From the Mountains to the Coast and back

Last Wednesday, Kali & I drove to Wilmington, NC to see my parents. That is AFTER I did some laundry, got my first pedicure of the season, got my eyebrows waxed, dropped off the recycling and bought some locally grown yellow tomatoes for Mom.

It took over 6 hours to get there. As we got closer, the land became flatter and the air more saturated with salt & moisture until we reached the coast. Mom had dinner waiting for us and it was so nice to sit and chat and eat good food.

Mom & Dad had only met Kali one time and it was during the height of the conflict with Chinook so I was totally stressed out and so was she. This time, she revelled in the limelight of grandparental attention, kissing and licking faces until my father giggled with delight. She solidly endeared herself to them and got a giant leg of lamb bone in return. Two days in a row, we went to New Hanover County's Ogden Park, not too far from Porter's Neck where the 'rents live. She had a great time romping through the sand and then cooling off in the public pond. Of course, she wasn't supposed to be off leash but there was one other dog doing it so I took the risk. Nobody complained or gave us annoyed looks. Quite the contrary, everyone was friendly. On the last of our four day visit, we drove up to Topsail Beach where Kali encountered her very first sand crab. She was obsessed with it, wouldn't leave it alone until I took pity on the poor tortured creature.

The drive home was long and hot, in the mid 90's the whole way until we passed Old Fort and the temperature began to drop a bit. It was 84 when when we got to my sister's place in Asheville. I kept waiting for that familiar, "it's so good to be home" feeling to creep in. It did not. Yes, I was relieved that it was not as hot and yes, it was nice to see the deep blue green mountains rather than the monotony of the flatlands. But, the feeling never came. Still it was nice to pull up to cabin, unload, take a long bath and sleep in our own beds.