Already last year, even before the annular solar eclipse happened in October, I was thinking through how we could make the total solar eclipse in 2024 special. Since it was happening in April, before Texas turns into a furnace, I thought camping would be an excellent plan.

Texas state park campsites can be reserved 5 months ahead of time, and so I had chosen a few parks that would be in the path of totality, and set a reminder a few days before 5 months ahead so I could scope out preferred locations within the parks and that sort of thing. They were all gone. Every one of them. I searched a bit for non state park campsites, but the price gouging was so stupid that I just didn’t have the heart to bother. Austin was in the path of totality, so we’d just watch it from our house.

Then in February, the pack leader for Ian’s cub scout troop, sent out information for a scout campout to which cub scout families were invited. Camping was for Saturday through Monday (the day of the big eclipse), and the intervening time would be chock full of scouting and eclipse-related activities. It was more than we had planned to spend, but it was just too good to pass up. Plus, Ian and that pack leader’s youngest son are very good friends, so he’d have someone to play with as well.

Sean rented a lens for his camera that would be good for eclipse photography. He purchased a solar filter for said lens so he could take photos of the partial eclipse as well. He made sure he had the right hardware so he could correctly mount the camera and lens to his tripod.

As the big day approached, we kept watching our forecast. We’d been enjoying so much clear and mild and sunny weather, it was disappointing that for a solid ten days our forecast ranged from cloudy to cloudy and rainy and back to cloudy again. Oh well, we were gonna go camping regardless, so we’d just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best.

The Smilin V Scout Ranch is only maybe 40-45 minutes away from us, but we were definitely out of town. Since we weren’t to be provided food on Saturday night, we chose to stop by Liberty Hill and eat a calm-before-the-storm dinner at Dahlia Cafe. We couldn’t have asked for better. It was only about 5:00 when we got there, so it wasn’t too full. The food was good – Sean and I had chicken fried steak (and theirs is a solid rendition), Maya had a cajun tilapia dish that she was very fond of, and Ian – believe it or not – took down nearly all of a 12-oz ribeye. They have pies by the slice or whole, but the kids scored big with a brownie for Ian and a blondie for Maya, both topped with generous scoops of ice cream.

Check in at camp was from 6-10p that evening, but when we rolled in around 6:30, things weren’t too busy, and we were saved a camp site so that Ian and his scout friend could be neighbors. Mostly, Sean and I set up our tent and things while Ian played with his friend and Maya caught crickets and grasshoppers. There was a big open area for the kids to run and play in and still be in eyesight of the grown ups, so the set-up was perfect for us.

After our camp prep was finished, we took a stroll around the grounds to walk off dinner and orient ourselves a bit. We located the bathrooms and the main pavilion where food would be served on Sunday and Monday and where some of the activities took place. We wandered by the scout store and bought capitol area council eclipse patches for the kids.

It was a windy night, and our very boxy tent did a fair amount of dancing in the breeze. Other than the noise, I don’t think the kids were all that bothered about it, but Sean and I were both relieved when it had made it through the night.

Sean and I were already awake, but at 7:00, we were treated to the sounds of a bugler bugling to get everyone up and moving in time for breakfast at 7:30. The first round of scouting activities commenced at 8:30, and it was not limited only to scouts. Maya could participate too. Heck, even Sean and I could if we wanted to. Maya wanted some down time, so Sean went with Ian to go through an orienteering course.

Maya and I met up with them when they were going to build lego cars to run down the track, pinewood derby style. I had a lot of fun examining the animals they had on hand. They had a variety of central Texas toads, frogs, and lizards. There were turtles and tortoises. We even got to check out a couple of snakes. They had a ball python, which everyone got to hold. And they had a lovely rat snake who maybe wasn’t “tame” enough to be handled safely.

After that, we all trundled up to the shooting range where Ian and Maya tried out both archery (which Ian has had a fair amount of practice in, though not outdoors and in the wind) and “wrist rockets” which are sling shots. With those, they shot dried chickpeas at a row of foil pie-plates clipped to a string. Those things are hard to aim on a good day, but doubly so, I’d imagine, when your target is waggling around in the breeze.

After lunch, we walked to a different area to look at a couple different solar telescopes and do some eclipse and eclipse-adjacent crafts. The kids made coronas (like they’d see when the sun was behind the moon if it weren’t too cloudy) using black paper and chalk. They punched out pictures and words in thick paper so they could use those to let the sun shine through and make little eclipse shapes, like we did with the colander last fall (again, if it’s not too cloudy). And they used LEDs and batteries to make red light flashlights that they could use during this evening’s star party (if skies were clear).

Right then, the sky was clear enough to check out the solar telescopes. Yes, plural. Here’s the episode where I learned there are multiple ways of observing the sun through a telescope. Evidently, in the past, I’ve only looked at it through a white light filter. This allows you to see the sun spots, which in itself is interesting. But, with a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope, the filter only allows a narrow frequency of light through toward the red end of the spectrum, and this is the frequency at which the sun shows much of its activity. Looking through the hydrogen-alpha telescope, we were able to see the prominences exploding up from the sun’s surface. Many of these arc right back to the sun’s surface, and we were able to observe that as well around the sun’s edge. In the body of the sun, we saw a dark line that represented a prominence as well. It was our first time seeing that, and it was amazing.

