Some of you may recall that one of Shep’s Christmas gifts last year was a train ride adventure. We like to make one of our kids’ gifts each Christmas or birthday an experiential one, and for our train-loving three-year-old, we thought a local Amtrak jaunt would be a win! It was, for the whole family. I thought I’d share a few photos, if you’d like to try something similar…
We caught the 10:12 train out of Cary, our local station. I bought our round-trip tickets at the counter a few minutes before – $36 for the five of us.
The train ride to Durham was about 20 minutes – just enough time to enjoy the racing landscape outside the windows, call out familiar landmarks, and fiddle with the tray tables and foot rests, ha.
Though we did bring the stroller for Annie – John easily hefted it into the racks overhead – we packed light otherwise. The kids carried their water bottles, and I packed a pouch, a diaper, a little baggie of wipes, and my ID and credit card in my crossbody. Aside from John’s wallet, that’s all we took!
This was helpful, because we were on foot from there. We walked the 10 minutes or so from the station to Durham’s Central Park – a delight, because as you can see from the blue sky, it was an absolutely gorgeous day! 75 and breezy.
Though the kids spent a few minutes on the playground, the highlight was exploring the stream running through the park (they were not the only ones – it’s designed for kid exploration!).
I stole away for a few minutes to browse the farmer’s market stalls. The Durham Farmer’s Market is rightfully famous here, and it had been awhile since we visited! The beautiful block-printed napkins in the middle came home with me :) (You can buy them online here!)
We had about an hour left at this point, so we walked over to Pompieri Pizza (the giftee’s request) for lunch on the patio. If you ever have a chance to go, get the Bolognese pizza – my favorite. John would tell you to get the Pompieri with peppadews! From there, it was a quick walk to the train station to catch the 1:03 back to Cary – happily tired, pleasingly fed, and exhilarated by a new experience.
Once again, we experienced the reward in seeking out the novel. Though we have been to Durham many times over, we’d never seen it quite like this, and it was fun to get to navigate something new as a family. We can’t wait to do it again – we’ve already talked about taking our bikes on a train trip to Greensboro! Until next time :)
Here I am, making good on my New Year’s resolution to report more promptly on our family travels! The trip we’re chatting about today makes this easy, because it’s pretty much a carbon copy of last year’s spring break trip to Jekyll Island :) That means it’s heavy on the photos and light on words, though I sprinkled a few thoughts and memories throughout! If you’re thinking of traveling to Jekyll Island and would like the deep dive, I’ve got that for you right here. If you’re just here for the pictures, enjoy!
I was happy and excited to return to Jekyll in back-to-back years, but easily the least thrilled of my family members, ha. My reasoning: we already have several annual or regular trips we’re committed to – Maine, Michigan, Connecticut, the NC Mountains – and I’d like to keep spring break as an opportunity to explore new places and make fresh memories.
The argument for Jekyll is strong, though: southern Georgia is about as far south as we can comfortably drive in a day, avoiding a flight for our family of five, and it’s far enough south that we have a reliable chance for pool and beach weather in early April. So a return to Jekyll and the Ocean Club it was!
Is that spot not dreamy!!
One thing I enjoyed about returning to the same place a second year in a row: it was nice to know exactly what we were getting into! We knew our favorite chairs at the pool, how to get an umbrella set up at the beach, to request the table near the porch swing at 80 Ocean, that there’s live music at the Wharf on Wednesdays. And of course, we got to revisit several of our favorite experiences from 2021, like biking to Driftwood Beach, roasting s’mores around the fire pit, and breakfast on the porch at the Pantry.
But there was newness and novelty, too! Our kids were all a year older, and Annie was outside my body :) We spent two hours playing at Driftwood Beach, far longer than our quick in-and-out due to chilly weather last year. The big kids loved it – they were able to roam independently, climbing trees and poking at tide pools, while Annie and I hung in the shade.
We brought our bikes and trailer from home and so were able to take more bike rides than last year, which was wonderful. It was so nice to hop on our bikes to move between the Island and Ocean Clubs instead of loading everyone into the car. AND we saw alligators on every single trip between the two!! (Not sure if that’s a plus or minus, ha!)
Also of note: we got to play an abbreviated, very casual game of croquet on the Island Club lawn. If you’ve ever read my bio, you’ll know this was thrilling to me.
There’s this little moment from our time in Jekyll that has really stuck with me… it was late afternoon, and most people had left the pool. Annie was napping and Shep was snuggling with John. I had been reading my book on a lounge chair, but I guess I got too hot, and so I hopped in the pool with June. For whatever reason, we started doing underwater somersaults and handstands in the shallow end, cheering and spitting out water and giggling at each other’s attempts.
