Southern Fried Staunton

I’m back to real life after having over a week off from school. Jen’s back to work today after having four days away from the office for our Staunton,VA getaway. We had a good time but it felt way too short, as it always does.

There’s a lot to talk about, given that Granny Joyce’s house is an internet free environment so I had no way off blogging. Friday, our first full day there, was rainy so we spent a lot of time visiting and playing games. Kinects, which I played for the first time at Christmas, is a videogame that I think is actually fun. It requires you to be active because your body is the controller. Pretty cool. Friday night we went bowling. My cousin, who shall remain nameless, and company may have “pre-gamed” at dinner then downed a few pitchers of beer at the alley. It was funny to watch. I was the DD for the night and drove the whole gang around in my Aunt’s Chrysler minivan. It’s a very nice van, but everyone protested when I tried to drop them off right up front like a limo, lol.



One of these things is not like the other.



Saturday afternoon, after a rough start for a few, Jen, Nathan and I went to check out Downtown Staunton. There were too many antique stores and it was a little boring but it was very pretty and had plenty of great places to eat. (pics) I couldn’t pass up taking a pic of this one creepy mannequin head in a window full of them.

Saturday night I went to bed early while Jen, Courtney, and Granny stayed up a little later for their girl’s night (which consisted of watching William & Kate on Lifetime). Sunday morning David and I went with others to a 6:30 am sunrise Easter service at a small, old, country church. And I thought Granny’s ‘hood was country! There were basically cows in the parking lot and not much else around for miles. It was a great service with a big pot-luck breakfast following. Easter was the first day I had sweets in over 40 days and did I ever eat them. Monkey bread… mmm….



Age appropriate?

 The most interesting part of the trip happened Easter Sunday while the cousins and I were taking a walk in the park. After reviving our inner children (pic), we came across an abandoned passport and credit card and had fun playing detective for awhile and looking for the owner before Jen realized an address would be written in the front. We decided to drop it off to the owner, Shane Harrison, who lived less than a mile away. As our walk continued, Courtney noticed a backpack down in a ditch. At this point, we were well into Scooby Doo mode and decided to investigate. The backpack (pic) contained (Jinkies!) a cell phone, iPod, hunting knife, library book, and some kind of lock-picking device, among other things. We called a number on the phone and found out the owner of the bag’s name was Shane too! But Shane Atwood. This was just too weird to have found two lost items, both belonging to Shane’s with different last names. We were convinced he was a runaway with an alias until, again, Jen realized the name on the passport was indeed Shane Atwood, Harrison was his middle name. Good one David! We ended up calling Shane’s dad/grandfather who came to pick up the stuff. I don’t think he realized quite how much we had found because when he saw all the stuff, especially the passport, he got a little worried. Direct quote, “I don’t know where the hell he is. I guess I better go find him now!” The cousins are keeping their eyes on the news for any missing Shane Atwoods.

Sunday afternoon after lunch with the fam we headed home. I correctly predicted a lot of Easter traffic close to the city and our 6 hr trip became an 8hr one by the time we got home. Not fun. It was nice to escape the city, visit with family, and enjoy a laid back lifestyle for a few days.

It was hard for us to merge back into the fast paced world that is NYC this morning. We were up early to return our rental car and head to work and school. Tomorrow should come a little easier.