The Knudson Clan
Left to right: Elijah, Chuck/Charles, Amelia, Forest, Jim, Benjamin, Don, Leigh, Margaret, and Kim. Taking the photo is Don's wife Helen. Missing: Ginny.
Sweet Ginny: Part Weimaraner, Part Lab
We had the great good fortune of having Allyson Cooksey donate her Cooksey Mountain House in Newland, NC for our family reunion. Newland is in the western NC mountains just around the corner from Grandfather Mountain, close to Boone and Blowing Rock. We drove just across the Tennessee border at Bristol before turning southeast to get to Newland. The area is blanketed with Christmas Tree farms.
Timing wasn't great for Chuck and Leigh and their family. They put their house up for sale several months ago and it sold in a few weeks. Guess when the closing/moving day was - Monday after our reunion! Imagine the packing frenzy over the past month! They packed up 5 PODS units, closed Monday last week, and are continuing to unpack this week before school starts for Elijah, Benjamin, and Amelia.
Originally, Chuck had planned to pick up Margaret in Charleston to drive her to Newland, but we offered to detour to save him the time so that he could focus on packing and moving. Forest flew into Charlotte from his home in Denver, CO on Thursday and drove up with the Charlotte Knudsons. Don and Helen split their 13-hour drive from Pensacola FL over two days.
Kim and I got up early Friday morning and I started packing the car. With all of the food we took along (I cooked the entire week before) plus 3 people and luggage in Kim's Infiniti EX, I quickly realized we were going to have to use the cartop carrier. Unfortunately, it was still in the original box and we had never tried to use it before. After an hour of frustration and numerous swear words from me, Kim finally helped me figure out how to get in on and secured, and then we packed it full. We left Mechanicsburg PA a little after 8AM and headed for Charleston. Had good weather and made pretty good time, considering the less than aerodynamic vehicle. We arrived at mom's between 1:30 and 2:00 PM.
We were on the road again by 2:30 and had solid rain the rest of the way to our NC destination. Heavy rain and fog on the WV Turnpike is just like heavy rain and fog on the PA Turnpike - awful driving conditions! Kim drove most of the way from Charleston to NC and I took over after we got off the Turnpike. We were VERY happy to make it to the Cooksey Mountain House around 7PM and get out of the car after 11 hours on the road. Kim's tolerance is usually 6 hours and 3 states, but she was a real trooper for almost twice the time and 6 states all in the same day. Fortunately, we had several days to recuperate before having to drive home.
Kim, Margaret, and I were the last to arrive. The house was beautiful and undergoing some final renovations, with a beautiful, new front porch, 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms.
There were lots of hugs, kisses, and love shared that first hour. Nobody had started anything for dinner, so I got out the NC-style (vinegar based) Pulled Pork BBQ I had made and we had some good sandwiches the first night. Then the Ice Cream gala started - I think we had ice cream every night we were there - YUM!
It was an early night, since all of us were very tired, but it was a wonderful start to a great week! Kim and I had the bedroom in the far back corner of the house, which didn't have very good air movement, so we kept the windows open all week and enjoyed the cool nights and fresh mountain air. I slept very well and enjoyed hearing the birds and other wildlife at night and in the mornings. One night we thought we heard a coyote howling!
Saturday morning we all dribbled into the kitchen over several hours. I cooked 2 pounds of bacon, which magically disappeared as soon as I cooked it. I think Amelia ate her weight in bacon. :) We took the Gator out and tried to make it to the top of the hill, but it was too muddy and we had to back down the hill on the narrow, rocky trail until we could turn around.
Saturday afternoon we got back in the car - again - and drove into Newland to look for crickets to feed the Knudson kid's geckos, through Boone, and finally into Blowing Rock. The weather was cool and rainy, and when we got to Blowing Rock, it was pea soup. Couldn't see much of anything other than crowds of people and lack of parking, so we didn't stay long. Everyone was tired of being in the car again, so we headed straight back to the house. We talked, played some games, and rode around in the Cooksey Gator and the Knudson's new golf cart. Elijah, Benjamin, and Amelia all loved driving the golf cart all week, but of course taking turns driving was sometimes an issue.
Saturday night we had some pasta and excellent Gulf Shrimp that Helen and Don brought from Florida and some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and ice cream for dessert. Chuck, Forest, Kim and I played Texas Hold Em for an hour and enjoyed the "friendly competition". Kim was the champion the first night. We also played a new board game called Say Anything, which was fun for everyone.