This lasted 15 minutes or so (until my ears started to hurt from being underwater, ha), but it’s one of my favorite memories from the trip, if not my favorite. It was a delight, and it brought to mind Catherine Price’s definition of True Fun: we were playful, connected, and in flow. I don’t have a huge takeaway – John will continue to be the parent more likely to horse around with the kids in the pool – but it was such a sweet nugget from our time and a reminder that it’s hard to predict when connection and joy will strike, and so we must make more space for them than we think we need. This idea was first crystallized for me in an essay that has stuck with me for years:
With a more expansive stretch, there’s a better chance that I’ll be around at the precise, random moment when one of my nephews drops his guard and solicits my advice about something private. Or when one of my nieces will need someone other than her parents to tell her that she’s smart and beautiful. Or when one of my siblings will flash back on an incident from our childhood that makes us laugh uncontrollably, and suddenly the cozy, happy chain of our love is cinched that much tighter.
There’s simply no real substitute for physical presence.
We delude ourselves when we say otherwise, when we invoke and venerate “quality time,” a shopworn phrase with a debatable promise: that we can plan instances of extraordinary candor, plot episodes of exquisite tenderness, engineer intimacy in an appointed hour.
We can try. …And there’s no doubt that the degree of attentiveness that we bring to an occasion ennobles or demeans it. Better to spend 15 focused, responsive minutes than 30 utterly distracted ones.
But people tend not to operate on cue. At least our moods and emotions don’t. We reach out for help at odd points; we bloom at unpredictable ones. The surest way to see the brightest colors, or the darkest ones, is to be watching and waiting and ready for them.
Each day with these people is precious. What a gift to have this time together, to explore somewhere beautiful, and to have the largesse of quality, and quantity, time. Thank you for allowing me to share a peek at it, friends!
An annual getaway to the mountains is a beloved tradition for our family, dating back to our first fall in North Carolina. As Asheville has become more and more popular over the last decade (and more crowded, and more expensive…), we have enjoyed branching out a bit to nearby mountain towns: Highlands in 2021, and last year, Black Mountain! We’ll always remember this trip as our first big adventure as a family of five (John and I to each other all weekend: we’re actually doing this!!), and for that reason and more, it was truly magical. I’d love to tell you about it and share a few photos today!
And friendly PSA: if you’re considering an NC mountains trip this fall, right about now is when we like to book our stay! Things book up quite quickly for peak leaf weekends.
Onward!
Black Mountain is a small mountain town just a hair closer to the Triangle than Asheville (about a 3.5-hour drive for us). We loved that it has its own distinct culture, but is only 15 minutes from downtown Asheville (meaning we could still hit some of our ride or dies). We headed west right after school on Thursday, arriving in time to make a drop at our Airbnb and feed Annie before driving the three minutes into town for a late dinner on the patio at My Father’s Pizza. It wasn’t too fancy – your standard pizza and pasta joint – but it got the job done when we needed a quick crowdpleaser.
As always, John did a fantastic job scouting our Airbnb. It had three bedrooms on the main level and even more room in the basement if we had needed it (though I’m glad we didn’t – it was sliiiiightly creepy, ha!).
Perhaps our favorite part about it, though, was that we could easily walk into town on the sidewalk along the main road, which we did for breakfast the next morning! Being able to walk to destinations on vacation is my favorite – it invites us to move at a more leisurely pace, and just makes the days feel so set apart from our normal life… so vacation-y :) The sky was perfectly blue and the leaves were beautiful on our walk!
Our breakfast destination? Four Sisters Bakery, tucked into a neighborhood of cute old homes. We split several pastries and ate them in the sun while the big kids played on the lawn and climbed trees. While chatting about our plans for the weekend, we got a wild hair: what if we had dinner at the Grove Park Inn one night? We hadn’t locked in any of our dinner plans because we weren’t exactly sure what our schedule would be, and though I was doubtful they’d have any availability on such a prime weekend, we figured it was worth a shot.
I called up the front desk and, lo and behold, they had a table for four at 6:45 (just past sunset!) the next night!! The concierge was as surprised as me it was still available, ha! As soon as I hung up the phone the nerves about taking two little kids and a baby to a fairly fancy restaurant bubbled up, but we were thrilled to have the opportunity.
After walking back to our Airbnb, we hopped in the car and drove just a few minutes away from downtown into Montreat. Montreat! Such a delightful, strange little spot! It is a town of about three square miles with fewer than 500 residents, and seems to mostly be taken up by a Christian conference center and a tiny college.
