Pre-Amble: Traveling to DC

Today I practically sprung out of bed (eh, not exactly normal for me) and got to work finishing my packing and making sure I've got all the necessary accoutrements for my trip. I said goodbye to the little kids, one of which was wearing only blue pajama bottoms and another who, at the early hour of 8 am, was already attired in her full princess dress and accompanying regalia. 

I drove, and my Mom and I enjoyed our last little sliver of time together. We made it to my Aunt's house in Eden, NC in record time (who, me? Get a little pedal happy cause I was excited?) Naa. 

Once we arrived, my cousin George and Aunt Rachel were waiting for us. We said our respective "hellos" and then "goodbyes", took some pictures, and then once my Mom left we began to load up the car with all of our suitcases. Then Hunter and Donna arrived and we all went to lunch together at Chaneys. If you do not know Chaneys, it's the place to go in Eden. ;) When you go to look at the menu and the lunch fare is written by hand, you know it's gonna be good.

Side note: TURNIP GREENS ARE DELICIOUS AND AMAZING. 

The conversation during lunch was mainly centered on travel tips and such as well as some random pieces on what to expect in Germany from George.

"Sauerkraut is so popular that they have a whole section at the store just for that."

{I'm the sauerkraut queen, so *internal happy dance*

"....oh, and beer is actually cheaper than soft drinks."

".....cash is king, so make sure you've got some on you at all times, a lot of places won't take cards."

".....every so often when they are cleaning up around our base in Stuttgart, they'll find undetonated bombs from WWII."

After Aunt Rach and I dropped off some things for Aunt Lucie at the retirement home, we headed back to get the house ready to leave. Around 1:30 we three set off in the cute little fun sized rental car (seems small because I drive a 15 passenger van!)

I love traveling through VA. Since I have it on good authority that at least part of my bloodline comes from the NC/VA border area, it is only fitting that I should admire this lovely area of the world so much. We stopped in Charlottesville for a snack and coffee break. And somehow, Aunt Rachel and I managed to stumble into a Barnes and Noble which was located close by enough to tempt us. Heh. We are suckers for book stores. Good thing I don't have much room in my suitcase just now or else I would have had to make the very difficult decision of "this giant bag of yummy homemade trail mix, or this awesome looking Ulyesses Grant bio?" 

The rest of the journey was relatively uneventful, save a crash we passed by. A car had completely flipped over and was sitting there upside down. The only occupant (barefoot and sketchy looking, I might add) was totally fine and pacing about nervously whilst talking on his phone. I imagined the contents consisted of: "MOMMY! MOMMY! I had an accident.") As I turned to look at the car as we passed by, through the back window of the car, I spied an enormous Costco-size box of Cheez Its, sitting upright in the upside down car. Moral of the story: dear reader, Cheez Its are dangerous. do not consume them whilst driving. And dear sir in the accident, I do not know you from Adam, but you are henceforth known to the three of us as the Cheez It Man.

Anyway. We arrived here in DC around 8 pm. We've got 3 days here in DC until flying out this coming Thursday morning, the 21st. Detroit---> Amsterdam---> Stuttgart. Gotta love the crazy way they schedule flights! As such, my luggage is currently sitting at a 99.879% possibility of being hopelessly lost, yet I still retain a moderate level of faith in the airline's abilities to reunite me with my bags successfully. But anyway. Here's hoping. 

P.S. Typed all of this out on my iPhone with half a brain, that is my disclaimer. My fingers are falling off y'all! But it's worth it. :)