All Work and All Play

When Stephen goes on a business trip, he works pretty much the whole time.

This is what we do....(WARNING-way too many pictures!)

First off, we stay in this awesome Hampton Inn. The owner has it packed with historical stuff! And he has llamas eating his grass and we love them! He also has procured some old chair lifts and turned them into swings overlooking the beautiful mountains and lake.

Also my Uncle Norman normally hangs out with us, which is awesome! The kids love him and that's a higher adult/child ratio!!!

Day 1- Museum of Appalachia. Just the gift shop is full of fun and educational things. Lap harps, handstitched quilts by the older generation of mountain natives, folk toys, jellies, soaps, home made candies.Then when you walk through the museum itself, it is just impossible to take everything in. There's a wealth of info, from bio's of extraordinary mountain people, to memorabilia of famous musicians and preachers, old old old OLD things (the kind where you just say WOW), old jail cells, cabins that were either lived in by famous people and relocated or cabins that were used in movies.....all kinds of stuff, a rolling pin that a woman killed her husband with....cool stuff.

As though we didn't see enough old things, we followed the museum with an antique store...

Day 2- A hike up to Hatfield's Knob to view the elk. We thought it was going to be a bitter disappointment. The kids were complaining up a storm. We were just about to leave when we saw these beauties meander out of the woods....

Day 3- After a horrible time at a local playground, Uncle Norman took us to the Clinch River...

Then it rained and we kept playing....