We're Back

We are back from our vacation. We stopped in Richmond for two nights and then onto Wilmington for four nights. It was a very relaxing time. The best part is that Ben did not throw up in the car at all! We are really hoping that means he has turned a corner on the car sickness. There were a couple potential stomach ickies he was experiencing, but we were able to divert it quite well.

One of the highlights of our trip happened when Peirce found an off the beaten path hidden gem. It is called Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park in Scotland Neck, North Carolina. We stopped there on our day trip from Richmond to Wilmington. It was out of the way, but one of the best experiences we could have had. It was basically a zoo for birds, but we had the best time going from bird to bird and walking through the aviaries. The kids were thrilled and enjoyed it too. We also got to see poisonous frogs, honeybees at work and a beaver pond blind which is like a little house where you can quietly try to see beavers at work. No such luck for us, but it was a really cool structure.

On our drive back to the interstate, I stared out the window quite a bit and was grateful that we got to experience getting off the highway. There is so much more you can see and it is much more eye opening. This town we were in seemed so poor and rundown. It was really sad to see their downtown and the people hanging around outside in the middle of the day with no work to do. If you drove a little further, you saw stately old mansions and wondered who was possibly living there now. And there, tucked amidst this tiny town was this hidden gem of a tourist "attraction", the waterfowl park. One other thing I enjoyed seeing on the back country roads were the tobacco plants. Up until then, I had no idea what one looked like. It seemed interesting to me that the fields were right up on the road with no fencing or way to keep people out. I think that was my city mind working though. Life in the country is definitely different and I'm so glad we got to spend the day opening our eyes to it.