National Lampoons Wilson vacation

Let me say first that all I really wanted for my birthday was to go camping and see a waterfall. This I did, so I had a very happy birthday. I mention the rest of the goings ons of my vacation for...memories.

The plan was to leave on Thursday evening, around 5.00 or so, and go to Grammy's to celebrate Wiley's birthday. The next morning we would pull out, camper trailer and all, and camp for the weekend at Black Mountain Campground. My research and my choice. We had been planning on this for about a week or so. I started preparing on Monday and the children and I were ready to go. We left at 6pm and got to grammy's at 7pm, for a late pepperoni pizza, punch, and chocolate cupcakes (at the request of the birthday boy). Sweet 6 year old got lots of legos and star wars stuff for his birthday and was thrilled with the cash he got! ($58 in total!!) However, on the way out of the driveway, the camper trailer hit a tree, smashed a window and bent the frame. This turned out to be my fault because York had planned on cutting that tree down, but didn't have time to do it before I said we had to go. We also learned about this point that the AC was broken. It's 100 degrees here and about 90% humidity. Even I use my car AC and I don't like AC one bit.
The next morning we got up, had some fun playing, ate breakfast, Cora Bell slept for 3 hours (of course) and then we left around 11am. We drove to the beautiful NC mountains. York chose the route, which included a beautiful, though steep and narrow, route, Hwy 80, I believe. Full of hairpin switch backs. It was about 3 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway when the smoke started to pour from the engine. We pulled off the road and the radiator had over heated and cracked. York poured a few bottles of water into the radiator to get us there. The crack was at the top, though, so we were able to make it to the Black Mountain Campground area, which was down a dirt road and really gorgeous. The dirt road criss crossed(On narrow one lane bridges) a gorgeous creek that was the perfect depth for little kids to wade in and play on the beautiful big, smooth river rocks. Then we came to this many pronged fork in the road. Neither York nor I was completely sure which way to go to get the actual camping area. The signs to the camping area were a bit confusing and obscured, but as I took too long to figure out the map, York decided to drive forward. This turned out to be the wrong way. The especially wrong way with a camper trailer. We found ourselves up a very narrow, steep, driveway width, dirt/gravel road. It was gorgeous, though. Must have been some old maintenance road for an old damn. There were all these old abandoned structures covered in moss. It looked like somewhere out of lord of the rings. But that doesn't help anyone turn around a camper trailer. York tried once and it didn't work. I ran up the mountain to see if there was anywhere to turn around at all. York contemplated going backwards. There was a lot of swearing. But, I found an old campsite and York backed the camper trailer into it (again, a lot of swearing and stress. The boys were crying when I got back in the van after guiding (apparently not my strength) York into the spot, because they thought York was going to run me over or perhaps leave me there, or both). Anyway, York got us out of there and onward! to the campsite. It was lovely, but full. Oh so full. The lady told us of another spot about 5 miles North up the BRP: Crabtree Meadows. Ok, so we went there in our broken van. We finally found it and found a spot and it started to rain. Luckily, it didn't last long and so we set up camp and I cooked some delicious burgers and corn and we made s'mores. We went to a ranger program on spiders, bears, and snakes. I spent the rest of the trip worried about these things though I don't think that was the point of the program at all. Wiley asked tons of really intelligent questions, and made lots of comments, so much so that several others from the campground commented throughout the remainder of the trip how smart he was. Archer sat in the back in case he had to puke since he had a stomach ache from too many marshmallows. Everyone seemed happy and we went to bed in the cool, non humid, mountain air.
The next morning we woke up to York's alarm. York then left and drove the van into Marion to get it fixed. The children and I stayed behind and I cooked some eggs, toast, coffee and we had breakfast. We then decided that, yes, we can hike to the falls. The ranger assured me that families do it all the time...but I wasn't sure that a mother and three wee children could do it. But I'm a Dondero damnit, so I was pretty sure I could do it. Plus, I had leftover chocolate to bribe/energize any child who didn't think he could make it back up the mountain. We actually had a great hike. Wiley commented how beautiful nature was and how he should play less video games and do more hikes. Archer thought mother nature was really smart for making so much cool stuff for us to walk on, like rocks and roots. We talked out loud to keep the bears at bay. We took our time and stopped for photos and breaks. There was minimal falling. The most I had to yell was "walk" and "no jumping" because there really were rocks jutting up all over the place, and you know, we were on the side of a mountain. We were the only ones on the trail. I think we started our hike close to 8am. This made me slightly nervous, but once we got to the falls we had them all to ourselves for a long time. I loved it. The boys played all over the rocks and got in the clear, clean water. It was really peaceful. They both peed in it. Eventually lots of others came and we headed back up. The boys were absolute troopers. Archer pooped out at one point, about .2 miles from the end, I'd guess. So I carried him on my back, while he wore the backpack and Cora Bell was on my front. Wiley carried my camera and was such a help. We both did our best to bribe Archer to walk, but he just wouldn't budge. It wasn't so bad, but I felt it! We made it back, rested and ate quesadillas and fruit for lunch. York got back and napped in the camper while we spent the rest of the lovely day playing endless games of mother may I, hide and seek, and tag you're it. They were tired, though, and started to argue and fight by the time bedtime rolled around. I cooked some delish hotdogs with a side of mango. We were exhausted.
The next morning we got up and the first thing Archer said was "I peed in the bed"(/couch) then he asked to play hide and seek and tag you're it. So we did. It was cold, up there in the mountains at 7am. I also made breakfast of toast and fruit. We played and packed up, ready to get on the road around10.45. There was more direction from me to York to hook the camper up to the van...which, again, isn't my strength, but there wasn't as much yelling. And we were off. As we were pulling out of the entrance of the campground there was this horrible crashing sound, a rev of the engine, and a scraping sound. Then the van stopped. The camper had come unhooked from the van! Luckily York had put a secondary chain around the camper hitch and the the van, so it didn't roll down the hill, but he wasn't quite sure how to hook it back up again. Luckily every man in the campground came over to help and share stories of how they've done the same thing at one point or another. They shared wood blocks and advice and we were off...again. And for a while all was smooth sailing; except the tv in the van broke, and I didn't pack much more in terms of activities, but the boys were such troopers. Barely fought, never whined. Archer and CB slept, a lot. So, as we made our way down the mountain I had visions of the camper flying off the hitch again and this time slamming into the back of the van--right about where CB and I were sitting. I had visions of it flying off the side of the mountain and that dang old chain hanging onto the van and pulling us along with it over the edge. Luckily that didn't happen. I did, however, think York was driving very fast down the mountain. Then I realized why. I realized why when the smell of burning rubber came wafting into the van. Turns out the brakes were over heating and smoking and burning. So we did this intense pull off that was like a really rough air plane landing and we sat there for a while on the side of the road until the brakes stopped smoking. Then we were off, again. The remainder of the trip was punctuated by uneventful bathroom breaks, taco bell for lunch, and peeing in bottles for the boys. 7 hours later and we were home!!