Sometimes in the flow of a vacation, days pass easily, and almost without notice. Good things happen, and you enjoy them, but maybe don’t take the time to do anything to hold on to those memories. I’m always a little wary about that. I don’t want to forget the good times and the memories. So this post is dedicated to just that. The last few days of memories.

We mad a 10+hr road-trip from Jupiter, Florida to Miller’s Creek, North Carolina. I love road trips. I guess that is because as a kid, when we hit the road for a long trip it usually meant we were going up go Thunder Bay to see my grandparents, who I adored. I love a day spent with good tunes and the road stretching out before us. I love watching the landscape change and wondering what the lives of people who live in different cities and towns and rural areas are like.

The day after our road trip was Canada Day. It was pretty much as perfect as a Canada Day away from home can be. Lotsa hanging out, relaxing, watching Canadian things (Schitt’s Creek and a Jays game – first Canada Day they’ve spent in Toronto in 2 years, and they did us the honour of winning) and eating Canadian foods (chips and dip – I know, not specifically Canadian but very Canada-Day-friendly – poutine and Nanaimo bars). We ended the evening with sparklers on the porch, and then sat in the dark for a bit watching the fireflies in the field across the road. Perfect.

Today, we headed out for a drive to see the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was beyond breathtaking.

All my life there have been places that hold a kind of mystical quality in my mind. Places that I’ve heard the name of since childhood, or at least for decades, and never really expected to see with my own eyes. Narnia-esque places, you could say. There is little as an adult, that is as delightful as finding myself (sometimes quite unexpectedly) in those places. I felt that at the Sea of Galilee, I felt it when Tracey and I visited the Coral Castle in Florida (of Andrew Peterson song fame), and I felt it today driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains (with John Denver’s “Country Roads” running through my mind).

I’m thankful for good days, good friends, and the joy of unexpected places.