Travels of Mark and Pat: Thanksgiving--Monday, November 22-26

Back on the road again and heading to IL for December and Christmas! Mark and I left Lake James at 9:20 and shared the driving. We have this agreement that whoever is driving gets to choose the music - today it was country for him and Christmas for me! It started out so pretty with bright sunshine, but didn't last too long and then some drizzle and very gloomy skies getting down to 33 degrees. We took the southern route going thru Nashville after checking Cincinnati weather with sleet and snow in forecast for tonight.

We so enjoyed our week in North Carolina and here's what went on...

Thanksgiving - A beautiful morning to wake up to at Lake James.....so thankful to be together (missing Anne, Patrick, Liam and Connor) and give thanks as we celebrate this holiday with Michael, Brooke, Drew, Davis, Brady and Blair, Ryan, Philip, Annette, Luke and Maeve, Dave and Judy (Annette's parents) Bob and Judy (Brooke's parents), and brother Scott, Leigh, Caroline and Cooper.

We had a leisurely morning with a light breakfast and then off to the Catawba Country Club for a mammoth delicious feast. The club is always decorated so beautiful for Christmas....

Back to the lake for afternoon.of kids playing outdoors, boat ride, euchre, etc. A very pretty sunny day in the upper 50's.

Appetizers galore for dinner, more cards and several watched "Mission Impossible".

Friday - A fun family day of eating more, cards, games, online shopping, movie and big poker tournament at night won by Annette and Drew.

Saturday - We had over an inch of rain during the night. The morning started out drizzly and gloomy, but sun came out in the afternoon and a nice end of the day. Shopping for some, football games, cards and of course, more good eating! At night we all watched the Family Feud episode featuring my cousin Carol and family from St. Louis....lots of fun!

Sunday - Very foggy this morning....finally cleared as we went to 11:00 Mass at Our Lady of the Angels in Marion, then to Lowe's and on back to the lake. Everyone scattered back to their homes - Brooke's parents, brother and family, Michael and all.....what a fun, fun weekend! Drew found out in the afternoon that his flight back to Cedar Rapids was cancelled cause of the big storm (blizzard) in the Midwest. So, new plan is to fly out Tuesday morning. Mark, Ryan and I went to Philip and Annette's for dinner - yummy mahi mahi and roasted potatoes. Said our good byes to Luke, Maeve, Mommy and Daddy and Dave and Judy (they are returning home Tuesday).

Monday - this afternoon, Luke's other grandpa (Pa) launched a rocket he built for Luke and the Morganton Day School students. It was painted yellow and green (school colors for the Titans) and was a big success with most of the student body enjoying the launch after school. We traveled 532 miles today and arrived in Marion, IL around 4:15. We had dinner at the Hideout, a place that looked familiar to both of us.....checked the blog and sure enough, we were here on November 6, 2012 after driving from Pensacola all day. We had been visiting Ryan and help him settle in his new home. The Hideout is a great place....it was beautifully decorated for Christmas, the food was wonderful and they had an excellent guy on the piano playing favorites and Christmas tunes.

Here are some memories from our Thanksgiving weekend...