On Saturday morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the beautiful Appalachian Mountains on a quest to see snow and go tubing with friends. Although Charlotte doesn't do much for us as a city
, it is centrally located whereby within 2 hours of driving, we can be in the mountains or at the beach. The best of both worlds. It was a nice drive and Jason and I were able to carry on a conversation that for the most part was uninterrupted (rare!). When we arrived at our snowy destination, Hawks Nest, which the locals refer to as "steep and cheap" (nice slopes but the lodge was a dump), we met up with our friends and had our lunch in the lodge. Then we put on the necessary layers and headed to the tubing area. Before they begin the tubing session, the staff goes over the rules and regulations. One of the things they tell you, is that you are to immediately get up as soon as you get down to the bottom (or pay the consequences of getting whacked by somebody else headed down behind you) - kind of hard to do when you've been going in circles about 25 times at 35 mph. (Every time Emma and I went down on the tube together we spun the entire way down...and the faster we went, the faster we spun). Then there was this conveyor belt (that you are instructed to stand perfectly still on) which takes you back up the hill - I felt like an egg being sent to be pasteurized. The
n you get in
line to go down again. There were 8 lanes but each session holds 150 spots so we were moving like a heard of cattle. The waiting stunk but we all had fun. It was a nice hill and the tubes went faaaasssstttt! For obvious reasons, Aubrey was too young to go on it so while we took turns taking Emma down the slope the other dragged Aubrey around in a tube. I can't believe this was the first time we even thought to go to the mountains. It was beautiful and quite honestly, despite loving the warm weather down here, we do miss the snow. We also want the kids to grow up seeing/playing in the snow as we both did as children. We vowed to go every winter from here on out (and several times if possible).
After our winter adventure, it was time to get changed and head out for dinner. We decided on Outback and our friends thought to do "call ahead" seating so we wouldn't have to wait. Good move because the kids were tired and hungry. Considering we had 4 kids and 4 adults, it was a pleasant meal all around. As we walked out of Outback, snow flakes were falling from dark night sky and it was magical to see (we don't see snow down here very often so humor us). We got into the van and needed to fuel up before heading home. But...instead of turning around, the driver (Jason) decided to get on our route home thinking we would pass one on the way. Well, about 2 miles or so into our trip home, we hadn't passed a gas station yet and our digital readout on the van read a big fat "0" on how many miles left. Zoiks!!! So we tried calling our friends who were ah
ead of us to alert them of our dire situation....to no avail. No cell service for a few miles. Mind you, we were driving on a skinny one lane road down the mountain. When we finally got through, we told them that if we suddenly started flashing our lights - we were out of gas. They also checked their GPS and the nearest gas station was still 8 miles away. So we coasted. Jason put the van in neutral and...well let me quote him on this one: "With God's help, I exhibited a feet of masterful driving that is yet to have been duplicated. Due to my intimate knowledge of a 6 cylinder engine, we drove 12 miles on a completely empty tank." I was praying the entire way and I have to say, God is good. He brought us to safety and out of a potentially dangerous situation (if the car had stalled on that one lane road...I don't even want to think about it). So...that was the tale of our Saturday last week....we coasted down the hill on a tube and a van. Jason has now promised that when we are that low on gas....just stop and fill up. Don't wait! God taught us a valuable lesson that day that will never be forgotten.
2 comments:
Love the Jason quote :-)
Is Aubrey sleeping in the tube???
Yes, she was so plum tuckered out at the end (and having had no nap since we were there from noon until 5). She was passed out and whimpering in the tube - poor girl. That was at the very end though and of course I scooped her up right away and carried her to the car to change - she was alseep in minutes :)
Post a Comment