The kids were getting antsy by this point, so we moseyed back toward our camping spot for a little breather before the kids went and did more activities. They worked at a water flow exhibit a bit, but rather than listening to the well-intentioned leader teach them about waterway maintenance, they just wanted to obstruct water flow and play in the water. By this point, it was getting pretty hot, so I’m not too surprised. Ian spent a very long time chatting with a fellow about the finer points of coin collecting. In fact, he went back and visited that man at least one more time and walked away with a magazine on the topic.

Maya needed some downtime, so I sat with her for a while at our very hot, sunshine-filled camp site so she could read about birds and not be bothered by nine year old boys or adults who insisted she follow directions.

We went back to find both the boys embroiled in, of all things, chess games! We rounded them up and headed back to the main pavilion to hear a talk from Colonel Mike Fossum, former Eagle Scout and astronaut. He had spent time on the international space station and came to chat with the kids about scouting and about outer space.

Col. Fossum made it through his whole talk and nearly the entire Q&A afterward before one brave kid finally asked the question they’d all been wanting to know. How do you go to the bathroom when there’s no gravity?! I suspect he’s had to field this one before because he had a carefully delivered explanation peppered with just the right amount of humor. There’s a suction system for the urine so it can be recycled. “Yesterday’s coffee is today’s coffee!” he quipped. On space walks they wear a MAG or maximum absorbency garment, “because calling it a diaper just wouldn’t be cool!” he grinned.

The kids had all been given nice photos of him at check in, and he spent a very long while, probably literal hours over the course of a couple days, talking with the individual kids and signing their photos for them.

After dinner that evening, we hung out a while and listened to a live band playing “the classics” which apparently now includes things like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” I don’t recall getting old, but apparently I’m there. The kids were bored and went and played while the grown ups sat in the shade and relaxed. A nice cold beer right about then would have been delightful, but that understandably doesn’t jive with a scout camp, so we made the most of water from a nearby spigot and cans of cold soda purchased from the scout store.

Maya abhors the smell and taste of grilled food, so we had brought along a couple of dehydrated meals just in case. While she liked that evening’s dinner (after hounding the nice volunteer serving the food about how it had been prepared), we had promised her one of the meals, so Sean made it for her. And to her credit, she ate her second dinner as well.

We didn’t have too much time after that before we headed to the big event of the evening – the star party. We used red light or no light at all in walking to the star party location. (I learned more new things.) I had thought that you didn’t use white light because it causes the pupil to retract and it takes a bit for it to re-adapt to dark conditions. But there’s more to it than that. Evidently, after your pupils dilate to let more light in, then the rod and cone cells in your retina produce a pigment (rhodopsin) that increases our eyes’ sensitivity. If that is damaged by white light, it can take as long as 40 minutes to reset. This pigment isn’t damaged by red light.

Ian’s pack leader is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. Presumably because he’s not doing this every day like it’s his job, he has fun with it. To paraphrase … Here’s a constellation. Here’s its story. Where I grew up the sky was different. The spring sky is different from the summer sky. And on and on.

Early in the evening, before it dropped too low in the sky to avoid interference from our atmosphere, we were able to check out Jupiter and three of its moons with a telescope. We learned to spot satellites as they zinged through the sky. And we saw so many constellations, more and more as the clouds drifted away and the sky continued to darken. Here are some that I remember: Big Dipper, Little Dipper (faintly), Orion, Perseus holding Medusa’s severed head, Leo, Gemini (or separately Castor and Pollux), Cassiopeia, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Taurus, Canis Major, Canis Minor, the Pleiades (or the seven sisters), and more that I simply cannot recall. I would have stayed longer, but Maya was telling me her legs hurt and not telling me that she was cold out there in her shorts and short sleeves. Despite having left early, the experience had been a hit for me. It was a beautiful night to look at the sky.

We went to bed that evening under clear skies and cold, crisp, quiet air. In the middle of the night at some point, the wind abruptly picked up and by morning, we emerged into a thick, moist morning under heavy cloud cover. It was a long while till the eclipse was happening, but given that rain showers were slated to come through in the afternoon, none of us were too optimistic about the cloud cover diminishing.

There were activities happening again on this last day in camp, but most of us were a bit tired from the past couple days and maybe a little mopey about the weather on top of it. We mostly just let the kids run free and play while we worked at dismantling our campsite and packing up the car, just in case that rain came earlier than expected.

The eclipse would start at 12:17p, so shortly after lunch, volunteers distributed eclipse glasses to all attendees. We thought the crowd would really swell on Monday, because folks had the option to just come for the day instead of camping all weekend. And while it’s true that more people arrived, it never felt crowded.

We did get some intermittent breaks in the cloud cover to observe the moon slowly creeping in on the sun. Sean had set up his camera and was capturing a few cool images. Much more of the sun had to be covered than I’d have expected before we really even noticed how dark it was getting. We were delighted to see a good big patch of blue stretching out in front of us, and for a little while we could see the crescent of the sun shrinking ever smaller. But things were moving too quickly, and with maybe 15 or 20 minutes till totality a thick bank of clouds rolled through.

Sean said he thought he saw a clear patch, but I couldn’t discern what he meant and thought maybe he was just giving me a little hope. But I had none. I slumped in my lawn chair and tried to be happy with the things we did get to see. The mood trickling through the crowd was ripe with disappointment. And then, it felt like just moments before totality, we got little flickers of fingernail sun through the clouds. Yells of “I SEE IT” rolled through a crowd consisting significantly of too-cool-for-school teen and preteen boys.