And, as it turns out, a wonderful hike – Lookout Trail. It’s a moderate out-and-back with some scrambly sections that took us a little less than two hours with a five- and three-year-old (and a baby on John in the Ergo). Also, Shep and I worked together to carry this large stick up the whole hike at his behest:
The kids enjoyed pretending to roast s’mores at the top :)
From there, we drove into Asheville for lunch at White Duck Taco. For our family, literally no trip west is complete without a stop!
After lunch, we walked along the river to the River Arts District. I had read about a pysanky egg artist with an open studio in Our State, and wanted to pay a visit given my family connection. Though nerve-wracking to squeeze amongst so many breakables with two small children, it was SO fun to see all of the beautiful designs. I splurged on an egg to add to my collection in honor of my grandmother, and can’t wait to nestle it next to my heirlooms when we celebrate Easter in a few weeks.
Next, we popped over to Asheville Bee Charmer in downtown for a quick honey tasting. They were in a new storefront since our last visit, but the honey bar was intact and a highlight, as always. We took home a custom trio of our family favorites: Meadowfoam, Orange Blossom, and Sourwood.
It was late afternoon at this point but not quite time for dinner, so we drove back to Black Mountain and stretched our legs at a playground we had majorly rubbernecked in Montreat earlier in the day. Y’all, this was one of the coolest playgrounds I have ever been to!! Little islands of wooden playground equipment were dotted between rocky streams, making for a magical play experience. The water was too cold to wade into during our October visit, but during the summer I’ll bet it’s heaven.
We could have stayed for hours, but eventually packed up and drove the few minutes into town for dinner at Black Mountain Bistro. Even with chilly temps, it was cozy on the patio under string lights and heat lamps.
We finished the evening with chocolate treats from Kilwins and a turn in the hot tub. Yes, this was a major attraction of this Airbnb and June and Shep were SO EXCITED to finally take a dip after 24 hours in its vicinity.
The Thomas clan is often slow going in the morning. On Saturday, we opted for a late brunch at Open Oven Bakery. It was quite busy, so while we waited for our table, John took the kids to play at the church playground across the street while I walked around the corner to Sassafras on Sutton, a truly delightful bookstore and toy store. John’s physical therapist had actually suggested it to us, and I figured I’d pick up a few… incentives for our Grove Park dinner that night. I got that and more – it is exactly the kind of spot I look for throughout the year to help fill stockings!
After brunch on the patio (delicious!), we drove out on the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Orchard at Altapass.
We were lucky to have another absolutely gorgeous day and enjoyed the mountain views as much as ever.
I’m sorry to say our Honeycrisp-sweetened taste buds mostly turned up their noses at the humble apples of Altapass, but everyone enjoyed the act of picking, “bowling” fallen apples down the paths, and the apple ugly, slice of pie, and cup of cider we shared.
We had just enough time to hit a short hike on our way home in the late afternoon – Roaring Fork Falls. This hike was a delight, and perfect for kids: it’s flat, took us less than an hour, and culminates in an impressive waterfall.
And then to the big event of the evening: dinner at the GPI! The grand lobby with its massive fireplaces was hopping, as you’d expect on an October weekend, but we were shown right to our table on the Sunset Terrace at 6:45. The sun had just set over Asheville, and the sky was still on fire. A pinch-me kind of moment!
From the cost of valet parking to the actual food itself, this dinner was our biggest splurge of the trip, but it was a truly special and memorable experience. The kids did a great job (including Annie, who slept through part of the meal in her carseat under the table, nursed, then sat in my lap for dessert) and even got commendations on their behavior from an older couple sitting nearby. Proud parenting moment :)
This experience has actually inspired me to write a whole post on dining out with kids – hopefully this month! We are not experts and neither are our kids, but we have been eating at restaurants with them since they were born (pandemic notwithstanding) and have figured out a few simple tricks along the way. Would love to be able to encourage anyone for whom this sounds intimidating!
On Sunday morning, our last morning, we had planned to try Louise’s Kitchen for brunch, but the line looked truly epic, so we happily headed back to Open Oven and might have ordered the exact same thing on all sides of the table.
Our last adventure before driving home was a hike in Newland: the Upper Creek Falls Loop.
It was noticeably longer and more challenging than our two previous hikes – it clocked in at about 2.5 hours and required several stream crossings as well as navigating steep and rocky sections. It was even rated “most difficult” by the Forest Service according to the sign at the trailhead, though to be fair that description seems a little overblown.
This little hiker guy with his Halloween socks kills me.
