The Way Home

On the way home from Harrisonburg, VA, we thought it would be fun, and cheap, to stop and stay a night at our friends the Carters in Charlotte, NC, Troy, Melody, and their son, Drew's buddy Trevor. The Carter's are always up for a good time, even if it's just a short night. They have three dogs, and two cats so pretty much a house full. The three dogs are Bo (calm and Sweet), Zoey (hyper active), and Knuckles (the wild puppy). Ollie loved sitting in the middle of the craziness, even sought it out and got trampled a couple times. Drew, on the other hand really liked Bo, his favorite ("I like Bo"), but spent most of his time in the dog-free zone on the couch. They still could get their noses close though, which made him constantly concerned for his Bear, whom he did not want to get eaten ("don't eat Bear"). A couple nights later at home, he woke up in terror that there were dogs in his bed, and could not be convinced otherwise. Other than that episode, I think it was good for him to be around the dogs. More recently, Drew and I were reading a new library book about a dog who doesn't want to eat off the floor. I asked him, "Do you like dogs?", he promptly responded, "I like Bo."

The next morning we took the boys to their neighborhood swimming pool, and to my surprise, Melody actually got Drew "swimming" on his own in the shallow water lured by diving toys. Way to go Drew!

After lunch, we said goodbye to the Carter's and aimed for home. We were in the car just long enough to need a short break and energy boost, when we neared Abbott Farms in Gaffney, SC. For those of you who have traveled the I-85 corridor, Gaffney is where the giant peach water tower that looks like an *#$, sometimes referred to as "the moon over Gaffney". We past Abbott Farms on the way up, intrigued but did not have the patience to stop then. Abbott Farms is really nothing more than a fruit stand, but fun at any rate. We were lured off the highway by the advertisement of fresh peaches, but got enticed by the freshly made fruit ice cream. I really wanted to try the peach ice cream, but Drew kept insisting on the strawberry ice cream (yawn, been there). So, to appease Drew, I got a container of each. Well, kudos to Drew, everyone agreed the strawberry ice cream was best, not to discount the peach though that was also yummy. I'd recommend the stop for any weary traveler.

In the end we finally made it home all in one piece. Check, vacation over. And, back to work.