these past couple of weeks have been busy with lots of fun things happening. just about two weeks ago, my granny, the one and only Gramanator, turned 90 years old! let me repeat, 90. YEARS. OLD. the entire fam (with parties arriving from AK, CA, MN, and DC as well as the local NCers) gathered in asheville, NC to eat, drink, be merry, and then drink some more.
we got there on april 12th (looooooong drive, but i can't complain), briefly met up at rob and linda's house for a delicious burgers-n-dogs dinner, and then, due to general travel-exhaustion, pretty much everyone went back to the hotel on the early side. later that evening, eric and beth *finally* made it from AK (did i mention that their travels sucked?), and after some preliminary, parentally-supervised fun, the three of us made our way to the hotel bar to await granger's arrival. he arrived a little while later, we partook of a few more adult beverages, and then it was our bedtime as well.
friday was The Big Day for the gramanator. we started off with a short hike to pearson's falls, where a kind fellow-walker took a big group shot of everyone who'd walked all the way to the falls. after milling and romping about, we all gathered at the start of the path up to the falls for an awesome picnic spread.
after a brief post-pearson's falls respite, we all met up at travinia's restaurant for the main event: the birthday dinner. my dad, mr. name-anagram-expert, came up with a game where each of us received a letter from "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMANATOR" (mine was the "B") and had to say something about gram that related to our letter. then, after each of us went, we were arranged into other phrases ("BATTY HAIRY GRANDMA HIPPO" and "BARGAIN HAM TYPHOID PARTY") before spelling out the real message, with the help of a friendly waitress who held up the final "R" in "GRAMANATOR." i believe gram got a kick out of the whole thing, especially the part where approximately 20 relatively smart people could NOT figure out where they had to stand in order to spell out these messages... although come to think of it, a majority of us are related to HER...
overall, many funs were had by all (even jack and elise, who stayed up way past their bedtimes by being were totally preoccupied watching a movie). some even continued the party back at the hotel, although only eric, beth, granger, and i made it to playing a somewhat-unsteady couple of games of pool in the hotel bar (oddly, the players got even less and less steady as more games were played. no idea why.).
on saturday, i was feeling very much like i had gained back all 10 pounds i had just shed in march, and so was very much in favor of a LONG hike/waddle up looking glass rock. it's about a 6.5 mile hike (roundtrip), very much uphill for pretty much the entire way to the top, with gorgeous panoramic views from the top. the hiking crew consisted of me, granger, the parents, eric, beth, and nancy.
the hike was awesome, and it made me feel SO much better about stuffing my face later that evening on the delicious dips that linda makes (oh my gosh, they're GOOD!)... also, the dinner. and the drinks, too (have i mentioned i'm on a "diet?"). that evening we were treated to a slide show by rob, who showed some old pictures taken by OLGB (old loveable grandpa bob), as well as some slides of family gatherings over the last 15-20 years. as always, i love rob's slideshows!
the next morning the DC crew headed out. before leaving, we took a family shot that, once again, only included a majority of the family rather than the whole crazy group. it's hard to catch everyone! granger stuck around an extra day and chilled with the moore/rippeys (which is both awesome and terrifying - WHO ARE YOU WITH? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? TELLLLLL MEEEEEEE!!!!!!). the drive back to DC was uneventful, if looooooong, although, again, can't complain too much...
we got there on april 12th (looooooong drive, but i can't complain), briefly met up at rob and linda's house for a delicious burgers-n-dogs dinner, and then, due to general travel-exhaustion, pretty much everyone went back to the hotel on the early side. later that evening, eric and beth *finally* made it from AK (did i mention that their travels sucked?), and after some preliminary, parentally-supervised fun, the three of us made our way to the hotel bar to await granger's arrival. he arrived a little while later, we partook of a few more adult beverages, and then it was our bedtime as well.
friday was The Big Day for the gramanator. we started off with a short hike to pearson's falls, where a kind fellow-walker took a big group shot of everyone who'd walked all the way to the falls. after milling and romping about, we all gathered at the start of the path up to the falls for an awesome picnic spread.
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| The Gramanator (left) and her sister Mary at Pearson's Falls |
overall, many funs were had by all (even jack and elise, who stayed up way past their bedtimes by being were totally preoccupied watching a movie). some even continued the party back at the hotel, although only eric, beth, granger, and i made it to playing a somewhat-unsteady couple of games of pool in the hotel bar (oddly, the players got even less and less steady as more games were played. no idea why.).
on saturday, i was feeling very much like i had gained back all 10 pounds i had just shed in march, and so was very much in favor of a LONG hike/waddle up looking glass rock. it's about a 6.5 mile hike (roundtrip), very much uphill for pretty much the entire way to the top, with gorgeous panoramic views from the top. the hiking crew consisted of me, granger, the parents, eric, beth, and nancy.
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| view from the top of looking glass rock |
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| me and granger, top of looking glass rock |
the next morning the DC crew headed out. before leaving, we took a family shot that, once again, only included a majority of the family rather than the whole crazy group. it's hard to catch everyone! granger stuck around an extra day and chilled with the moore/rippeys (which is both awesome and terrifying - WHO ARE YOU WITH? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? TELLLLLL MEEEEEEE!!!!!!). the drive back to DC was uneventful, if looooooong, although, again, can't complain too much...
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