Staycation, Day 12: Special Forces, special indeed

Staycation is flying by! I can’t believe it’s almost over but if this is what retirement is like (a million years from now), sign me up!

Day 12 found us in Fayetteville so we decided to spend our afternoon at the Special Forces Museum. It was well worth the drive down and I highly recommend it (and it’s free, so that’s good too!)

I’ve spent the last few days trying to find the words to describe this museum that’s dedicated to those elite special groups who make it their life’s work to willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect the lives and liberties of people they’ve never met. It’s fascinating to read about the missions, but more so, it’s humbling to read actual quotes from the people who completed them. My appreciation for our military is never far from my thoughts but this museum renewed my gratitude and left me searching yet again for how to say Thank You for all they do.

My loss for words was never more profound than when I stepped into the POW exhibit at the museum. I can’t imagine what those soldiers endured, what some may still be enduring today, and what their families must be enduring as they trudge along day after day not knowing the fate of their loved one. As I stood there, in awe of the determination and fortitude displayed by generations of our men and women in uniform, it occurred to me that any soldier, anywhere in the world, may be one breath away from becoming a POW. Truth be told, that sobering thought scared me more than most of the terrifying thoughts I had while Robert was away.

I hope today you’ll take a moment to thank a soldier or pray for one who isn’t home yet. And, the next time you find yourself near Fayetteville, I encourage you to stop by the museum. You’ll be glad you did. Until next time, friends, I hope your day is something historic, something life-changing (in a good way), something MORE.

Staycation, Day 11: On a Stick...

I’ve looked forward to this day of staycation since, well, since last October when we were not far enough into the deployment to even think about a staycation.

Last October, I decided that since Robert couldn’t go the fair, I’d take the fair to him. I carefully packaged up the most portable fair foods I could think of, cotton candy and candy apples, and crossed my fingers that they’d make it across the world without too much damage.

A few weeks later, I received what was perhaps the saddest letter I’ve ever read. Robert’s bright, shiny, red candy apple had fallen off the stick and had landed in the dirt.  As I read his heartbreaking account of accepting that his dirt-covered treasure couldn’t be recovered, I could almost see him staring at it, wheels turning, trying to figure out a way to salvage even a morsel of the cherry-flavored goodness. It was devastating; there may have been tears (mine, not his!).

I knew that we’d have to find a way to remedy his candy apple upset… and we did.

Thursday, we headed toward the State Fair for a new candy apple. Along the way, we also had cheese steak, a ham biscuit, honey cotton candy, and some deep fried Oreos. I love to say that the Fair is all about “fried things on sticks” but truth be told, other than the candy apple (that we brought home to eat later), we actually didn’t eat anything on a stick.

Day 11 of the staycation was fantastic and there’s still one more adventure to be had… I know you can’t wait until tomorrow. Until then, I hope your day was as rich as a deep fried Oreo, as sweet as cotton candy, and as simple as a candy apple… one that stays on the stick J. 

Staycation Days 7-9: Westward Bound

Since day 5 of our staycation took us eastward, it was only fitting that days 7 through 9 should take us west.

After dropping Chet off to spend a few days with my parents, we hopped in the car and headed to Asheville to spend a little time at Biltmore Estate.

Despite temperatures lower than I find pleasurable (read- it was COLD!), we had a great time! We toured the “house” even though calling it a house does it a huge disservice. Did you know that there are 43 bathrooms inside the Biltmore Estate? I mean INSIDE the house, for the family’s use, not the ones that were added outside the house for the public!

I apologize that there are no indoor photos for you to enjoy; there are rules and enough security cameras that breaking the rules wasn’t an option J.

After touring the immaculate and massive mansion, we wandered the gardens, and took a tour of the winery. We had a quick lunch at Cedric’s (which, by the way, is named for one of the Vanderbilt family dogs and has fantastic cheeseburgers), we toured one more exhibit where we saw Mrs. Vanderbilt’s Harley and learned that the Vanderbilts were originally scheduled to be passengers on the Titanic but changed their tickets at the last minute to travel with some friends who were traveling on the Olympic. Given that we just visited that exhibit in Raleigh, we found that interesting.

From the Biltmore, we took a very curvy road (and I do mean VERY!) to Chimney Rock State Park where we hopped on the elevator and flew up 26 stories to the top. We spent some time enjoying the scenic overlook.

We had a great time in Asheville; if you haven’t been to Biltmore Estate, you owe it to yourself to make the easy drive west on Hwy 40. The tickets are a little pricey but the house, gardens, winery, and parking are included with your purchase.

Our staycation isn’t over yet! We have at least 2 more adventures planned so stay tuned for what’s next... until then, I hope your week has been something majestic, something magnanimous, something MORE.

