For our family, the hotel/motel of choice is Residence Inn. I play all of the frequent flyer/hotel mile games. I used to be all about Hilton Honors. Mark was loyal to Starwood. But, ultimately, we have found a home away from home with Marriott properties. With the Residence Inn- we get a complimentary hot breakfast (a must with teenage boys), cocktail hour and plenty of room. You get that at the Embassy Suites as well. What sold me was the nice laundry facilities and mini-kitchen. I love the big refrigerator! Even in NYC, the Residence Inn had plenty of room for a mini-kitchen.
| Love filling up the fridge with stuff! |
On Friday night, we ate at PF Changs. When we walked outside, everyone was taking pictures of the rainbow.
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| The picture doesn't even begin to show how pretty it was! |
On Saturday morning, we had to get up early to pick up R1 by 11.
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| It was so cool to watch the Olympics live at breakfast |
There was only one other person eating breakfast at 7am. Off we went to pick up R1. Boone, to me, seems like you are traveling straight up a mountain.
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| I found it so funny that the UPS truck was beating us up the mountain! |
We were reunited with R1! His request for lunch was Five Guys
| My lunch did not look like this- mine was much smaller! |
| Don't even get me started on this Five Guys Coke Machine! |
The Coke machine at Five Guys is a touch screen. Being a Diet-Coke addict, you can customize your drink. I went with vanilla Diet Coke. On the way out, I went for cherry-vanilla Diet Coke. It is bad for me, I know!
On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at Ikea.
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| Rug purchase- the desk boxes are flattening it out |
| It is a good thing that Ikea is hours away from my home |
I'm sure this is NOT where the boys wanted to go, but we had no choice. We needed 2 desks for the boys. I also found a rug, coffee table, bathroom mat, and a few (well, several) other inexpensive items. I know the stuff is not heirloom quality, but that's fine with me for right now.
The next day, we had a leisurely breakfast and planned to head out to the US National Whitewater Training Center
Notice that I said "planned". We were all packed up ( and this included all of our Ikea purchases) and our Tahoe would not crank. We quickly surmised it was not the battery.
A kind stranger offered to jump us off anyway. No go. Then, the stranger started pushing the Tahoe and told us to crank it. Sure enough, it cranked right up! I asked the kind man if he was a mechanic, he replied he was just a NASCAR fan. The diagnosis of the malady was: failed starter. Whut wo! This is on a Sunday and obviously, we couldn't turn the engine off. Thanks to AAA and GPS, we easily found an Advanced Auto Parts. The boys and I "sat" in the running SUV because we couldn't turn the engine off. I sure didn't anyone to steal our desks and rugs! Mark met James at Advanced Auto and he referred us to Tire Kingdom down the road.
I have to admit, I never understood why these places were open on Sunday. I also thought Tire Kingdom was just tires. I was wrong. Mark met Art, the manager, of Tire Kingdom. Mark described Art as a "good Christian man". Art told Mark to take us back to the motel and he would have the parts there by the time Mark returned.
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| The Big Blue Tahoe has been so good to us. |
The boys and I went to the pool since we were already dressed for it.
Mark soon returned and we set out for the Whitewater Center-- take 2!
The Whitewater Center was awesome! We had so much fun.
| I should Photoshop our faces in this picture! |
| Even I went down the zip line! |
| R1 is good at rock climbing |
I had to copy/paste Google pictures because everything had to be put in a locker. You had to wear closed toe shoes on everything. I did get a few pictures.
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| Check out my kicking outfit. Socks/tennis shoes and bathing suit! |
Brian was our guide on the raft. He reminded me of Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump. He meant business!
We did exactly what he told us. We shared the raft with a mother/son from Myrtle Beach. By the end of the rafting trip, we knew them as Cherie and Jeremy. Cherie and 18 old Jeremy were the leads at the front of the raft. R/R had the middle and Mark and I were in the rear. Brian would fuss when we didn't row correctly. I think it was tough love. Jeremy did fall out when we went down a class IV rapid. I had no idea there were classifications of rapids (http://www.oars.com/our_adventures/river_ratings.html) Mark pulled him up by his life jacket with Reeves and I assisting. Jeremy looked pretty scared, but all of our training kicked in! (We had a training seminar prior to the rafting trip) We spent about 90 minutes in our raft.
Coming off of our adrenaline river trip. We then took on the zip-line. I have an inherent fear of heights. But, I was determined to do it. What was the worse that could happen? I signed the waiver form and I didn't want to be a chicken. The worst part to me was right before taking off, my nerves almost got the best of me. It was an exhilarating ride! I would do it again.
If you like active vacations, this is the place for you. There are some age and/or weight restrictions on some activities. I want to go back to try mountain biking, paddle-boarding, kayaking, etc.
More info at www.usnwc.org
We went back to our home away from home at the Residence Inn that evening.
Today was our trip back to reality.
There is just something neat about creating family memories on a vacation.
