2011 North Carolina Trip

I have some pictures up on Picasa Web Albums from my recent trip for anyone who's interested in viewing them. :-) I took a lot, so I decided to put them in an album so those of you who aren't interested don't have to be bored by 186 pictures on my blog. lol :-) Anyway, CLICK HERE to view them!

Here's an overview of what I did each day so you understand the pictures better.
April 15th: The U. family picked me up early that morning. The roads were really icy - their van was fishtailing at 35mph!! Thankfully by the time they got to our place the roads were better. Sadly, we heard later that a young couple in SD (friends of our friends) got in a car accident that same day, and the wife died and the husband nearly died, but he is now on the road to recovery. You can find out more on the CaringBridge site.

We arrived later in the day at the W. family's home (near the twin cities) and really enjoyed getting to know them! We spent the night here, and went to bed late after jamming and doing devotions together!

April 16th: We left super early this morning, and made it to Indiana by early evening. We tented in the 40 degree weather but stayed warm with sleeping bags, sweatshirts, and wool blankets! That was fun!

April 17th: We made it all the way to North Carolina! We stayed at Josh and Olivia's house (Olivia is the U. family's oldest sister/daughter) and it was SO much fun to see their two ADORABLE little boys!! I really enjoyed seeing their cute home and visiting with the family again.

April 18th: On their way to the ocean, the U. family dropped me at my Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri's home. It was Uncle Tim's birthday that week, and he had NO CLUE I was coming! Of course Aunt Lauri had known for a while. :-) He was SHOCKED to see me - he said his first thought was "You look a lot like Hannah." Of course he knew it really was me, but his brain was telling him I should be in Minnesota, not North Carolina!! lol! :-) We had a nice day of walking, running an errand, and relaxing at home.

April 19th: Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri took me to the Biltmore Estate! http://www.biltmore.com/. It was SO interesting and a lot of fun! I really enjoyed seeing such a historical place. We drove 2 1/2 hours into the mountains to tour the Biltmore Estate, so the drive was gorgeous! So different compared to how FLAT it is around here! ;-)

April 20th: On this day we visited a large JAARS complex - complete with housing, museums, a daycare, a dentist, airplane hangars and more! The Alphabet museum is one of only two in the world (the other is in Israel) and it was free! The neatest thing about this whole place was that the focus was on spreading the Gospel, and Cameron Townsend (who started Wycliffe Bible Translators) and his wife are buried here. Wow! How inspiring!

April 21th: Aunt Lauri volunteers at the Billy Graham Library once a week, and Uncle Tim also volunteers around Christmas time (when they have lots of beautiful decorations and sleigh rides)! We decided to visit it on our last day together! If you ever visit NC, this Library (really more like a museum) is a MUST - it is completely free, and I believe it brings people to the Lord every day! Each presentation is so professional and well done, and I enjoyed seeing the new things they had put up, along with everything I had already seen when I had visited it in 2009. It's a wonderful, peaceful place, and one of my favorite things was the music playing in the speakers outside scattered throughout the flowers! It was heavenly! :-)

Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri took me to the airport hangout, and then dropped me off at Josh and Olivia's place. My four days with them were so much fun - we made lots of memories! We did a lot more than just what I wrote here, including eating birthday cake, watching a documentary on Yellowstone National Park, and lots more! My accommodations were super nice, and I had a great time . . . thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Lauri for EVERYTHING!!

April 22nd: The U. family and I left very early to make it to Missouri. After a few stops and a bad storm, we finally made it to their cousins home that evening! I enjoyed visiting with them and us girls tried to stay up late chatting . . . but we drifted off to sleep one by one. :-)

April 23rd: We left the cousins' home this morning and drove all the way to our home state of Minnesota! I had such a blast talking, laughing, singing, laughing, eating, laughing, listening to music, and laughing with the U. family all the way to NC and back!!! :-) We had so much fun talking in our newly acquired Southern accents! ha!

I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing me the opportunity of going on this trip, and for the safety and overall good health we all experienced! Thank you to everyone who was extremely hospitable and encouraging to me! :-)