Staycation, Day 6: An A-MAZE-ING Day

A corn maze has been on my bucket list for as long as I’ve had the list but there was never anyone I wanted to get lost among the stalks with until now. Last fall season, Robert was away so I knew it would have to wait. Staycation day 6 seemed like a perfect fall day to mark the maze off the list.

Under a bright blue Carolina sky, we headed out to Ken’s Krazy Corn Maze in Garner. The primary objective of the corn maze is to find the 12 stations which are hidden among the twists and turns. Sounds simple, right? Yeah, it might be, if you had a map. But oh, yeah, they don’t give you that. You’re armed only with your keen sense of direction, your formidable powers of navigation, and a flag to wave if you find yourself hopelessly lost or just hopeless.

The good news is that we did not wave our flag. We also did not find all 12 stations.

It started out simple, until we took the first right turn. From there, we went down rabbit trails. We hit dead ends. We declared ourselves lost. We declared ourselves un-lost. We went in circles. We backed up and started again. We laughed. We went in more circles. We backtracked again. We laughed some more. And occasionally, we found a station and we cheered like we’d hit some sort of Mother Lode.

But as it is the journey and not the destination that matters, we had a great time laughing and getting lost and doing it together. And isn’t that what this staycation has been about all along?

Staycation, Day 5: What's for Lunch?

Perhaps the best part of a staycation is that there is absolutely nothing stopping you when someone says (at 9a.m.) “let’s have lunch… at the beach.”

We hopped on the bike and took a back road down to Wilmington where we enjoyed shrimp burgers and lemon pepper fries by the water.

Then we drove a little farther to the ocean and put our toes in the sand just long enough to take a fun photo (forgive the helmet hair; I haven’t quite mastered that yet!).

Heading home, we just enjoyed the scenic route of the open road.

Since Robert got home, I have been waiting for the moment that would finally, officially reset my internal compass from the off-kilter, perpetually anxious mindset that accompanies having a deployed husband to the steady, as-relaxed-as-any-military-wife-can-be mindset of “normal”, non-deployed life. Other military wives told me it would happen in time but in all honesty, I was starting to think that moment was lost on me. I’m thrilled to report that somewhere between the ocean and home, with the wind in my hair, the sun on my face, and my arms wrapped around my most favorite person in the entire world, I heard the distinct click of the direction arrows line up to relocate my true North. It was a beautiful sound, not one even the distinct rumble of a Harley engine could drown out. J

Staycation, Day 1 & 2: Walking Through History

On the heels of the 352 day deployment (not that I was counting days or anything!), Robert gets block leave, a chunk of vacation that’s supposed to give him time to catch up with family and work on that honey-do list that grew around the house while he was away.

Lucky for me, I have bosses that understand that even though I didn’t deploy, I needed the block leave too.  

We’d kicked around going somewhere tropical but the last thing Robert wanted was to get on yet another plane (can’t say I blame him there!) so we decided a staycation would be perfect. We’d stay home, go on a few little adventures, and just use the time to catch up. Our two weeks of fun began yesterday, at 4 a.m. because we have a puppy who doesn’t understand “sleeping in”. I suppose he was just helping us to make good use of our time. J

I needed new tires on the car and an oil change so we hopped in the car and took Chet on a visit to my parents’ house, out in the country where he could romp and play. Robert hadn’t seen my grandparents since our wedding so we swung by their house too; Gus  and Robert took a walk down history lane in my grandfather’s tobacco museum. As much as Gus loves telling those stories, Robert loved hearing them; it was like watching two kids in a candy store and a great way to start our staycation.

This morning we continued our walk down history lane with a trip to the Titanic exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science in downtown Raleigh. As soon as we stepped out of the car, the bottom fell out and by the time we got to the museum door, we were drenched! We laughed and decided that maybe it was fitting that we were soaking wet while we learned about the ill-fated “unsinkable” ship.

If you’re even the slightest bit interested in the RMS Titanic or history in general, this exhibit is a must see! Each ‘passenger’ is given a boarding pass that details an actual passenger on the ship. I was a second class passenger who was transferred to the Titanic after a coal strike caused my original voyage to be cancelled (wouldn’t that be just my luck!?!). Robert was a wealthy landowner who had actually medaled in fencing in the 1908 Olympics. At the end of the exhibit, we were pleased to learn that we were both listed in the survivors of that tragic night. I’ve always found the mysteries of the Titanic’s demise interesting, but having the personal details of actual passengers made it that much more so.

I’d say our staycation is off to a great start… stay tuned for what adventure we have in store for tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope your week has been something you’ll want to look back on when you’re walking down history lane. I hope it was something epic, something remarkable, something MORE.