Mini-trip

Rather than just go insane waiting for our final approval to be foster parents, Brian and I decided to enjoy this time and do some things that would be more difficult with a child.  On the agenda for February were two trips: one to Gatlinburg for a work conference and another to Virgina to see Brian's sister, Claire. 

I somehow didn't ever think to take pictures while we were in Gatlinburg.  All I ended up with was this:

The pool at the Park Vista - we didn't swim in it.

 That was last week.  Brian seemed to really enjoy the conference and I enjoyed the lovely accomodations.

This week, we planned to leave for Virgina as soon as Brian got home from work on Tuesday.  A hazard of being a paramedic is that you can sometimes be up all night - and Brian was.  So, we shifted a little and decided that I would drive.  I've done the drive to Blacksburg (and beyond) many times, so it was no big deal.  I put on some jams and serenaded Brian right to sleep.  Here's what our drive looked like:



sleeping Brian.

 


singing Teagie.

beautiful clouds and sun!

 We met Claire at Macado's, which is a very Blacksburg restaurant.  These days, there's one in Lynchburg, where I went to school, but Macado's is definitely more something I remember from my Virginia Tech friends (hi Evan, Marta, and Julie!)  After filling our bellies, Claire showed us around campus a bit.  We took a short walk at the duck pond:

In the gazebo.

In what Claire called the "best tree ever"

After that we had some more quality time with Claire.  She told us many stories of college shenanigans.  Oh and we had a close call with a tow truck - thank you college town.  Finally, we decided it was bedtime and went to our hotel to rest up for hiking on Wednesday.