Late June and early July 2008, Dru and Dave headed back east to visit relatives and a friend. It started out as a simple trip, mostly visiting Jeff and Mariana in Annandale and to be there when Mariana's brother Sergio and his fiance Luli arrived from Argentina. However, as the planning progressed, the trip evolved into a much more complicated, but exciting adventure.

We flew into Washington, D.C., and spent two nights and a day with Jeff and Mariana. It's always good to be able to just relax with them. They were doing great. Jeff was busy with his job and Mariana was busy with a translation project she was working on; both were happy to see us and eagerly looking forward to Sergio and Luli's arrival.

On Monday morning, June 30, we hit the road, headed south to the mountains of North Carolina to visit friends and relatives. Originally, we had hoped to make it all the way down to Franklin, NC, in one day's drive, but we knew that would be a long day - better to do it in a day and a half.

As we approached the Shenadoah Valley, another long-time ambition re-surfaced: the desire to drive the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway! The choice was a "Catch 22." If we stayed on the interstate, we would make better time and thus have more time to stop, but what was there to see? If we took the Parkway, it would take us longer and we wouldn't have time to stop and photograph the beautiful mountain scenary.

We opted to take the Parkway and at least visually enjoy the spectacular views as we drove along. So, alas, there are not many photos to share, but here are a few.

The photograph at the top of the page was taken from the top of Mt. Mitchell, about 20 miles south of Little Switzerland. The photographs below were taken along the southern most section of the parkway south of Ashville, NC. The rhododendrons were especially stunning, at places literally forming walls on both sides of the Parkway. Of particular note was we stumbled upon the Cradle of Forestry in the U.S., interesting to us because Jeff's work is in support of the Forestry Service.

The first day we made it all the way own to Fancy Gap, NC, just inside the NC border. The morning of the second day we traveled down to Franklin, NC, (only 12 miles from the GA border) to see a high school buddy of Dave's, Jimmy and his wife Edna at their mountain home. We would also meet up with Dave's brother, Roy, and his wife, Louise, who spend the summers in their motor home in Franklin. Amazingly, when Dave was finally able to contact his brother Roy by phone, it turned out their campground was only a quarter of a mile from Jimmy's house! What are the odds?

We spent two nights with Jimmy and Edna and their grandson Dylan. It was great sitting around, relaxing and "catching up." Below are a couple of shapshots of the view from their front porch. As you can see, it's a fantastic location. Then we moved to The Franklin Terrace Bed and Breakfast in town. We've stayed in a lot of bed and breakfasts and the Franklin Terrace ranks as one of the best! Without a doubt it served the best breakfast ever!! We highly recommend it.

Staging from the Franklin Terrace, we spent July 3 and 4 with Roy and Louise. As a unexpected, special treat, Karen, Roy and Louise's oldest daughter drove over from Tennessee for a visit, so we got to spend those days with her also. We had not seen Karen for nearly seven years.

Roy and Louise are doing very well, in good health and as active as ever. Although they had only been in the campground for a week, they had everything set up "just like home." They plan on staying there throughout the summer, returning to Sarasota in late September.

Karen and Dale's family is doing well also. Their oldest daughter, Deidre, has graduated from college and their youngest, Emily, is now attending David Lipscomb University. (That's difficult for us to imagine since the last time we saw them, they were "little girls.") Dale is considering doing some missionary work, but hasn't yet made firm plans or commitments at this point.

Here are some photos taken during our time together.

Saturday morning, July 5, we checked out of our B&B and back-tracked a little up to Little Switzerland, located about an hour north of Ashville. We were off to a family wedding: Catherine and Mark. Catherine is the daughter of Dave's first cousin Sally and husband Earl. Little Switzerland is a lovely location nestled high in the North Carolina mountains. We stayed at The Inn at Little Switzerland where many attendees stayed and where the wedding reception was held.

It was a beautiful wedding, and I've created several web pages containing some of the snapshots I took. We're thankful that it worked out that we could join in the celebration.

All of Dave's first cousins - Charles, Tommy and Sally - were there. They are the children of Uncle Joe (Dave's mother's brother) and Aunt Lois. Dave had not seen Charles and his wife Dee Dee in probably thirty years! And it had been seven years since we saw Tommy and Linda and Sally and Earl. So, it was very special having the opportunity to visit with them all.

Here are a few photos of the cousins and The Inn where we all stayed.

Monday morning, July 7, it was load 'em up and into the car again, continuing our southward trek to Warner Robins, GA, to visit Dave's nephew Paul, his wife Ann and their daughters Lauren and Hannah. We had not seen them in seven years since we moved west to California. The big change obviously was in Lauren and Hannah. No longer are they the two little girls we last saw; they have slipped away into young adulthood, now both in high school this coming school year.

Three years ago Paul accepted a call as Senior Pastor at Friendship Baptist Church in Warner Robins. Paul proudly took us on a visit to the church. It is a marvelous place with astounding facilities. You can check the church out on its web site.

Pictured below is their home, the church and the family.

Wednesday morning, July 9, we were off to New Bern, NC, for a very special rendezvous - to meet Dave's niece Gwen, whom he has no memory of ever meeting, even when she was an infant. It's just one of those family quirks that happen from time to time. Gwen is the daughter of Dave's brother Donald. How did this reunion happen?

About a year ago Gwen was on line doing some genealogical research. She came upon Dave's web site with its genealogical information. She informed her daughter Leigh-Ann and she established email contact. At the time Leigh-Ann was finishing her degree in Berkeley, CA, so when she moved back east, she and her dad, who was helping her move back, swung to deep southern California and spent a day with us in San Diego.

Finally, it just worked out that on this trip we could swing through New Bern on our way back up to the DC area. It was a special moment to finally meet. It was amazing how quickly both Dave and Gwen felt at ease with each other, knowing they could trust each other and talk openly. Needless to say, they had a great time beginning to get to know each other.

Not only did we meet Gwen and renew acquaintences with Danny, but we met Leigh-Ann's son Jackson as well. I've posted a couple of pictures below, and you can see more on their family web page I've created.

Thursday afternoon, July 8, it was back into the car again, heading north back to Jeff and Mariana's. Surprisingly, it was a relatively quick trip, a mere five and a half hours. Friday was a day of rest, doing laundry and repacking, but also just "hanging out" with Mariana. Saturday was another "hang out" day and that evening we joined Maryjo and Alan (Dru's nephew) for dinner.

With Sergio and Luli arriving bright and early Sunday morning, we moved over to Maryjo's and Alan's for the rest of our stay. We had a great visit with them prior to Alan's departure for Mechanicsburg, PA, that afternoon and we enjoyed our breakfasts with Maryjo. Each afternoon and evening we joined Mariana and Jeff, Sergio and Luli.

It was truly an enjoyable trip. We did a lot, saw a lot and renewed many family ties, some that had been sadly neglected for much too long. As we used to say in the Navy, it was a "bag and drag" trip. Every other morning bag it all up and drag it out to the car and on our way to another destination. All in all, we put nearly 2400 miles on the rental car - that's nearly the equivalent of driving all the way across the United States.

As tiring as it may have been at times for these two near septuagenarians, it was a fantastic trip. We are blessed to have such wonderful relatives and dear friends. And we are fortunate that it just all seemed to "come together," enabling us to fit so much into such a brief trip. We wish we could have spent more time at each place, but that just couldn't be. Now we shall rest and not leave home for awhile - perhaps a long while!