Back to Our Roots on Maryland’s Eastern Shore
October was a month of reconnecting with friends from our college, single and early married days in Delmarva. We got to show the kids the Salisbury City Park and Zoo, Salisbury University (our Alma Mater), Bargain Bill’s flea market, and the church where we were married.
Make new friends, but keep the old…
Introducing the kids to my former church family and the precious friends who poured into us when we were just starting out was more emotional than I had expected. Somewhat sad to realize our lives have taken different paths over the last 17 years. But it was a thrill to get to share this part of our lives with our kids who are almost the age John and I each were when we first came to the Shore. We got our fill of laughter, blue crabs, and whiffs of chicken houses. And craft supplies from Hobby Lobby. Mwahahahahaha!
Green Mountain State
We arrived at Mt. Ascutney just after the peak of the Vermont’s amazing foliage display. The weather was lovely, and spending time with John’s five aunts was lovelier still. Uncles and cousins joined in to share delightful stories about John as a cute little kid, and John’s parents as youths. This helped to fill in some of the picture of our children’s rich McSweeney and Hauck heritage, as both John’s parents passed away before their births.
Introducing THE AUNTS!
More Apple Cider Anyone???
If anyone of us had received a flesh wound those three weeks, I swear we would have bled apple cider, thanks to the aunts who kept us amply supplied! We were also introduced to Vermont Cheddar Cheese. We will never be the same. Oh, yeah…and Lake Champlain. After I return to Echo Reservoir in Utah to retrieve the part of my heart I left there, I will need to make a trip to Lake Champlain to find the rest of it.
The Cold is Coming! Run Away, Run Away!
As October came to a close, the weather took a turn and we began to be concerned for the functionality of our RV’s heating and water systems with the dropping temperatures and forecast of snow. John and I looked at each other and said, “What are we thinking?! Our house has WHEELS! Let’s go to FLORIDA!”
I was grateful that we were able to keep our plans to briefly visit two friends in Upstate New York on the pathway of our evacuation. Also on our route to warmth was the Ark Encounter and land hunting in Williamstown, KY, a magical evening by the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, and a visit with a dear high school friend in Atlanta, GA.
Tune in next time to find out where we went next, and to hear Grandma say, “BEST SURPRISE EVER!!”
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