road trip- days 1 & 2

we left at 4 in the morning on monday and drove straight to new orleans. we thought that waking at that time would ensure us a couple of quiet, sleeping hours from the kids- no such luck. moonpie didn't sleep all day until we hit the bed at 8pm. buddy slept off and on in the van throughout the day. they were as excited as we were about our trip!

our first leg was the seven hour drive to new orleans.

our gps system was actually set for cafe du monde! after a less than desirable lunch, we gorged ourselves on beignets while sitting on the river front. we were all covered in powdered sugar!

i'm pretty sure moonpie is holding a rogue beignet in her hand here- sneaky girl.

we have always loved going to new orleans, but this is the first time taking our kids. it's funny, as we were looking for lunch options, i told john "i don't see any kids in that restaurant, maybe it's not really family friendly." that's when he pointed out "i haven't seen any kids ANYWHERE". and that was true. lots of people sitting in bars at 10am, lots of nudey pictures in store front windows, but no kids. note to self.

from there we drove into montgomery, al to stay the night. we hadn't expected to do much in montgomery, but we really did enjoy walking around their historic buildings, (re)learning some history. from there we stopped in atlanta at the centennial olympic park and played for about 2 hours. that is a great park! after a late lunch, we were ready for the final leg of the trip- getting to our hotel in ridgecrest, north carolina.

we arrived at ridgecrest late that night, so it was a wonderful surprise to wake up to mountains covered in autumn. moonpie ran into our bedroom shouting "open your window!". and there they were- what i had been dreaming about for the past year as we'd been saving and planning. while in this corner of north carolina we spent time in asheville, montreat, black mountain, and chimney rock.

on the grounds of ridgecrest:

all the kids wanted to do our first morning was hike and collect leaves. twist my arm! we hiked up to this beautiful lake (seeing some small waterfalls on the way up).

moonpie playing 'pirate on the ark' outside of our hotel:

ridgecrest is beautiful. however i was a little hesitant to spend much time in the mountains around there. upon arrival we were handed a notice that said they had been seeing some black bear activity on the grounds. what??? let me give you a little piece of mandi trivia. i am terrified of bears. i mean, i've never been the clutches of a bear, so i should say that i'm terrified at the thought of bears. ever since i saw that news piece on that man that was eaten alive in his tent in alaska. that did it for me. up until that point i was totally cool with the bear. no longer, my friend.

eating lunch in asheville at the mellow mushroom. best pizza ever!

moonpie thought her giant piece was hilarious!

umm...i'm not so sure about this...the kids...on a bear...

have i mentioned my fear of bears?

the hammered dulcimer shop in black mountain. so cool...

it was at this point that the kids officially had enough of brick and mortar. we escaped to the best park EVER in montreat. it looked like it had sprouted out of the ground. the play equipment was all weathered wood and there was the loveliest little creek running through the whole thing. we could have stayed there forever...

tomorrow's installment: apple picking and chimney rock