Sunday was a lazy day. I cooked two pounds of Jimmy Dean sausage (my favorite), which again mysteriously disappeared. We didn't leave the house - sat on the front porch, read books, played games, rode the vehicles, played in the creek, and sat and talked. We had hot dogs and Kim's famous hot dog sauce for lunch, and we had Jim's famous Mexican Chicken Burritos, fresh salsa, refried beans, and Kim's Mexican Rice for dinner.
Monday morning was another bacon morning. I fixed one pound of Costco bacon and another pound of Snyder's of Pitman double smoked bacon. The kids liked the Costco brand the best, the adults liked Snyder's. Kim and I drive 90 minutes each way to Snyder's little butcher shop in Schuylkill County once a year to get 15-20 pounds of this delicacy and keep it in the freezer. I've never had better! We decided to drive to Blowing Rock again since the weather was decent.
First stop was the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. A definite tourist trap, but a fun place to visit and experience. I bought some hard candies - choke cherry, clove, cinnamon, and lemon. They carried my favorite ginger beer, Blenheim's Pink Cap - very spicy hot stuff, not for the timid! Almost like eating a fresh jalapeno - hurts/burns so good! I shared it with dad, who then talked Charles, Benjamin, and Forest into trying it. It was fun to watch their faces when the heat hit, we got a good laugh from their reactions and discomfort.
Blowing Rock was much slower on Monday than on Saturday and parking was a breeze. There were still a lot of tourists, but easy to get in and out of the neat little shops. It was lunch time when we arrived so finding a place to eat was our first priority. We went into a couple of shops to ask for a recommendation, and the overwhelming response was to get back in the car and drive 3 miles to the Foggy Rock restaurant. It was a great gourmet experience, and I highly recommend anyone visiting Blowing Rock to stop and enjoy the cuisine. Several of our group said it was one of the best meals they ever had at a restaurant and nobody went away hungry.
We enjoyed shopping and walking around Blowing Rock and ended up in the park for a while to talk, take pictures, and watch the kids play on the playground.
Monday night we had leftovers since we had such a big lunch at Foggy Bottom. Forest won our Texas Hold Em competitions Monday and Tuesday nights. Beginner's Luck? Or a card shark? We'll have to teach dad to play while we're in Colorado next month.
I brought the family tape player and tapes along on the trip. Monday night we listened to voices from the past - Grandpa Clarence Knudson and the (uncle) James Knudson family from (then) Rhode Island (now Cambridge, MA). Several of the tapes we tried to listen to were recorded over with music, unfortunately. One of them had snippets of Grandpa's droll voice interspersed with music at a different speed. We were all laughing pretty hard and uncontrollably before we turned it off. I plan to finish listening to the tapes and then take the ones with family voices to have them recorded on CD/DVD to preserve them for posterity and so that everyone in the family has a copy. We'll send copies to Jim and Esther, Kristin and Hilary also. Hearing familiar voices on tape from 40 year ago was priceless!
Tuesday, our last full day in Newland we talked, played, read our books, played on the golf cart, planned our Colorado trip, sat in the sun, and walked to the top of the hill on the adjacent property where the Christmas Tree farm is.
Jim and Chuck at the top of the hill!
Climbing the hill was a test for me for next month in the Rockies. I didn't have any muscle weakness and didn't feel winded until I scrambled quickly up the 150' hill at the very end. Not too bad for an old geezer who hasn't worked out for three months because he didn't want to burn up the motor neurons in his legs any faster than necessary. More about that in my next posting.
We had Jim's famous Chicken Parmesan for dinner, baked the rest of the chocolate chip cookies, and finished off the ice cream.
Wednesday morning was bittersweet. Kim, Margaret and I were the first to leave, but we took our Knudson Clan 2014 pictures on the front porch before hitting the road. It was a much easier drive home, good weather and only 10 hours. We dropped off mom around noon, and made it home to Mechanicsburg around 5:30PM.
A wonderful family time, good food, sharing and fellowship, fun, love, relaxing, and enjoyment! Spoiled by having to go back to work for half of us, and a stressful finish to packing, closing, and moving for the Charlotte Knudson's. Great memories, and plans being made for our next get together, probably at Chuck and Leigh's new house in Charlotte next Spring.
Good summary and pix of a memorable time together. Thanks to Chuck and Leigh for getting the wonderful place to stay, and thanks to Jim and Kim for all the food that they brought and shared with us all. Helen says she put on a couple of pounds! It was a fun time.
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