Grayson Highlands, 2017

I'm so thankful we were able to spend last weekend as a family, tucked away in the Virginia mountains, just the four of us. It was a nice break from Daniel's busy work schedule.

We have been wanting to take our kids to this area of the country for awhile since it is one of our favorite places – so much so that Jack's middle name "Grayson" is in honor of the Grayson Highlands.

Our first trip to this area was over twelve years ago. We parked our car at the Grayson Highlands overnight parking lot and made our way to Mt. Rogers (the highest point in Virginia). We joke about that trip often – namely that we were still fairly newly married and I planned the trip and didn't do enough research about the weather.

We ended up cutting that multi-day trip short after one freezing night... We walked out in a cold, dense fog. We were thankful for the experience but a bit wiser about the importance of being prepared.

Another time we returned and had a shuttle drop us off in the middle of the Jefferson Wilderness. We hiked 30 miles back to Damascus, making our way through the Grayson Highlands, and this beautiful section of country, over a three-day period.

A third time, we found ourselves in Damascus, VA to bike the Virginia Creeper Trail. This area has our hearts, and hopefully we will be making many more trips back to hike, bike, and camp with our boys.

Last weekend we were able to spend Saturday biking the Virginia Creeper Trail as a family. We stayed in a cottage at the top of Whitetop Station, right at the trailhead and made our way down the mountain, 21 miles into town. It was perfect way for us to spend the day together.

Then on Sunday we woke up and drove about 20 minutes to Grayson Highlands to take the boys on a short hike.

We were hoping to see the wild ponies that roam this area of the country, but did not make it far enough to see them. We hope to be back in the future to make that happen. We did get to see people riding horses on the trail, and as far as the kids were concerned, that was just as good!

We hiked up the Massie Gap trail, to the top of the ridge. Jack promptly sat down and said he was too tired and that his feet hurt. I guess he was finally tired from biking 21 miles the day. At any rate there was a lot more whining on the hike than there had been on the bike trail.

We were prepared with snacks, but after more complaints Daniel suggested we go climb on some boulders and then head back. I would have liked to press on, but with kids I we have learned to adjust our expectations and be flexible.

On the way down Isaac was fussing a bit, so I sang crazy camp songs to him, we raced Jack down the trail (Isaac loved the bouncing from me running), and we pretended to be airplanes.

We ended up only hiking two miles, and there were no wild ponies to be found. But it was still a fun trip. The weather was perfect. We still saw great views of the mountains up above the treeline. The kids were pumped to find walking sticks and climb around on boulders. It was a good end to a fun family weekend.

A Rose By Any Other Name...

When it comes to naming your child there is a certain amount of pressure to pick a good name. Though as Shakespeare eloquently writes, a rose will still smell sweet regardless of its name.

Papa Jack holding Daniel {sadly this was the only picture we could find of Papa Jack}.

For us naming wasn't actually a huge chore. A few months ago we sat down and tossed around some names and Daniel mentioned that if we were going to have a boy he really wanted to use the name Jack. Jack was the name of his Grandfather or Papa Jack as Daniel called him. This man was very important to Daniel and instrumental in shaping Daniel into the man he is today. Unfortunately Papa Jack passed away about two years before I met Daniel.

Daniel and Cheree on Mount Rogers – the highest point in Virginia

When we finally found out that we were indeed having a little boy, Daniel and I discussed names over dinner. It was a fairly painless process and by the end of the evening we had narrowed our choices down considerably with Jack Grayson being the front runner.

Daniel with the wild ponies in the Grayson Highlands

Over the following weeks we would periodically mull it over before we finally settled on Jack Grayson Moore. Even after this determination we sat on the name for a month until we really felt certain this was the name we wanted to give our child.

Hiking on one of the balds in the Grayson Highlands

My dad actually offered some really great advice. He told us to yell the name out loud to see if it sounded right. So we did. We shouted it off of our back porch. And felt incredibly silly. But in the end, we were happy with our choice.

Hiking on one of the balds in the Grayson Highlands

Grayson comes from the Grayson Highlands in Virginia. It is one of our favorite state parks to visit as it is part of the Jefferson National Forest and Mount Rogers Recreation Area – famous for its open balds and wild ponies. We want our child to grow up loving the outdoors as much as we do. We look forward to taking him to meet the wild ponies, to hike the open balds and bike the Virginia Creeper Trail. 

Biking on the Virginia Creeper Trail

So Jack Grayson Moore is named in memory of his Great Grandfather and a chain of mountains that we love. We will be calling him Jack.

Biking on the Virginia Creeper Trail

The List

The internet is supposed to be the gateway to every possible subject matter you could conjure up, right? Well try googling something like "what to pack when moving into a camper full time."

As a newbie to RV living, I am looking for a specific list of items that seasoned RV dwellers would consider important to everyday living in a 27-foot long camper {with one slide out}. I am sure that such a list exists somewhere in the realm of all things internet related, but I have yet to find it. There is info on how to pack your camper and suggestions for not overloading your rig. But no concrete list that gives a rundown of what is necessary and what is going to take up space and make wish you never insisted on bringing such an item in the first place.

Given the lack of internet information, we are working on our own list. Everything that we own will be packed up and moved into storage {in Tupelo, Mississippi} by the end of next week. In effect, we have one-and-a-half weeks to determine what to keep out of storage for the next 3-5 months of our lives. This is no small task. We will be relying on our experience of multi-day backpacking trips and the knowledge that one RARELY needs everything that one THINKS one needs.

I am in the habit of being under prepared for trips – just ask Daniel about the time we went backpacking in Mt. Rogers, Virginia and we nearly froze to death and had to hike out a day early because I had the weather report wrong and had informed Daniel that we didn't need warm clothes because it was April. While Daniel tends to ere on the side of over preparedness – he once insisted that we carry 2 gallons of water on an overnight backpacking trip on the Manana Trail in Oahu, Hawaii.

Hopefully between us, we will come up with a list of items that we can live with in this small space {that we will be sharing with our dog}. Give me a month and I will let you know if we made a good list...