And suddenly we saw the sun slip away. First we saw Baily’s Beads, then a diamond ring, and then a dark circle in the sky surrounded by a shimmering corona. The clouds obscured our view from time to time, but it was incredible nonetheless. I don’t think photos can adequately prepare you for what you see, nor do I think they can reflect what it was like to be there in that moment seeing the world go briefly dark with only a halo of sun to provide light. And then, like a weird 360-degree sunrise, it was over. I don’t recall seeing Baily’s Beads on the way out of totality, but we got a cloudy diamond ring again. Not very much of the sun had to be uncovered before it was back to feeling like daytime again. A friend had said earlier, whether we see totality or not, there will be tears, and she was correct.

The moment totality was over, the kids were ready to hit the road. The poor darlings had been deprived of their screens since Saturday morning, after all. But the clouds had somewhat dissipated, so we hung out for a while taking a few more photos of the partial eclipse. We had observed bright red briefly in the corona during totality, and I thought my eyes were tricking me, but in Sean’s photos and in the solar telescope, we saw prominences around the edge of the sun that mirrored those red bits. This time too, you could see the arch of the more distinct prominence very clearly. We were told that that prominence might be ten Earths tall.

Eventually we finished packing up and headed home. Traffic was a bit thicker, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. The theory is that maybe since the forecast for eclipse viewing was so terrible, many folks either didn’t bother or went elsewhere. At any rate, I think we were home by around four o’clock, unloading our car and trying to set things back in order.

Sean’s parents were in Arkansas for the eclipse and got a good clear view during totality. My parents in Missouri had clear skies and a good long time to watch as well. We had kept the kids out of school so we could watch together as a family, and we were pleased to find that there had been a break in the clouds and everyone at the kids’ school got to experience totality as well. Talk about a shared experience! We had nearly zero cell reception at the camp ground, so it was funny to see all the different texts from friends and family once we re-entered cell coverage.

Now that I’ve seen it once, I want to experience it again. I’m sure that zeal will diminish over time. After all, there are plenty of experiences with which to fill one’s time. But until then … Europe in 2026? Maybe Australia in 2028?

While much of Texas is still in drought conditions, our county (Travis) included, the winter and early spring rains have gone some ways toward lessening the severity. In February, I was worried that summer was going to be very early this year, and it may still be, but we’ve enjoyed some pleasantly mild weather in March.

We started our March outdoors! Maya and Ian have little food and herb crops they want to grow in the back yard. We don’t have a whole lot of sun in that area, so they’re relegated to some strategically placed pots and a couple sunny-ish spots in-ground. Maya has a pot full of radishes she started at the beginning of the month. I worried that it was a little early, but we also let her buy a cayenne chili pepper plant as well, and it is thriving. Ian’s preferences run to warm weather plants, so we’ll start his seeds soon.

All four of us also spent a weekend trying to clear out some of the overgrown back yard as well. Between a few injuries, my bad back, and the infernal heat last summer, I just kind of gave up on the yard. Volunteer trees have spread, beds have become overgrown with weeds, and our poor Monterey Oak is still bent over from the big freeze last year.

While we were back there, we noticed that our cherry laurel tree at the back of the yard was almost shimmering with the movement of insect life around it. The tree had flowered, and between the honey bees and the busy comings and goings of red admiral butterflies, things were in constant motion – a little treat for all our hard work.

We whoa-ed up on yard work so I could get Ian over to a Cub Scout den meeting. We all met up at a local fire department to learn about the service they provided to the community. The fire station and the fire engines were pretty neat. Ian and the other kids got to try on some of the oxygen tanks and the big jackets to see how heavy they were. They got to see where the fire fighters slept and ate and relaxed during their shifts. We talked through the plans we would make as families in case of a fire – get out of the house, leave everything behind, meet outside at a designated place, and if you can, close the door behind you to help deprive the fire of oxygen.

We had what I think was our first 90 degree day of the year in early March. Thankfully, the heat has simmered down since then and things have been pleasant.

Maya and Ian’s grade school has a MARE week every year. Each grade level has a different aquatic area to focus on, and this year, at long last, Maya finally has the ocean as her area. Against advice from her teacher (who warned Maya she may have trouble finding information on the topic), she chose to study and report on the Dumbo Octopus. She and the other fifth graders made displays and games that featured their chosen sea creature, and their parents all got to visit and learn and play their games.

And then, since it was spring break for us, we left on Friday the 8th for our spring break vacation to Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC!

Ian and I got some kind of snotty, coughing illness while we were on vacation, and at least for me, I was a little down and out when we got back. I even took a day off sick, which I rarely do. Finally, we all felt well enough and were unscheduled enough to go to our usual bluebonnet spot and grab some photos. This was on the 19th, and from the pictures I’ve seen, we were maybe a little early to see the full, brilliant flush of colorful flowers, but even at that, the display was lovely.

Still, it’s good we got our photos in when we did, because Sean was sick and then Maya became sharply ill yet on top of it. In fact, she stayed home a couple days from school to rest and eventually found out that she had strep!

