I did say "slowly," and with good reason:
Total number of Korean items on the entire menu: maybe 10. This just cracks me up every time I look at it, because I can't help but want to go there and order Chicken Fried Chicken with sides of macaroni and cheese and Kim Chee.
Besides mocking the local restaurant scene, we also went "hiking" on the Cascades trail:
We got almost 1/4 mile in (on the four-mile round trip trail) before Certain People were too tired to continue. It was all the rock throwing that wore her out, I just know it:
More photos available on flickr here, or check out the widget I'm planning to add to the sidebar if Liza sleeps long enough this afternoon.We spent a good part of each day enjoying the hotel. Our room had a bed so big I had to roll over twice to be close enough to whack Jason when he started to snore ... it's a good thing the room was large, since we were stuck there for a few hours every afternoon for naptime. When she wasn't racked out on the sofa bed, jumping up and down on our bed, or sitting glazed-eyed in front of Super Why, Liza was in the pool, where she learned all about the wonders of swimmies and goggles and being able to swim the length of the (small) pool unaided:
We hung out downtown a bit, eating good food and visiting good yarn shops. I got lots of knitting done, and did I mention the food?
We went out to Chateau Morrisette on Sunday to do a tour and tasting, and while we were there we grabbed some lunch and sat under their tent to listen to the guitar player they had performing. It was approximately 1 billion degrees, even in the shade, and Liza was in a foul mood from having wiped out on the edge of a table earlier that day, giving her the traditional Vacation Giant Facial Bruise. And it was still pleasant ... nice place. Boring tour, but nice location. And the views from the drive back to Tech aren't bad, either:
Speaking of views, on the way back to Cleveland we made a side trip past Beckley (WV) to show Liza the New River Gorge Bridge. 
She's really too young to understand the total awesomeness of it, but she was in favor of the set of stairs we had to climb down to get to the good vantage point.
Hiking back up the stairs in billion-degree heat? Not such a fan of that. My god, it was like carrying a furnace back up those stairs, she was so hot. Blech.
And, lest I end on that note, here's the video that will make MLF so nostalgic for his college years that he'll grab his family and catch the first plane headed to southwest Virginia:
Bet his kids get farther up the trail than mine did ... not that it would be hard.
3 comments:
Comments, in no particular order.
1) It is the food that second generation Koreans eat in appalachia. Doesn't that count as Korean food?
Then again, the local Chinese grocery store is run by a Vietnamese couple. The Vietnamese grocery is run by - you guess it - a Chinese owner.
2) This is the age where the child would ride on my shoulders for most of the hike. Actually, they would ride for 5 minutes and then run-run-run until they wanted another 5 minutes.
Then again, what's the problem with Liza enjoying playing in the mountains? Oh, yeah, the missing waterfall.
3) Rather than getting hotel rooms, we have taken to renting apartments from www.vrbo.com. It is close to the price of a hotel. If you stay in one spot for a couple of days, then you can really save by cooking in the apartment. With the kids, it is nice to find a place for them to sleep without my having to tiptoe around the hotel room.
4) What type of winery has a kennel pack!?
5) The best view of the bridge is from a raft in the river.
6) I will have to check the video from home. Videos will not come through the office firewall.
7) What brought you to Blacksburg? Nostalgia? Fencing tourney? The need for traditional Korean food?
The view is even better when jumping from the bridge - with a parachute.
You're right. I miss the Blacksburg scenery.
I miss mountains. I miss rocks. I miss shade. I think that I get more shade from my rose bushes than any trees in my yard.
This summer, we're packing up the family for a week on the coastal range of Oregon. My wife is giving a paper at a conference in Corvalis. I simply will sit in the shade and watch the kids, the moutains, and the waterfalls.
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