Make new friends, but keep the old....

One of the things we enjoy about this kind of travel is the opportunity to connect with people. We have already made some new friends along the way, but part of our itinerary includes catching up with old friends. Wednesday evening we had a wonderful time visiting the C family in Lake Junaluska, NC. Jere and Mr. C have known each other since first grade. They kindly rearranged some plans to have our family over and it was a delight.

We spent Thursday night at the home of another first-grade friend of Jere's, the R family. They used to live in our neighborhood and moved to NC almost three years ago. Our girls and their girls spent a lot of time together before they moved so we were glad for the chance to see all of them, as well as Mrs. R's parents who live about 100 yards away. Their hospitality was a blessing and we were sorry to say goodbye.

Looking ahead, we are still planning to see a family who has known Jere's family for several decades, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, friends from church who moved away and a sweet lady who used to be our children's nurse practitioner. As much as we enjoy sightseeing and exploring our country, it is usually the time with friends and family we remember most.