We more or less did as little as possible for the next couple weeks. We resold tickets to a concert, bowed out of Ian’s spring cub scout camp out, and even got a refund on movie tickets we had bought. Whatever this illness was, it sapped me of my energy, and it was quite a while before I wasn’t sneaking in a nap after work and still going to bed on time AND sleeping all night (which is odd for me).

This kids have decided they’re done believing in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, but they still want holiday gifts, cash for teeth, and – I came to find out when foolishly suggesting we skip it – to hunt for easter eggs. Thankfully, since we have no illusions to keep alive, we (mostly Sean) decorated eggs with them on Saturday. They woke up to find they had fully loaded easter baskets to root through on Sunday morning. And then after puttering around for a while, we sent them to their rooms so we could take the eggs they had decorated the night before and hide them in the yard.

Sean did most of the hiding, while I kept him company, offering suggestions here and there. We were delighted to find that a beautifully colored green anole had found one of the eggs Sean had hidden. I had to give Sean my phone so he could reach up high enough to take a decent photo.

After the hunt, we decorated easter cupcakes – vanilla for Ian, carrot cake for Maya. I had bought a little kit that had candied ears, nose, eyes, and cheeks so that each cupcake could look like a bunny. Maya and Ian played by the rules for a couple cupcakes and then let their creativity take over. A few days later, the eyes had melted a little, and they freaked Maya out to such a degree that she wouldn’t even look at them. She had me remove the decorations before she was willing to eat them.

We ended the month more or less feeling normal and easing back into our normal schedules. Hopefully April will be a healthier month for us.

Every year here lately, during the long, hot days and months of summer, Sean and I discuss relocating. There are lots of good reasons to move. We’d like to spend more time outdoors. It would be nice for the kids to be closer to their grandparents. Austin has gotten so big that I think it may have outgrown us. With all this in mind, we decided to spend our spring break visiting Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC with the dual purpose of vacationing and scoping the places out as potential relocation options.

Day 1 – Flying to Atlanta

Our most cost-effective flight option for this trip was a round trip flight to Atlanta. We figured, what the heck, we’ll start our trip off with a visit to Six Flags Over Georgia. To maximize our time, we wound up taking a direct flight out late Friday night. We finished up packing after our work days were done and headed out early enough to arrive at what could be a very busy airport about 2.5 hours early. We weren’t allowed to reserve parking, but thankfully, it was no problem. The shuttle driver accidentally shut the door early, bopping me square on the ass – I guess I wasn’t moving quickly enough! We both thought it was hilarious though, so no harm done.

The lines weren’t horrible, and we made it through with enough time to comfortably eat dinner and still relax a bit before boarding the plane. We couldn’t talk the kids into anything more adventurous than East Side Pies, but that’s fine; we’re big on choosing our battles over here. Here’s a funny aside. Because this was dinner, each of us planned on ordering a couple slices to carry us through our evening. At per slice pricing, that would have run us $56. Since eight slices is a whole pie, we wound up buying it that way at $28. Weirdly, the ability to order a whole pizza seemed to hinge entirely on the availability of actual pizza boxes. Word to the wise, I guess.

Our flight into Atlanta was extremely rough. Huge bounces and drops that almost made your stomach turn. Even the kids focus on the screens was nudged enough for at least Maya to wonder what was going on. The pilot came on the intercom at one point to tell us that we’d be on the ground very shortly, and I’ll admit it. For the most fleeting of moments, I had the thought that he sounded awfully cavalier about crashing an airplane.

We didn’t dilly-dally exiting the plane, and still our baggage made it to the carousel before we did. Way to go ATL!

The kids, while waiting for our rental car, were crashing our two roller bags into each other. I told them that their suitcase bumper cars would lose them their screens if they kept it up. Apparently they decided that Suitcase Bumper Cars would make a great band name. Maya on keys, Ian on guitar and singing. His friend Damian plays drums. Their long-time friend Herbie plays bass. I personally can’t wait to go to that show.

Day 2 – Six Flags Over Georgia + Lollipop!

Since we had gotten in so late the night before, especially given the time zone shift, we all tried to sleep in a little. We had a hotel breakfast and then were off to Six Flags to meet up with Lolli and Pop who had driven over from Alabama to hang out with us while we were in the Atlanta area.

We had a near-perfect amusement park day. The crowds were very thin, I guess since it was so early in the season. The sky was overcast and the temperature was maybe on the cooler end of being pleasant. The longest we ever waited for any ride (Superman) was maybe 15-20 minutes, and more often than not, we waited for only one iteration of the ride to run before we were able to board.

Several things were closed, which was a little sad, but I think it was an acceptable tradeoff to have such easy access to everything else. We had a new experience too. After you get seated in the Superman coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia and get all strapped in and buckled down, it actually tilts you such that your back is horizontal to the ground, with you facing downward, so that you can fly like Superman. The ride was fun with lots of twists and turns and odd-feeling inversions. But, at one point in the ride, the positive Gs you experience are such that I and my borked spine will never ride that one again. And if I encounter another that has you sitting in the same way, I’m likely to pass. Be warned!

I think Lolli and Pop were impressed with the kids’ thrill ride mania. They took to calling us the Fearsome Foursome, so willing were we all to try out all the rides.

We managed to get through the park quickly enough that we could leave a bit early and have a more civilized dinner. Lolli and Pop are Atlanta experts by this point, so at their suggestion we wound up at R. Thomas Grill. There were lots of nice vegan options for them, and a whole variety of items both vegan and otherwise that sounded very appetizing. Plus the place was kitschy fun with a relaxed hippy vibe.

