This post is a few weeks overdue, but better late than never, I suppose!
Rewinding back to the month of June, I turned 26 on the 20th, which happened to fall on Father’s Day this year. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week and a half with my family.
I also brought some succulent propagations and babies with me. These wouldn’t have survived that long without care, so I was more than happy to bring them with me!
I drove to my hometown, Kingsport, on the 15th because I had a hair appointment the next day with a hairstylist I’ve been seeing for years. She did the same thing that she’s been doing with my hair for years, which was coloring the underneath part of my hair and a few strands on both sides of my head a coppery color, then trimmed off a few inches.
She does the same thing each time, but the color is always a different shade, but I think this one is my favorite so far. Of course I don’t have a photo to share whenever I first got it down, but I’ll try to snap a photo the next time!
Stephen left Saturday morning because he had to work the rest of the week, so he got to enjoy a few days without me.
Leaving for NC
Over the weekend, I went grocery shopping with my mom so we wouldn’t have to buy food in NC.
On Tuesday, the 22nd, we crammed a couple of cars full of food and luggage and off we went! We rented a cabin in Nebo, North Carolina, and stayed until Saturday, the 26th. It only took us a little over 2 hours to get there, so it wasn’t too long of a drive.
I didn’t take pictures of the cabin, but there were 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. This 3-story cabin was super roomy and it didn’t feel like we were on top of one another. In total, there were 9 adults and 1 baby. There was a lake behind the cabin, but no clear pathway to get to it since it was a woodsy area. During the evenings, my siblings, our spouses, and I would play games out on the screened-in porch, which was my favorite feature! This was also when we discovered what a bull frog’s mating called sounded like. That was pretty funny.
The little cabin community also had a pool and a little dock where you could go to a lake and kayak or do whatever else. The video shows some peaceful footage of the area.
We went to Lake James State Park on Wednesday, the 23rd, and saw that the area was somewhat set up like a beach. There was sand and even an icee truck on Friday whenever we went for a second time.
The first time we went to the lake, we weren’t as prepared, but we hit up a Dollar General and bought some beachy stuff after we had lunch at Roma’s.
Roma’s Italian Restaurant was somewhat close to the lake. It was a nice local restaurant to try. Our waitress raved about the the feta cheese as a recommendation. I wanted to see what it was all about, so I ordered a Greek salad and I really liked it! I also stuck with spaghetti with meatballs, but I wish I would’ve tried something else since this is a safe meal. The bread that was served was delicious! The crust was perfect and the inside of the loaf was so soft! I miss this bread.
If I’m remembering correctly, on Thursday, the 24th, we we hiked a little trail that was somewhat near our cabin. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to get to to the trail, which was the kind where you had to turn around to walk back to the cabin, so nothing too dangerous or super adventurous. There was also a looped path, but we didn’t venture on that one.
We encountered this fella after walking handful of minutes on the trail. We all remained calm and had a mutual respect to keep our distance.
Now, for the low points! Once we got back to the cabin, Stephen discovered that he a tick on his leg. Luckily it hadn’t burrowed yet. My mom, being the calm nurse and hero that she is, swooped in and saved the day.
Tip: Use nail polish to get a tick off of you. Doesn’t matter the color or kind either!
Mom brushed a few strokes of the nail polish on his leg and we had to wait like a minute for the tick to move around and get agitated by the polish. After it appeared that it was just crawling on his skin, my mom swiped it off and crumpled it up in a napkin.
One crisis was resolved.
After hiking in the small woodsy area, we decided to go to the pool. It wasn’t until we got to the pool that Stephen noticed I also had a tick on me! From returning from the hike to getting changed to go to the pool, I had checked myself and I didn’t see anything on me. Also, I was wearing jeans on the hike and the tick was at the back of my right calf. I probably got it whenever we were walking to the pool, I suspect.
If you know me, I instantly freaked out, but I think I handled it better than I thought I would.
My sister was nice enough to go back to the cabin and get the nail polish and repeat the method that was done on Stephen.
What not to do: Do not put your leg/body part the tick is latched on to in the water. It didn’t burrow, but it probably didn’t help the situation either because it took longer for this tick to get off of me.
Thankfully mom was able to save me too. I couldn’t even look at it without freaking out all over again. It felt like 5 minutes in my panicked world for the tick to get off of me. Not to be super dramatic, but I wish I would’ve passed out so I didn’t have to wait for it to get off of me.
Anyway.
On Friday, we spent most of the day at Lake James State Park, prepared this time, and there was a picnic table available.
My mom made her yummy chicken salad recipe, which my siblings and I couldn’t remember the last time she made it. We had an assortment of sandwich meats to choose from and a few other snacks. I didn’t take many pictures on this day, but it was nice to spend our last full day at the lake.
We had to check out of the cabin mid-morning on Saturday. As we were loading up the cars, it seemed like we had just as much stuff as when we arrived, maybe a little more!
The trip was super fun, but now I’m hesitant about going hiking because I really don’t want to get another tick on me. Also, most of my family members discovered that they had chiggers and spent the next few days getting rid of them. I’m thankful to not have gotten them, so I dodged that bullet.
Back in Kingsport!
We got back to my parents’ house a little after 1:00 PM, and I was so happy to see Mason again! I brushed a ton of fur off of him, but he’s forever shedding. It was a super hot day, but he’s a good sport about it, though I have to beg him to hold still half the time.
Stephen went to visit his parents and stayed the night with them while I stayed with my parents for my last night. For dinner Saturday night, Haley and I went to eat at Wasabi Steakhouse & Sushi and it was so good! Whenever I was in Kingsport, we’d always go out for Asian food with one another, so it was nice that we could do that again.
I can’t remember the sushi roll she ordered, but I had a salmon skin roll, which is one of my favorite simple rolls! Absolutely yummy and I love the crunchiness of it.
For our entree, we both ordered the Yakisoba — hers with chicken, mine with beef.
On Sunday I said my round of goodbyes, which is never easy. I hope to be able to see everyone soon, but this is always the time of the year where we don’t see our families as much as other times in the year.
This was the longest amount of time I was away from my plants and I was so worried about them! It’s always nice to go back home and see how much they have grown whenever I’m away from them for a period of time. Plus, I had some that I ordered off of Etsy that I’ve had my eyes on for months!
New Month, New Focus
Happy August!
This post is already lengthy, so I’ll make this short. It’s already August and I’ve, shamefully, only popped on here a few times. I’ve missed the community, so starting now I’m going to be more intentional and present on here like I was pre-pandemic. I’m excited to start blogging more frequently again, and thank you for sticking around!
- What have you done this summer?
- What’s one goal you’ve set for yourself?
