Tuesday morning came and we had cereal with fresh peaches for breakfast. We kinda lounged around for the rest of the morning, I think Jacob downloaded some memory cards to the computer, and we sorted laundry for washing. Then most of us children went outside and washed Sarah's car. We got a bucket of soapy water and scrubbed, and scrubbed some more, sprayed on more soap and scrubbed it again… (Let me tell you, driving 10,000+ miles collects quite a few bugs on your bumper.) Then it was time for a lunch of sandwiches, potato chips and our Grandma's sweet tea. After lunch our cousin Catherine came over to go hiking with us on a trail not too far from our grandparent's house. So Grandpa, Sarah, Caleb, Jacob, Catherine, Rebekah, Deborah, Joseph and I split into two vehicles, drove to the trailhead, and began our hike. The trail was made from hard packed earth and didn't have much of an elevation change, although it did have 3 nice sturdy wooden bridges that spanned a currently dry creek bed. Since it was pretty hot and muggy in the woods we didn't walk too far, I think it ended up being about 2.2 miles total if I remember correctly. Later that night after dinner we watched some American Ninja Warrior before going to bed.
We woke up and got breakfast, and then gathered some clubs to hit golf balls down to the "green" around the flag at the end of his yard, although Grandpa was the only one who got really close. He's really good. Shortly thereafter Grandpa enlisted Jacob, Caleb and I's help to cut down a tree limb that was growing over the house. We got out the ladders, a pole-saw, a chainsaw, rope, and a cable before Jacob and I climbed to the roof. We used one ladder to get to the roof and pulled the other one up so Jacob could stand on it and use the pole-saw to cut a section of the limb off, which we had looped the rope over and dropped down to Grandpa so as we cut it he could pull the limb out of the way where it wouldn't hit the roof as it broke free from the tree. Now to get the bulk of the limb we moved a ladder so Jacob could climb the tree to sit on the branch and cut it with the chainsaw. We looped the cable around the end of the branch while Grandpa brought his Mini Van over and we tied the other end of the cable to the hitch so we could apply more tension than just pulling by hand. So we had Sarah in the Mini Van, ready to drive forward as the branch was breaking, Grandpa on the ground pulling on the cable/directing everything, Jacob in the tree with the chainsaw cutting the limb, and Caleb and I on the roof to try and catch/keep the branch from hitting the roof (which I had no idea how we were going to accomplish this), but fortunately the branch missed the house and crashed the the ground without causing any harm. We then cut all the smaller branches off the main trunk and piled them up before hooking a chain to his riding lawn mower and dragging them to the brush pile back in the woods, and we pushed the main limb off to the side to be cut into firewood later. And now it was time to go cool off and have lunch.
Later that evening Catherine and her parents (our Uncle Pete & Aunt Mary) came over to have a barbecue dinner of hamburgers and hotdogs to celebrate our Grandpa's 80th Birthday, which was the following day.
After dinner I flew my Quadcopter, then we hooked up Sarah's laptop to their TV and showed everybody some of the pictures and videos from our trip thus far.
Thursday we woke up, and… yep you guessed it, we ate breakfast. =)
Since this was our last day here in North Carolina we had decided earlier that we would go hike at Crowders Mountain State Park. This time we all fit into the Mini Van since Deborah and Catherine were not with us. After the 30-or-so minute drive we parked at the information center and decided to try the Pinnacle trail, a 1.7 mile (one-way) strenuous path following the orange trail markers, that peaked at the King's Pinnacle (1,705 feet, the highest point in Gaston County). This was mostly a dirt trail, with some large rocks that had to be climbed around and was very steep for the last five tenths of a mile. I think we all voted that they really need to add a few more benches to rest at… The trail ended in a cliff that dropped rather abruptly for 30-40ft before it sloped downward and became covered with trees. It was a really nice overlook since it was the highest place around, and you could see for quite a distance. I am really proud of Grandpa, he made it all the way to King's Pinnacle and back on his 80th Birthday! For our return we took the alternate route of the Turnback Trail, which still took us about the same distance, but was less steep and a wider nicer trail. After we'd cooled off some in the AC of the information center and refilled our water bottles, Grandpa drove us to Tony's, an ice cream place that he use to take Grandma to when they were dating, and got us each an ice cream cone.
Now it kind of a tradition for us when we're at our Grandparents to go out for dinner one night at one of the nearby fish camp restaurants, and this time was no exception. We chose to go to Twin Tops this time, and had a really nice dinner (although I think most of my family got chicken strips).
Back at the house we packed up everything we could in preparation of an early start on our drive to Florida the next morning, and then hit the hay.
We really missed seeing our cousin Kristen (who was at music camp for the week), but other than that we all had fun spending time with our family in NC, and hope to come back soon. Love ya'll!
-John
Next stop: Revive Conference in Jacksonville, FL
Here are a few more photos from our hike:
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