On the way in and out, we peeked in on the sleeping or near-sleeping birds hanging out in enclosures outside the restaurant. There were a couple of cockatoos named Peaches and Creme, and a macaw called Ruby. I think maybe Maya is moving beyond her bird phase. She seemed only marginally interested, though maybe she’d have been more engaged if we’d gotten there early enough for the birds to be awake and active.

I think we had about enough energy to make it back to the hotel and fall quickly to sleep. Not only were we adjusting to the time change, but we’d jump forward yet another hour overnight for daylight savings time.

Day 3 – World of Coca Cola, Goodbye to Lolli and Pop, Off to Greenville

The kids had clearly been showing signs of under-sleep the day before, so we tried to let them stay in bed absolutely as late as possible without horking our schedule too much. We wandered down around 9 for breakfast, already mostly packed. After checking out, we headed into Atlanta to visit World of Coca-Cola.

There’s a very regimented way they shepherd you through the displays. First, we entered a room full of “artifacts” and played a guessing game. Then we were ushered into a theater to see a real tear-jerker of a short film that was essentially a lengthy advertisement. Then we got to walk through the big shiny vault where the super secret formula for Coca Cola is ostensibly stored.

From there, we were able to visit some more interactive exhibits. We checked out a wall of aromas. We did our own assembly of flavors and the kids got to taste test those.

The final experience (before the gift shop, of course) was the tasting room. We worked our way through dozens of Coca Cola products. I shudder to think how much sugar and caffeine our kids consumed that day. Bittersweet Beverly was there, as a fond reminder of our Disney World experience. We tried out Country Club – a sort of dry peachy one that was recommended to us on our way in. Bonbon Anglais was tropical fruity. Inca Kola was a banana-forward reminder of our Toronto trip.

We headed over to Mellow Mushroom afterward for lunch. The decor at this place was bonkers. Maya and Ian got a kick out of the punny labels on the bathrooms: Mels for the boys and Femels for the girls. Sean and I had a spectacular Cuban sandwich pizza and some seriously delicious mushroom soup.

We parted ways with Lolli and Pop at that point and started our 2-2.5 hour drive to Greenville, SC. We rolled into our hotel around 5, and not too many minutes passed before our kids were suited up and partaking of the hotel swimming pool. The pool at Drury was cool because part of it is indoor and part of it is outdoor, and the kids could swim beneath a divider to get from one side to the other.

After post-pool cleanup, we went to Society Sandwich Bar for drinks and dinner. I enjoyed Somebody’s Quincineara – a tiki drink with mezcal as the base spirit. Sean had a pina colada that made use of Jagermeister. Both drinks were amazing. We had been a little on the fence about going to this place with Maya and Ian, but the bartender cheerfully mixed the kids up some mocktails, then to their delight, served them in very cute kitty mugs.

The food was solid too. We split some Philly cheese egg rolls to start. Ian had some ramen that he really enjoyed. I thought my fried chicken sandwich with honey, pickles, jalapenos, and pimiento cheese was to die for. Four tired and under-slept Woodses went back to the hotel and crashed after all that.

Day 4 – Greenville Real Estate, Reedy River Falls, BMW Zentrum Museum, Paris Mountain State Park

After again slow-rolling our wakeup and hotel breakfast, we drove into town to meet up with a very nice real estate agent named Morgan. She gave us a bit of tourist advice and talked through our interests and described some of the neighborhoods that might be suitable for us. Armed with information, we set out to enjoy our day.

We spent a delightful hour or more tromping around Reedy River Falls, watching geese and snapping photos. This is right in the downtown area of Greenville, so we really didn’t have far to go to get anywhere. We popped briefly into the Grand Bohemian Lodge, mostly to check out the art gallery. We had fun walking across the pretty Liberty Bridge, and rather less fun locating the public restrooms.

Maya and Ian decided on sushi for lunch, and so we had a pleasant meal of gyoza and rolls and nigiri at Konnichiwa.

We drove out to Spartanburg to visit the BMW Zentrum museum after that. I had been hoping that all of us could tour the plant while we were there, but there was no tour available that would accommodate our younger kids. At least we could check out the pretty cars. I could not get over just how huge that facility was. We spent a solid few minutes circumnavigating the grounds till we finally got to the museum.

The kids got a kick out of the racing cars and the gift shop. Sean and I were enthralled with a video showing some of the vehicle assembly process. I think one of the factoids shared during the video was that the facility employs some 11,000 people, which is incredible given the extent to which robotics and automation are utilized.

Afterward we checked out the Greer real estate scene. Sean’s commentary after driving around a bit looking at houses was that he’s more in the market for a small city than a large town. Greenville would fit the bill, but Greer probably would not.

We stopped in at Bruster’s for a quick ice cream. It was warm enough in the sunshine, and the kids had been fairly tolerant of all our real estate exploration, so we figured it was time for a treat. It was nothing fancy, but it scratched the itch, and Maya and Ian seemed happy.

Since we were in the area, we drove to Paris Mountain State Park to get in a post-ice cream hike and take in the area’s natural side a bit. We hiked along the Sulphur Springs Trail to a pretty, stair-stepped waterfall. There was a photogenically decaying stone tower in front of it that Ian climbed around on a bit. All in all, a pleasant enough hike.