Just a little casual Highlights reading break mid-hike :)
Everyone except our intrepid driver was very happy to snooze on the drive home, grateful for an incredible trip and memories made!
If you have any questions about a mountain trip or anything here, I’m happy to answer! And thus concludes my 2021 travel recaps – on to 2022! :)
One of my (informal) goals for 2022 is to post more promptly after we return from an adventure. The memories are fresher, the details are more crisp, and I’m better able to convey what we loved from our time away (and, if necessary, what could have used a little tweaking). That being said, I’ve still got a few 2021 trips to share before we dive into 2022 fare. Today’s recap: our weekend in Virginia-Highland, an adorable neighborhood of Atlanta!
Virginia-Highland was our stopover on the way home from our week in WaterColor, Florida. It’s about an 11-hour drive between 30A and the Triangle, and Atlanta is situated nicely in between, so we opted to stop over there both on the way down and on the way back. We chose Virginia-Highland because I had heard it had cute houses (can affirm: houses are very cute) and because it was centrally located to our main attraction: the Atlanta Aquarium!
We spent two nights in Virginia-Highland and absolutely loved it – John and I agreed it’s where we’d choose to live if we moved to Atlanta and money were no object, ha! Shall we take a look?
As with our stopover in Decatur, we hoped to live like locals during our time in VaHi, even if just for a short two days – and it did really feel that way! John carefully chose an Airbnb on a quiet street just a few blocks from the restaurants and shops in the center of town; we left the car parked for the most part and walked in on the sidewalks whenever we needed to. The house itself was adorable and sparkling clean – highly recommend! June and Shep shared a room with a bunkbed and they loved climbing all over it with various stuffed animals and vehicles in every spare moment. Here’s our Airbnb, complete with generous front porch:
We arrived on Friday afternoon and, after settling in, walked right over to VaHi Corner (as the center is known) for dinner at Farm Burger. The walk took about 10 minutes and stretching our legs was such a treat after the long drive from Florida! And Farm Burger was delicious! As the name suggests, the burgers are farm-to-table-esque, and they also have yummy fries, salads, and milkshakes (as you saw in Sheptember!). It was busy on a Friday night and filled with young families with strollers – we felt right at home :)
The next morning, we woke up and walked back downtown for sweet treats from Doughnut Dollies. Listen: I love donuts, but I am usually not here for the glamour variety (after a particularly poor experience at a Nashville institution that was all influencer good looks and no real substance). But these doughnuts, despite their excellent branding, were delicious. The four of us sampled several different varieties (they have monthly specials and some staples!) and each one felt special and thoughtfully-made.
After a quick walk back to the house, we hopped in the car and made the short drive to the Georgia Aquarium! We had hyped the aquarium big-time in the lead-up to the first iteration of this trip (scheduled for spring break 2020, whomp whomp), and months later, June was still talking about how we were supposed to go but didn’t, ha. Thankfully, we were able to transfer our spring 2020 tickets to fall 2021, and we were all excited to make our long-awaited visit!
The dolphin show alone was worth the price of admission to me – it was SO COOL, and very fun for the kids. The giant Ocean Voyager tank, filled with manta rays, whale sharks, and colorful fish, was also mesmerizing and beautiful. That being said, we only stayed about two hours – it was pretty crowded, and we had a grumpy two-month-old on our hands.
By the time we left the aquarium, we had not only a hungry baby on our hands, but an entire hungry family. Lest you think every moment of every trip in the Thomas family is perfectly planned – it is not :) We had left this part of our itinerary flexible, assuming that since we were in mid-town it would be easy to find something to eat… but it turns out the area around the aquarium is a bit of a restaurant desert.
After a quick walk through Centennial Park and turning the kids loose on the park playground while we Googled lunch options like mad, we eventually ended up driving to a Mexican restaurant near a BeltLine entrance. The food was fine, but we were mostly happy to have easy access to the iconic city-wide path. We walked for a half-mile or so near the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and though we didn’t pay the admission fee, were able to glimpse a gorgeous art installation through the trees and arching over the path. It was magical. On a return visit, I’d love to go in – I hear they have a great kids area!
After a long day exploring, we headed back to Virginia-Highland and picked up a pizza and pasta takeout dinner from Osteria 832 to eat at our Airbnb (yum!). The next morning, we grabbed bagel sandwiches, pastries, and smoothies from Press and Grind before hopping in the car for the last leg of our road trip. FYI, there’s a Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit location right next to Doughnut Dollies, but I was outvoted :)
There’s so much to explore in a city like Atlanta, but we were glad we kept our radius pretty tight. It made for a fun, easy, and memorable visit – and left plenty to see next time! :)
