How I spent my summer vacation
I’m not sure I’d classify this as my summer vacation, but I love the title and decided to use it since we did take a little trip last week. We started off by visiting Carl’s family. While we were there, we checked out a great new independent bookstore, Over the Moon Bookstore & Artisan Gallery in Crozet, Virginia – I loved this store and will be writing a Spotlight on Bookstores post for She is Too Fond of Books. We also did some riding around , even going on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a little while. It was pretty hazy, though, as you can see in the picture at the top. One evening, all of the “adults” in the family went to check out a new microbrewery, Devils Backbone Brewing Company – it was a great place to visit, creepy name and all.
After our short visit with Carl’s family, we headed to Blacksburg. Vance graduated after the first summer session and is now a Hokie for Life and we went to help him move. I took advantage of our time there to get together with the New River Valley bloggers (as I call them) for lunch – we chatted for three hours and could have talked longer, but I had to go help with the packing. (I was pretty clever though, and missed most of the work while I was at lunch.) The lunch was so much fun – Jaime and Jennifer were the first bloggers I ever met in real life, so I was happy to see them again, and we were all glad to finally meet Athira! (That’s Jaime, Jennifer and Athira in the photo on the left.)
We had planned to head home on Sunday, but the dreaded “check engine” light came on in Carl’s truck, so we ended up staying an extra night. It did give us a chance to head over to Virginia Tech’s beautiful campus for a last bittersweet farewell. Bright and early the next morning, Carl went to have the truck serviced and, thankfully, the problem turned out to be minor, so we made it home on Monday, feeling accomplished and worn out.
There is you talking about how you spent your summer and we haven’t even started ours over here. We don’t break up until tomorrow!
The book shop looks awesome. Glad to hear you had a good time.
Congratulations to Vance. Looks like you had a fantastic summer vacation!
It was nice that you got to spend some time with other bloggers. Great photos Kathy
Please let me know what you mean by “Hokie for life” !
That’s such a cute little place! I’ll look forward to your post on She is Too Fond of books. Looks like you had a lot of fun!
What a fabulous week! And I’m only going to imagine what it feels like to be the parent of kid old enough to graduate college. You must have had Vance when you were about 12.
Sounds like you had a wonderful summer trip. That’s a part of the world I always enjoy. We’re planning to drive over to Crozet one of these days, and I’ll have to check out the Over the Moon place – it sounds great.
Sounds like a great week. You did so much!
Love Blacksburg! If you ever head over Virginia Beach way, I’m here. Go Hokies!
Congrats on your son’s graduation!
The bookstore looks very quaint. I can’t wait to review your post of it (I love independent bookstores — there are far too few of these).
Lastly, glad the truck is ok!
Sounds like you were able to mix in some pleasure/fun along with all of the riding and work!
Congrats to Vance! I just love Jennifer…she’s such a doll! I’m glad you had time to meet with her and the other bloggers — who are new to me and now added to my blog list for reading — and got to see that cool bookshop! Sounds like a good little summer vacation trip to me!
Glad that dreaded check engine light didn’t ruin the trip! Looks like you had a fabulous time, and I’m jealous that you got such good blogger time!
Congrats to Vance!!
It’s good to see you got so much done on your short little trip.
Sounds like a really nice trip. I like how you worked a blogger meet-up into the trip
Looking forward to the Spotlight on Bookstores post.
Congratulations to Vance! What fun to have been able to combine a blogger meet-up with your trip!
What an eventful trip! Congratulations to Vance and to you
It must be a very exciting time for him (and you).
Very cool that you got to take a little mini-trip and also that you got to meet some other bloggers! I have not yet met any yet, but I am looking forward to that day when I do!! I am glad to heat that there was nothing seriously wrong with the truck and that you were able to make it home safely.
Congrats to Vance! Such an accomplishment. It sounds like you had a lovely time and I enjoyed the pics! I’ll look forward to reading your post on Dawn’s blog.
Congrats to Vance! Sounds like quite a trip!
Virginia Tech is one of the most beautiful campuses I’ve ever seen, and I admit that despite the fact that I got very angry with some Hokie fans when we went there to see them beat Rutgers one fall. At the time Rutgers had an awful team, but I didn’t appreciate the nasty remarks from Hokies wherever we went with our RU hats and sweatshirts. Great school though, so congrats to Vance.
Congratulations to Vance!
That sounds like a wonderful week away from it all. I love Virginia. Everywhere we’ve visited in the state is beautiful.
Glad you had a nice trip, check engine light and all!
Fun trip, even though it’s hazy the photo makes it have that soft, quiet morning or evening feeling. It’s pretty. I love the name of the brewery, Devil’s Back. Now that made me laugh. I bet the best part was meeting the bloggers. Nice trip. I enjoyed it.:)
That sounds like a great little trip! I’m glad you got to meet fellow bloggers – they’re fun, and they UNDERSTAND. *grin* Enjoy the rest of your summer!
It looks like you had a great time! Meeting other bloggers is such fun!
You were pretty clever setting things up that way to miss the heavy work!
Sounds like you had fun, and a bit of adventure as well!
Sounds like you all had a wonderful time! It’s so great to be able to meet fellow bookbloggers in person!
Sounds like a wonderful trip–whether it really was a vacation or not!
Congratulations to Vance! And how lovely that you had the chance to spend time with other book bloggers.
Nice photos. Looks like it was a good trip even with the “check engine” light.
It sure was a wonderful time that we had! I was surprised to see 3 pm on my watch when I was heading to campus – I thought it might just be two! Wow – amazing!
Lots of fun – family, bookstore, and bloggers! You were very clever to time your 3-hour lunch to miss most of the packing
congrats to Vance (and Mom and Dad!)
What a wonderful trip! congrats to the college graduate. I wish him lots of luck and success in his future endeavors.
Thanks for sharing all of the photos. It sounds and looks like you had a lovely holiday!
Loooks like you had an enjoyable summer trip. I’m glad the thing with the truck was minor.
Great photos Kathy! Looks and sounds like a wonderful time. It’s nice you got to meet up with some bloggers – I sure wish lived closer to all of you out there. lol.
It was smart of you to miss out on the work.
Glad you had a great time, aside from the truck problems.
Creepy name, indeed! And why am I not surprised that you visited a bookstore during your vacation? LOL. I love it when fellow bloggers meet. I’m glad you had a great time!