Summer is our prime time for seeing family and friends from Michigan. Pat’s brother, Geri, had been talking about having a Smith Family Reunion for quite awhile and decided this was the year to do it. He was building a new pole barn on the farm and it would be an excellent place to use in case of bad weather. There was a family meeting to decide what had to be done and who would be responsible for each action. Pat became the “Communications Director” to make sure the word got out to everyone, and I was her unofficial assistant.

Throughout the summer we monitored the progress on the new building and communicated with the extended family to make sure things were getting done. As the date got closer we were concerned about the weather, but it looked like we would get a break.

On September 12th, the weather was threatening in the morning, but by late morning the skies cleared and the wind moderated. Everyone had a great time. There was family memorabilia displayed along with a quilt and printout of the family tree. Everyone brought their favorite dishes for the potluck dinner. People were able to tour the family farmhouse.

Other activities included a Piñata for the kids to break, three-legged sack race, horseback rides, a hay ride, and just hanging out with family members that we see once a year at Christmas. I even held an impromptu wine tasting of some of my homemade wines.

While it was a lot of work, everyone enjoyed themselves and wanted to know if we would do it again next summer. Time will tell on that one!

On Tuesday morning we hooked up and began our trip south to North Carolina. We made an overnight stop at Delaware State Park, just north of Columbus, OH and then stopped at Camp Creek State Park in West Virginia.

Camp Creek State Park in nestled in the valley of the West Virginia mountains. It’s a small park, but a very pleasant place to stay. Our plan was to do some hiking in the area as there are several trails in the foothills surrounding the park. The weather was nice, although cloudy at times. I was a bit disappointed in the trails. Maybe it was just the trails that we chose, but we found the trails being used as logging trails and not good for hiking. Many of the areas we hiked through were really torn up by heavy logging trucks and other tracked equipment. Because of that we decided not to extend our stay and we left on Friday, September 18th for Raleigh, NC

We were scheduled to serve as Camp Hosts at the Holly Point Campground in the Falls Lake State Recreation Area for the month of October. Because I had a doctor’s appointment on September 22nd, we decided to arrive early and just camp there. This is the same park we camped in when we were here in April as Camp Hosts and it felt like we had come home! After all, home is where you park it!