Day 26: Saying Goodbye and Congaree

Sunday morning, we had a couple of last visits to do. We went to church at our old building, and were a little dissapointed at how few people we recognized. So many people have moved, and some were out of town for the holiday weekend. So, we said goodbye to the Parker's who were fabulous hosts, letting us use their driveway and electricity, and bathroom, and for feeding us and for the hours and hours of conversation.

Then, we made one more stop at the new inner city church where more people who we used to go to church with now attend. We found several people who we had worked with quite a bit when both Daddy-o and I served as leaders. It was great to see how well everyone was doing. One couple who had been struggling with a lot of challenges when we lived there had a crazy story--one day, they woke up and there was a baby girl on their porch. They don't know where she came from, but they were able to adopt her. They'd never had kids, and were older, and so incredibly grateful to have the chance to be parents, and it seems like it has really helped them find the meaning in their lives that they needed. It was so sweet to see. 

And then these two sisters--I was hoping to see them, but they weren't at church that day. Their mom had cancer when I worked with her, and she passed away last year, but I wanted to see them. We were walking out to the van when we heard people calling, "Sister Mercer! Sister Mercer!" I knew those voices and turned around to see Sherry and Sabrina running towards us. We ended up in a big, weepy group hug. There's nothing quite like the relationship that develops between people when you spend time together at challenging moments in their lives. We really grew to love this family. I'm so glad that they caught us.

And then, we headed south, apparently to the same spot all the other vans wanted to go to.

We spent the afternoon at Congaree National Park,

which was a beautiful swamp.

We learned all about cypress knees,

and these semi-seasonal pools.

We found fungi

and enjoyed walking for a couple of miles on the boardwalk through the floodplain.

It's not a really big place, but perfect for an afternoon of exploring.

(I love catching these moments, although right after this picture, Daddy-o put him in a headlock and it turned into a wrestling match, haha. But a photo makes it all look so sweet.)

This was so unique compared to any other park we've visited.

I'm so grateful that we've had this experience for the past month--it hasn't all been easy, but the memories make it worth the hard parts.

Love my travel buddies.

And then we ended up in a parking lot for the night. I'd hoped to camp in the NP, but they don't have any camping for vans, so we decided to keep driving for a bit to get us closer to our first stop for the next day. More parking lots than I'd like, but they're just so convenient.

Day 24 & 25: Friend Time

Our time in Charlotte was all about seeing friends. After Thanksgiving, we met up with some of Daddy-o's old co-workers and their families, and the kids had a blast in the woods behind their house.

Peanut has been a great sport about being away from all his friends and it's nice when he's able to hang out with people closer to his age for awhile.

We stayed with friends from our ward back in the day, who also have a couple of homeschooled teens.

And then we visited other friends from our ward. Toncie was such a sweet part of our lives in NC--always loving on our kids. She mades the best pound cake and insisted on whipping one up for us when we came by. Seeing her was a highlight.

And I didn't get any pictures, but on Saturday afternoon, we met up with a bunch of friends from our preschool days. It's crazy that all these kids are grown now, but was so fun to see the parents and catch up with everyone.

Before heading back up to the Parkers' house where we were parked for the weekend, we took a quick walk around Uptown.

We didn't have much time, but wanted to show Peanut around his first city. 

So many memories popping up everywhere we've been these past few days. We spent so many years here, including our first few months where we lived in Uptown and spent so much time wandering around the city, exploring and playing in the parks and children's museum. It's been so amazing getting to visit.

 

Thanksgiving, Charlotte Style

We spent the night parked across from our friends' home in our old neighborhood, which meant when I woke up, I got to go on a memory walk.

I love the paths and creeks in the Charlotte neighborhoods.

It brought back years of running, with friends, and on my own, training for races, or just for fun.

Found some mushrooms, because when am I not finding mushrooms, haha.

It had rained overnight and everything was fresh and drippy.

Gorgeous creek. This wasn't the one I ran along the most, but it was closer to our house than that one.

Fall colors were still going pretty strong.

And I finished with a pass by our old house. It's still weird to me that someone else lives there. They've changed some things, but overall, it still looks like the home we lived in for over 8 years.

Got back to the van and everyone was ready for some breakfast. We didn't want to make things hard on our friends who were prepping Thanksgiving dinner for their family, so we just ate in the van. Had to have some of our apples!

I love that we can make real food and eat pretty similarly to how we do at home.

3 weeks in and we're still doing good in there!

Then, we headed out to visit a few spots that were important to us back in the day. This pool was where Bean and Bug got their swim team start, and where we spent so many hours with our summer friends--the team and their families who we were with for a couple of months every summer.

Then we stopped by Piedmont Progressive Preschool, which will always hold a special place in our hearts. We loved that school, and I feel like it helped me decide to go down the homeschool path which has also led to us being able to take this trip.

And then, we went back to crash the family Thanksgiving of our friends. It was so fun to see their extended family who we'd gotten to know over the years of living there, but most of all just so fun to be with these people again.

We got lucky and got to do two Thanksgivings.

This sweet lady was like a grandmother to our kids when she lived next door. She has since moved 30 minutes north to Davidson, but we had so many years of having Thanksgiving together and were so glad that we got to do it one more time.

Mary sets a fancy table. It was lovely and the food was so good. We got to catch up with her family, too. We missed our other neighbor, Sharon, who isn't doing too well healthwise and wasn't able to make it this year. It's sad that everyone ages.

After such an amazing day, we just had to find a place to park the van for the night and ended up in another Food Lion parking lot. They really are so convenient for those nights when we just need a place for a few hours. And that's all we were looking for because we had more plans with friends the next day.

Day 22: NC Favorites!

After Yorktown, we drove to NC and found a spot near this lake to sleep for the night.

We got up the next morning and after breakfast and getting ready for the day, we drove through the mountains to visit one of our favorite spots from when we lived there.

Skytop Orchard, home of our favorite Gold Rush apples and . . .

apple cider donuts! These are the BEST donuts, especially when they are fresh and warm.

We don't usually pick apples (by the point in the season when the Gold Rush apples are ripe, the trees are kind of picked over), but we always buy a few varieties from the shop.

And then we took a walk around the farm. The colors were past their peak, but it's still so beautiful up there.

Found some geese.

And one decided he needed to protect the group.

After we were done at the orchard, we stopped for lunch at Harry and Piggy's in Hendersonville for some NC barbeque--YUM.

On the drive, we went past a few different spots that had some serious damage from Hurricane Helene. 

We weren't even sure we'd be able to get through the mountains to Skytop just a couple weeks before, but they had opened the roads and we figured giving the local places some business would be good for everyone.

And then, Charlotte, here we come!

We haven't been back to visit since 2018.

And when we got there, we were way too busy catching up with our old neighbors to remember to get any pictures that afternoon. We had hours of reminiscing about the little kids we raised together, who are all so grown up now, in high school and college and thriving. Some friends are more like family and even going 6.5 years isn't enough to ruin the dynamic.