The kids had Poke Brothers for dinner. Sean and I love to eat poke, but we were both pretty full still. The kids didn’t realize until that moment just how much the also love poke. I think of it as relaxed sushi. Sean wound up supplementing with a bit of the hotel-provided dinner. And I dug into some of the pizza we had leftover from Mellow Mushroom.

After “dinner,” I hung out and watched the kids play in the pool for a while, while Sean went to check out a local liquor store. We always like to see if there are interesting things on offer that are either local or simply not distributed to central Texas. Alas, all Sean managed to find was that the liquor store had closed at 7pm. Whoops!

Lolli had brought along some pink-fleshed oranges for the kids to test out, and they did so after swimming. The oranges were extremely aromatic as I peeled them. Maya demolished hers in record time. Ian decided that his needed to be cold before he could enjoy them, so we popped them into the fridge for a bit. (He tried them the next day, but it turns out he didn’t like them cold either. More for Maya!)

Day 5 – Conestee Nature Preserve, Sigal Music Museum, Six and Twenty Distillery

We thought we might wake up early and catch sunrise at Reedy River Falls, so I dutifully set my alarm for 6. When it went off, Sean commented that he didn’t have a tripod along and that it likely wouldn’t be worth waking the kids, especially since it appeared that Ian might be getting the sniffles.

The kids managed to sleep through all that. Sean fell into a fitful sleep, no doubt plagued with guilt at having woken me up for no damn reason. And I relaxed and read my book for a couple hours.

We eventually all got up and moving, had our hotel breakfast, and spent a little time checking out the real estate offerings in Mauldin. We didn’t spend too long at this before we moved on to check out the Conestee Nature Preserve. We tried out the yellow trail at the preserve, thinking it would provide us the best chances to view wildlife. First thing in the morning when critters are more active might have been a better choice. The walk was a good one, if a little hot, but a little disappointing on the wildlife front. We saw some sunbathing turtles, Maya spotted a couple new birds, and we listened to a few geese honking (which I had already decided the day before made me think of Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys, so I was well entertained). Toward the end of the trail we saw a really neat beaver dam, but no beavers to speak of.

We tried Papi’s Tacos for lunch, and it was fine. The taco game in Austin is pretty strong. I wasn’t really expecting to find anything comparable. Sean and Ian stopped in at a place called Carmella’s for dessert (Maya had had a paleta at Papi’s). Ian proudly announced that he would like to try the chocolate mouse tart please. We were only briefly flummoxed before realizing there was a really lovely chocolate mousse tart in the display case.

After lunch, we made our way over to the Sigal Music Museum. It was small, but really interesting. The first floor featured piano-esque instruments, largely from the 1800s and 1900s (with some exceptions). I wish I could remember the percentage, but they’re only able to display a small fraction of their collection at any given time. The kids were invited to play a couple of the instruments. There was a harpsichord on the way in that Ian tried out. Further in, there was a large Steinway grand piano that we couldn’t convince Maya to play till the very end of our visit.

The upstairs featured a special exhibit, “Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred.” Musical instruments from all over the world were selected from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection. This included a Tibetan percussion instrument that was made with human skulls. There were so many things displayed, the like of which I had never heard of or seen before. Our kids still aren’t big readers at museums, so we didn’t get to linger quite as long as the grown ups might have liked, but still, it was a fun visit.

We wanted to relax a bit, so we stopped in at Six and Twenty Distillery. Not being sure of the expectations in South Carolina, I popped my head in and checked that they were okay with the under-21 crowd hanging out while the over-21s sipped some whiskey. No problem at all, turns out. The kids hung out and sipped ginger beers while Sean and I tried a handful of their offerings.

Back to the hotel for laundry day – woooo! The kids had some pool time while I spent $10 at a coin-op washer and dryer getting our clothes clean and (mostly) dry.

Day 6 – Off to Asheville, Campbell’s Covered Bridge, Hendersonville, Dupont State Forest

We packed and checked out of our hotel this morning and bid farewell to Greenville. Distance-wise, the drive between Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC is not particularly lengthy, about 60 miles, but we added a couple stops, just for fun.

Campbell’s covered bridge was built in 1909, and it’s the only covered bridge left in South Carolina. We spent several pleasant minutes tromping around down by Beaverdam Creek over which the bridge spans. Maya was on a mission to catch frogs and by the end even managed to catch (and release) one of them.

From there we drove up into Hendersonville (which is maybe 20 miles south of Asheville) to check out the area. We stopped first at a visitor’s center where a nice lady gave us some helpful hiking advice. Then we parked along the main strip and had lunch at Arabella’s. Home fries are normally something Sean and I kind of write off as non-specific filler. Take note though: the home fries at Arabella’s are the stuff of legend. Crispy outside, supremely fluffy interior, and a delightful seasoning that I’m pretty sure had the barest whisper of sugar added in.

After that, we stopped in at Kilwin’s for sweet treats. Then we moseyed up and down the street, checking out the shops and, now that we were in actual North Carolina, went searching for Cheerwine. Cheerwine isn’t wine just like ginger ale isn’t ale and root beer isn’t beer. It’s flavor is reminiscent of cherry Dr Pepper and it was born in North Carolina. We found some in a candy shop, and sat right outside to try it out. All four Woodses agreed that it was delicious – a rarity in our household.

