We got back Friday evening from a great vacation in Abingdon, where much of our activity was spent outdoors.
I found a little cottage (the “Craftsman”) on the Cottages on the Creeper website and booked it last minute for a good price. We hauled our bikes with us, too, which allowed us to roam much of the town and Creeper trail without an automobile.
We had dinner Sunday evening at the Bone Fire Restaurant, mainly because it was one of the few places open. The meal was only so-so, and afterwards we roamed the town a bit before relaxing at our cottage.
Monday was spent riding the Creeper trail from Abingdon to Damascus and back, stopping in Damascus for lunch at the Blue Blaze Cafe. The Cafe had good food but had very slow service. Kelly and the kids wandered the nearby stores while I waited at the table for our order to arrive. Afterward we got ice cream at a corner shop, the Dairy King, before riding the 16 miles back to Abingdon. Oh, and it rained on us a bit while we were in and near Damascus.
That night was another night that I neglected to fix our bedroom windows. I discovered the next morning that they weren’t entirely closed, which explained why the trains and sirens outside seemed to be so loud! Once the problem was solved we slept peacefully for the rest of the trip.
Tuesday was stormy-looking. The kids wanted to got to Tennessee just to say they’d been, so we rode the 20 miles to Bristol. Getting there we saw it was obviously about to pour down rain, so we circled the parking lot of a park and headed back to Abingdon, opting to play Scrabble instead.
Wednesday, we piled in the van and headed to Banner Elk, NC to have High Mountain Expeditions take us on a whitewater rafting trip. The crew got us fitted for life vests, then we joined other tourists on a bus ride to the Wautaga river. Our driver, Matt, and our MC, Blanco, kept us entertained with corny jokes during the hour-long trip (they claimed repeatedly that it was just a 35-minute drive). Reaching the TVA dam at Wautaga, we put our rafts into the freezing river and promptly broke into a water-gun-and-bucket fight. No one stayed dry (or warm, for that matter) and anyone using the c-word (cold) brought the wrath of the bucket upon him.
Early on in the raft ride, we were given the option of jumping off “Jump Rock,” an outcropping about 14 feet high above the river. This involved some surprisingly challenging rock climbing in order to reach the top, though everyone who wanted to go made it up. Waiting for my turn to jump, it seemed like no big deal – until I saw how high up I was! Still, both our kids and Kelly had gone before me so I had little choice (and there was no backing out).
Whoosh! Into the frigid river after an eternity of falling. A quick swim to the nearest raft and I was warming up again. The team doesn’t call the river “refreshing” for nothing!
The rest of the river trip was fairly uneventful, with mostly class 2 and some class 3 rapids. There wasn’t a lot of getting tossed around going on, so my family opted to spin our boat multiple times. Either that or we’d start another water gun fight.
We were beat when we got back from that trip so we laid low at the house that night.
Thursday was our hiking day. We didn’t know if we wanted to take a van up to the high end of the Creeper trail and ride it again or if we wanted to hike but hiking won out. You just can’t go to the mountains and not get some scenic vistas! Parking at Massie Gap in Grayson Highlands State Park, we hiked up to the area where we can usually see wild ponies. Boy, were we not disappointed! Ponies were everywhere and the kids spent a giggily 30 minutes dodging ponies as they probed the kids’ pockets for snacks.
Once had our fill of ponies, we hiked up nearby rock formations and snapped pics. Regrettably, I forgot I had my mini tripod in my bag and we didn’t get a whole family shot. Still we had fun!
Thursday night we wandered into town for Abingdon’s Thursday Jams concert series. A San Francisco artist, Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express, played an energetic set for a very sparse crowd. Kelly and Hallie retired after a half-dozen songs but Travis and I stuck around to get a CD autographed after the show. Travis enjoyed talking with Chuck and became an instant fan.
Friday was spent packing up as we had to check out. Once our gear was back in the car, we headed over to Mount Rogers for some horseback riding with Appalachian Adventures. Doug was the owner and got us outfitted on some horses for a 2 hour ride through the wilderness.
We had a great time horseback riding and even got a few good pictures as we went. It was a great way to end our great vacation, though the drive home proved to be a little sore!
In between the planned activities, we spent time railfanning the nearby Norfolk Southern tracks. Several trains went by our cottage each day and I quickly regretted not bringing my scanner so I could get some early warning. I recalled a program that shows you where trains are called ATCS Monitor and soon had it up and running. Now Travis and I had as much as 15 minutes warning when a train would approach. We would pick the best vantage point and take photos as it went by. Abingdon has a 1930s-or-so era steel pedestrian bridge over the tracks and it became the vantage point of choice when we had time to ride our bikes there.
When we weren’t chasing trains, we were chasing tails in the form of a neighbor’s stray cats. About five tabbies roamed between the five homes in the complex, many of the cats becoming very comfortable hanging around us. It was a nice touch to get some cat time in while on vacation and reminded us of our adopted porch cat, Jupiter.
It’s hard to believe all the things we squeezed into our vacation, and that it’s now over. We have wonderful memories that should last us a while!