jones gap, sc.

On the day after Thanksgiving we slept in, drank a leisurely cup of coffee, then set out for the Southern Appalachian mountains in search of late-fall colors and adventure. On the van ride, a bit subdued from the huge meal and holiday celebration the night before, we ushered in the Christmas season by listening to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

As always, David lured our family into a hiking adventure with promises of delicious food, so after a couple of hours, we stopped for brunch at Tandem Creperie, one of our very favorite places to eat. My recommendation? The sausage, kale, and potato crepe, with a steaming cafe au lait.

But you can’t go wrong with the blueberry or banana nutella crepes either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With full bellies, we drove 20 minutes more to Jones Gap State Park, which is another of our favorite places. But this was the first time the six of us hiked there together.

Our goal was to hike the Rainbow Falls trail, which is 4.3 miles round-trip.

 

 

 

You know what I love?

It’s been two months since returning from our road trip, yet once we made the decision to do a hike, our family seamlessly fell into travel/hiking mode. It took some reminders for the kids, but they grabbed up a book and toy and Etch-a-Sketch and didn’t bat an eye at the 5 hour round-trip drive.

We loaded the van in the morning, turned on our audiobook, enjoyed our food, and arrived at the state park bright-eyed and ready to hit the trail at 1:00 pm. Yes, it was cold and we needed layers. Yes, some of us have fallen out of shape in recent weeks and wanted to quit and turn around before we reached the waterfall, and needed a little extra encouragement.

But for the most part, it felt like we all settled into the comfort of a now-familiar routine.

That’s what I like about practicing and practicing things, like hiking and baking bread and sticking to a budget. The more you push through and just do it, the easier it becomes. Your capacity stretches. And this thing that once felt awkward and two-sizes too big,  has now become a comforting ritual.

 

 

 

 

 

Later on, as we drove home in the velvety dinner-time darkness, David told the kids, “I know it’s a lot of work and we get tired, but the reason I like to do day trips or half-day trips out to the woods is that if we stayed home and said ‘We’re having a family day,’ we’d make cookies and play a couple of games together, then drift off on our separate ways.

But on days like today, we’re all together, all day. Both are okay. But I love these all-together days.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s right, of course.

It feels like a lot of work to plan even a small family adventure, more work when David and I are already worn out from just living our week. There’s lots of times we elect to just stay home.

But whenever we do hit the road, I love that glorious, rolling-off freedom of leaving housework and chores and my to-list behind me. I love the way my head clears when it’s just the six of us, strapped in a van together, with no escape and my eyes open suddenly to just these dear people sitting close by.

The world becomes small and simple and joyful.

 

 

 

 

And when we reach the woods and set out, single-file on our trail, my heart quiets as it soaks in the muffled sounds of leaves rustling and birds chirping and water dripping from ledges. I love the mountains because of the beautiful hidden things they carry every single day, whether anyone sees them or not. It’s like they’re exploding with the sheer joy of just being craggy mountains with crimson leaves and secret waterfalls and lacy ferns.

To get out there and seek and discover these hidden things is to discover delight. The thing I have learned about hiking is that it’s worth working for this delight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were happy to reach our goal of seeing Rainbow Falls together, and were also happy to return home that evening to a fridge full of Thanksgiving leftovers.

Judah prayed over the food and said, “Dear God, thank you for giving us a day where we could eat good food and go on a hike and spend the whole day together as a family.”