Next, we drove out to Dupont State Forest and took in a couple of waterfall hikes. We went first to Hooker Falls (named for Edwin Hooker who used to run a mill below the falls, not the oldest profession), whose trail has the unfortunate distinction of being downhill on the way to the falls and uphill on the way back from the falls.

We have apparently ruined the kids for waterfalls after having taken them to Niagara Falls a couple summers ago. Hooker falls is a whopping 12 feet tall, and the kids just weren’t impressed. Sean and I, on the other hand, enjoyed the lovely light roar of the falls and the cool breeze off the river.

I think I was the only one that still wanted to hike, but Sean and the kids humored me nonetheless. We walked next to Triple Falls, a longer and definitely more strenuous hike. Thankfully, the hard part was on the way to the big payoff (the falls) and the walk back was much easier. While larger and definitely more impressive, Maya and Ian just had trouble getting all that excited about it.

After that, we finally drove up to Asheville and checked into our hotel. We weren’t super hungry, even after all that hiking, so we let the kids swim for a while. And this pool had the same part-indoor, part-outdoor configuration. Hooray! Also, Maya and Ian made pool friends, though Ian was a little miffed that he was the only boy in the pool.

It was probably around 8:30 when we finally tried to eat dinner and it’s amazing how early things shut down. We tried to eat at a joint called Chai Pani, but they were out of room for the rest of the night by the time we got there. In hunting around for enticing choices, we quickly came to the realization that Asheville may be a bit short on late night options. And that’s the story of how our first meal in Asheville was at a Chick-fil-a. Boo.

Day 7 – Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, Moogseum, RosaBees – the best meal of our trip

We got up and moving a little more quickly today so that we could go try Vortex for local doughnuts. I had a mango chili glazed doughnut that was spectacular, but otherwise, I think the Woodses were a little disenchanted with their experience.

We drove around a bit checking out some of the housing and real estate options because the things we wanted to do didn’t really start opening up till 10 and 11. To kill some more time, we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center. When I started planning this trip, my Blue Ridge Parkway plan had been to drive north and take the Craggy Pinnacle hike. It wasn’t even on my radar to consider whether portions of the parkway might be seasonally closed, so I had been disappointed to find a wee or two earlier that the road to Craggy Pinnacle would not likely be open in time for us to take that route. Visitor Center personnel talked us through some alternate plans and provided us with a few maps and things and sent us on our way.

By this point in our trip, poor Ian was congested and coughing, and I was headed that way myself, so we stopped in at the Ingle’s grocery store to find some medicine and to stock our hotel fridge with more Cheerwine.

Finally things would be opening up, so we headed back into town to visit the Moogseum so the ids could learn all about making music with modular synths! The museum is small but highly interactive. You get to learn about the story of one Robert (Bob) Moog, who invented his namesake synthesizer in 1964. There isn’t a ton of reading to be done, but still the kids wouldn’t. Luckily, there were theramins to play with as well as a number of different models of Moog synthesizers (Moog Modular, Voyager, Subsequent 37, and Moog Mini) to try to figure out. Maya was bent that she couldn’t play chords, but she seemed to think patch cables were fun, and she really enjoyed the theramin. Ian is more willing to let another person help him figure things out, and so he and Sean worked together to get interesting noises out of the synths. Overall though, I think he was a little bored.

After this, we headed straight to Chai Pani for lunch and waited only a few moments for a seat to open up. This place was worth the wait. We started with okra “fries” which were an absolute hit with our table – cut thin and fried crispy, they had all the lovely okra flavor and none of the mucus texture. Our meals themselves were amazing. I failed to write down what we ate, but Sean and I each ordered a dish and then traded halfway through. The kids ate their food well, in my recollection.

After lunch, we stopped in at Cultivated Cocktails so the grownups could sample the goods. They were kind enough to make the kids some mocktails as well. Plus, at the table we were sitting at, there was a journal, and one of the staff members stopped by and encouraged the kids to write and draw in it.

Maya and Ian had behaved very well at the distillery, so we took them for sweet treats again at Kilwin’s, where I let Maya talk me into letting her get a caramel apple (all of which she ate), and where Ian selected some chocolate-covered and sprinkle-bedecked Oreos.

We thought we’d drive out to do the short family tour at the New Belgian Brewery’s Asheville location, but we arrived just in time to find that tour only ran sporadically and to try calling the next day. Well, I tried calling a couple different times and could never get through to someone to tell me about those tours. Maybe another time.

We took the kids back to the hotel for a quick swim while we figured out dinner. We eventually settled on RosaBees, but they only had a late reservation, so we killed some time by heading up to Tanbark Ridge Overlook. It was a little hazy, but still we had a lovely view of the mountains.

RosaBees is in an area of town known as the River Arts District (or RAD for short), and since we were still early for our reservation, we wandered around and took in the graffiti and checked out the local businesses who had settled there. The art was a lot of fun and the vibe was for sure laid back.

Dinner at RosaBees was phenomenal. Our reservation time was like 30 minutes before they closed and we were all dressed very casually, but they did nothing but make us feel welcome and cared for. We started by splitting a lomi salmon appetizer (Ian is a big fan of salmon). Maya had a poke bowl that was chock full of things she loves. Ian was probably the big winner with his bowl of saimin with gochujang pork belly. Sean went traditional with a loco moko with mushroom gravy. I went for the ube scallops – seared scallops with purple sweet potatoes – and that was lovely too. We ended our decadent evening with a giant dessert that we wound up splitting four ways. I regret nothing.

