Twelve adults, two kids, a mountain house out of the magazines on Blue Buck Road in the North Carolina mountains: Year two of a tradition of family togetherness over Memorial Day weekend.
Around the time of Mom's passing, we (the Hardisons) naturally spent lots of time with Aunt Susan and Aunt Melissa and her family. Determined to see each other more, even after the natural collision of togetherness during Mom's bedside vigil, Melissa and Ted invited the family to their mountain house over Memorial Day weekend last year.
And now we've had our second Blue Buck Road gathering.
After two years, I think we can call it a tradition.
For two years now, the Smyths have graciously given the beds in the house to the Hardisons (less seasoned mountaineers), Tim and Betsy have stocked the coolers with cool Asheville brews, Drew has stripped down to his skivvies when a spark from the campfire lit his shorts ablaze (okay, that only happened the first year, but we'd still like to call it a tradition), AR and co. have labored over SmythCream (de-li-cious homemade ice cream, slow churned in an old ice cream machine we put outside because otherwise the sound of the motor would wake the baby.... or a sleeping gorilla), Aunt Susan has enlightened and satisfied our taste buds with the tastiest lasagna this side of Italy, Meg has herded cats as Activities Director both years (bless her), and the entire family has enjoyed (endured?) the sights and sounds of a preschooler and a toddler, doing all they can to interrupt the serenity of our mountain backdrop.
The pictures below don't do the trip justice because most of the family members aren't pictured. It does, however, accurately portray the two little maniacs who hogged the attention all weekend. Go figure.
Second annual Blue Buck Road gathering: Complete!
 |
| Will ate nuts all weekend. His options were many, but he chose nuts. |
