I cannot believe I forgot to share about my family reunion earlier this summer!

After our wedding last year, my Uncle Gary decided we needed to have a family reunion. The wedding just didn't provide enough time for our family to hang out and catch up. Our wedding last summer was just a teaser of what was to come this summer.

Aunt Ellen and Uncle Gary moved from Illinois to the mountains of North Carolina not long ago. It was decided that we'd all travel to their place to be together. They live in Saluda, NC. Never heard of it? Me either. It's in the mountains in southwest NC - an 8 hour drive. Steve and I decided to leave a day early and make a stop at Virginia Tech, which was a great half way point.

We hadn't been back to Tech in a little over two years, so we were really excited to spend some time there, even if it was short. My cousin, Juliana, who is headed off to VCU this fall, rode with us, so it was fun to talk about college with her. We arrived a little late in the evening and stopped at Macado's for dinner. We drove around a little bit and visited TOTS for a few beers to reminisce about where Steve and I ran into each other that August day in 2005. Then we headed to our hotel, stopping at the WalMart in Christiansburg to grab a few last minute items. We had breakfast at Joe's Diner the next morning and bought some new VT gear at the Emporium. We drove around to take a few pictures of the campus before getting on the road to Saluda. I kept saying to Steve that 1. I felt so old and 2. I felt so touristy because SO much has changed since our college days (that statement really makes me sound old!). We spent the whole time saying, "That's where ______ used to be." "Oh! Look at that!" "Remember when we used to go to ______." So much joyful reminiscing.




I had just had a TON of work done on my truck, so I was confident it could make the 8 hour trek to Saluda, especially with our pit stop at Tech for the night. Unfortunately, we had car trouble after stopping for some lunch at Sonic in Johnsonville, TN. Since we still had two hours of our trip left, Steve and I agreed we needed to get it checked out. Luckily, there was a Toyota dealer 0.9 miles from the Sonic. Not so luckily, we had to wait three hours for it to get checked out and serviced before getting back on the road.

Eventually, we made it to Uncle Gary's house! Excuse me, we made it to his shabin. What a cute little place! 

On the edge of my uncle's property, there's a couple that owns seven cabins that they rent out throughout the year. We stayed in a quaint little cabin for our three-night visit. We shared the little cabin with my cousins, Rusty, Rebecca, and Juliana, Rebecca's boyfriend, Marco, and their new puppy, Henry. Talk about getting cozy!

We gathered for a delicious breakfast in my Dad's cabin one morning (the only cabin with a/c).

On Friday, the boys and Corinne went on a golf outing and the girls and Uncle Nigel toured the Biltmore estate and winery. Aunt Ellen works at the winery, so she was able to score free passes for us all. What a beautiful place! The architecture, the history, the grounds, the wine, everything was spectacular.



We spent lots of time hanging out near the pond, having picnic dinners, and talking by the camp fire.

On Saturday, we went tubing down the Green River. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best weather day for tubing - it was a little rainy - but we still had a good time.

Uncle Denny's awesome sock tan!

On our last night, Uncle Gary gave us all these paper lanterns. You light this little fuel piece and let the lantern fill with air and when it's ready it takes flight. We all watched as the sky filled with our flying lights.

It was so fun to get to spend time with so much family all together. I haven't seen some of my cousins in about 15 years! We're all the same, just a little older :-) Can't wait for the next reunion!

In typical family reunion style, we had to get a picture of us all together wearing our monumental shirts!