Day 8 – A Lot of Eating, Drinking, Packing, and Sniffling

Our intention had been to get up early, grab doughnuts from Geraldines, and then spend a few hours puttering on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Amazingly / Amusingly, neither of the grownups thought to check the weather. Four Woodses belted headlong out into drizzle and drear.

We did go and get our doughnuts from Geraldine’s, and everyone seemed much happier with this experience. Sean and the kids each got something called The Henry – a croissant dough doughnut with chocolate cream – they tell me it was delicious. Sugar in the morning doesn’t always agree with my constitution (stupid aging), so instead of doughnuts, I chose an asiago bagel sandwich with egg and cheese, which was also delicious and very satisfying.

We gamely drove back out to Tanbark Overlook and while it was misty and eerie and honestly quite beautiful, the sky was growing more overcast by the moment and the sun never showed, so we gave it up and headed back to the hotel to rest a little and figure out what to do instead.

Sean sagely pointed out that we really needed to have some Carolina-style barbecue while we were here. After some quick local research, we settled on Luella’s, where we enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches and a variety of sauces. Sean had mac and cheese and I had some pleasantly thin and crispy sweet potato chips.

After more driving around and checking out real estate, we tried out Devil’s Foot Beverage Company, whose farm-to-can ethos informs their soda and canned cocktail line. We thought the kids would get a kick out of this since they offered such interesting soda flavors. For my part, I thought their sodas were wonderful, but that’s not too surprising because they had very little sugar. The kids, especially Ian, were underwhelmed. Maya seemed to love her fuego ginger but didn’t care for the cherry limeade. Ian tried both the ginger and the root beer but didn’t really take to either.

Too bad, too, because this was meant to satisfy them for a while, so Mom and Dad could check out a nearby distillery. The Eda Rhyne distillery was exciting because they create a variety of spirits that make use of “heirloom grains and local botanicals,” and the results are indeed unique. Luckily, the place is actually family friendly. There was a no-quarters-required stand-up arcade style video game console to play at. They happily made the kids mocktails to sip on. And there was a juke box too, though the jury’s out as to whether it was accepting customer input.

Meanwhile, Sean had a black Manhattan, made with their nocino (a walnut liqueur). I had a three-sample tasting of some of their fine and lovely bitter spirits. Sean let me choose what we took home from this place – I wound up with an Amaro Oscuro and an Appalachian Fernet, and I have absolutely no idea what to do with them!

We did a little more scoping out of the local real estate after this, and then, though we gave Maya and Ian the option of going to the arcade, they chose to go back to the hotel and swim for a little while instead. Ian and I weren’t feeling super well, and the weather still hadn’t really cleared up, so we we just rolled with it.

We hit the White Duck Taco Shop location back in the River Arts District for dinner. They had frozen Cheerwine on the menu.- hooray! And their taco menu was pretty esoteric. Some of our more interesting choices were tacos filled with shrimp and grits, duck mole, and bulgogi with kimchi. They had pretty good chips and queso too. All in all, a pleasant experience.

And it provided a nice break before we needed to pack. This was no longer “long drive in a car” packing, this was now “suitcases on an airplane” packing, so it took a little longer. We had an astonishingly large quantity of liquor bottles to secure! And the kids had done a good job of finding interesting souvenirs. Most of it was finished that evening, which just a little left over for the next morning.

Day 9 – Blue Ridge Parkway, Heading Home

Our flight out of Atlanta didn’t leave till the evening, and so we had some time to take the scenic route between Asheville and Atlanta and get at least a little of the Blue Ridge Parkway experience.

After a quick hotel breakfast, final packing, and checking out of our last hotel, we were on our way. The weather wasn’t perfect, but we made the most of it. We stopped at overlooks and took photos and admired the curvy, crazy roads.

We even managed to take one small hike – the Frying Pan Mountain Tower Trail. At the end of the trail, we were able to climb nearly to the top of that 70-foot tall fire lookout tower, and the views were nearly as breathtaking as the cold, cold wind that what whipping through.

We climbed back down and made our way back to the car and finished our drive to the airport. One thing that was tricky, since we were early in the season, the facilities were largely closed. Facilities here includes bathrooms. Every one of them was locked. We were warned to make sure the gas tank was full before entering Blue Ridge Parkway, but no one warned us to also make sure our bladders were empty. Lesson learned!

I don’t recall the drive to the airport being particularly remarkable. We returned our rental car and got through the airport without any real issue. We had a layover in New Orleans and right around dinner time, so I thought maybe we could score one more good meal on the way home. Alas, even though it was like 7-7:30, things were closing down. We wound up just sneaking in some hot dogs and burgers and calling it a day.

The big question is, would we want to live in Greenville or Asheville? There are positives to both. I think we generally liked the feel of Greenville more, but it’s hard to argue with the scenery in Asheville. After digging around in the real estate market, it seems like the best we could hope for is a financially lateral move, and we haven’t decided whether it’s worth the upheaval to the kids’ lives to relocate. Now, ask me again in July, and I will personally probably have a more clear opinion. Either way, we had a fun vacation experiencing a part of the country that none of us had been to before.