40 west when we were a little over an hour from their place. Scary, yes but with hubs driving, he safely guided the RV to the side. It was only one tire, and the side of the RV is a little dented (we fixed the fender skirt) but otherwise, we and the RV are okay! Roadside was of no help. They actually pinged our location outside of Oklahoma City and kept trying to send Emergency Services. The call kept going in circles; finally, we resolved to cancel roadside, and we did it ourselves. I say “we”, but it was honestly the hubs. Bad foot, being sore and traffic not inching over, he took care of it and us -like he always does. We only had a bottle jack; he was able to lift it enough to remove the blown tire and replace it with the spare. We then realized; we probably need new ones since our tires are close to five years old. Sheesh, it’s always something, right? In no time, we were back on the road and safely setting up in my folk’s driveway.

I adore their place- a small country home with fields, trees and views for miles. Donkeys braying a few roads over, cattle mooing and even a few roosters screaming good morning. All of these things make me smile and I cannot wait for the day, we too, have our own homestead. Their porch is a perfect perch for sunrises and sunsets. After dusk, watch the sky come alive with a spectacular star show. Lovely. Peaceful, undisturbed and nostalgic.

With our eventful start, we knew hubs couldn’t hike. Hobble, yes but hike no. It will probably be a few weeks, but we can always find other ways to adventure! Being at my folks, I reminisce about how things used to be – especially driving around town and seeing all the new houses, duplexes and building being built left and right. It actually saddens me. Older folks are no longer leaving their farms to younger generations. Our generation and younger doesn’t want the hassle (except me – I’ll take all that hassle and fuss!) I hear my parent’s talking about it all the time but actually seeing and feeling it -oof. I love spending time with them – gram always makes gravy and my mom bakes biscuits. That’s where I learned to love how cook and bake. I’ll always brag about my southern roots. It was rather beautiful watching my mom make biscuits. We talked about how I do mine different – no one does the gluten free thing unless I’m in town and that’s where I get to show them how I learned to adapt their ways into my world. Hers came out perfect – like always. She never measures -just a pinch of this, a pinch of that and like magic, they’re perfect. We get a good laugh out of one of my grams – she turns those burners up on high and well we don’t want burnt biscuits, now do we?! We found a new gluten free pizza crust recipe for all of us to try together. It was good. I can’t wait to work on it more – we are still searching for the perfect gluten free pizza crust! My nephew loved the Chocolate pancakes, and I showed him how to make fresh whip cream. His eyes lit up and of course I brought sprinkles! Burgers and garlic fries are always a hit, and everyone loved the peach jam I surprised them with!

On our “to do” list this weekend, other than quality time with everyone, was Jetton Park. It is literally our Disney World. That magical place on earth for us, anyways. While it is obvious we didn’t make it, I still wanted to talk about this little gem we visit as often as we can. Our love for Jetton started about 14 years ago. Hubs and I had just moved into our very first apartment in Cornelius, NC. We had a puppy, Kytana, and we knew she needed exercise. Cornelius is a beautiful location. Near Lake Norman, Charlotte, close enough to highways to get you just about anywhere relatively quick. Other than traffic – which is something I despise but that is everywhere. A neighbor told us about Jetton Park. We made plans to take Kytana after work. It is the perfect and I mean perfect in all sense of the kind of trail I want to adventure on. We have views of Lake Norman, we have paved trails, lots of little places to picnic. Plenty of benches along the trail to sit for a spell. Even a few placed near the water’s edge for soaking up the sun. There are even a few places to dip your toes in the cool waters and a small beach area too! Nooks and crannies everywhere here for a peak of water views, trees, bird watching and just wandering. Kytana loved this place. Her and I, many days after work, would take the short five-minute drive over and spend our evenings leisurely wandering around the mile and half trail. Lots of beautiful memories tucked into something so unassuming. Any time of year is a beautiful time to visit. Pines are taller in the winter. Autumn foliage softly floats on the crisp breeze over the water. Springtime is full of budding trees, bushes and the lilacs fill the air. Then summer with the lush landscape creates a canopy to cool the trails beneath. This park never disappoints.

On this beautiful little beach, May 18, 2012, hubs and I said I do in front of our family. Funny story, we “planned” our wedding in under a month. My dress was on the clearance rack at Target, my sandals were already in my closet. Hubs already has his clothes too. Nick, our preacher, was on his way to the race in Charlotte because he is the MRO Chaplain. His sweet family tagged along and sat on the side lines. My mother-in-law used to be the medical liaison for NASCAR so her and her hubby were in town; along, with my sister-in-law and her boyfriend. Our cake was homemade by hubs and I, and Lori (MIL) brought up a cake topper she had from their wedding. We chose to not take a honeymoon – it didn’t matter to us. There wasn’t a reception, other than everyone meeting at Duckworth’s for a nice meal before some took off for the races. We, then, took my parents and gram bowling. It was perfect. Bonus, my mother-in-law took our photos. It was stress free, easy going and our “ceremony” was done in under five minutes. Kytana was our flower girl, and it was absolutely perfect having those near and dear to us there for our special moment.

Even now, though we live a good distance away, we still love this park. It is one of the things we always plan for, and don’t really get to visit as much as we’d love too. I can honestly say that we are both bummed we didn’t have the opportunity to wander around here, but it’s okay! I love so many things about Jetton Park! Whether it was Atticus’ first “real” hike when he was a puppy to Hank growing older and slowly wandering around or just sitting on the beach watching the water slowly lap in. This is the park for us. It holds so many beautiful memories over the past decade and moments that we were able to share together.

Cheers to our next adventure!