Though this blog has a tag of “fun and failures”, the “failures” part doesn’t get addressed often. This is a great example of a failure.

This past weekend we went to visit our old friends from our years in Harrisonburg, Virginia: Lisa and Brandon. They are living on the outskirts of Washington DC now, and the 1/2 way point between us is Wintergreen Resort.

Lisa found a great little house on Airbnb, and it worked great for her 3 boys: Easton, Owen, and Cam, and our two girls.

The weather was set to be rainy in the morning, but clear in the afternoon.

Being a former boy scout of Greensboro’s own troop 203, the maps that fell out of the Airbnb homeowner’s folder had the perfect activity to match even the youngest child’s ability: Let’s do a quick 1 mile hike to see a waterfall.

The area was pretty foggy at the top, and started by dropping down over 100 feet in elevation.

After walking down the trail, the route takes us across the creek, and back up to the car for a small loop.

That last part, a “small loop”, did not happen. Though I came across as quite confident reading a paper map to navigate in the year of our Lord 2023, this was a fail.

The trail kept going up and up, and didn’t seem to be bringing us closer to the car.

Instead of crossing the creek and turning right to continue the loop, we ended up going way down that yellow mark on the map image above (called “Logger’s Alley Trail”), which took us pretty far from our car.

Since we came down a pretty far ways in elevation, I figured that since we were going uphill, we were likely going the right way back? Wrong. This was wrong. We were going in the wrong direction.

Once I realized we were going in the wrong direction, and that returning to the car was not an option (this would involve going down hill for a long time, then back up a large hill to the car), the next best bet was to get to a road. Once the group was safe on the road, I could run back and get the car, and pick them up.

Though the idea of running back to the car seemed like a great idea, it didn’t go as expected.

Taylor and Lisa found the house was a 10 minute walk from where we ended up (20 minutes at toddler speed).

Brandon and I ran back to get the cars. This is a great moment to pause, and I would like to highlight that I, the failed navigator, was able to guide us on a brand new trail, back to our cars by taking all of the right trails. I was sure not to yell, “Let’s go Brandon!”, even once during our time together.

Taylor shared that the walk home was not pleasant. Mercy screamed quite a bit, and the walk was not a safe one by any stretch of the imagination: There were no sidewalks, it was foggy, and cars were going rather fast past the children. The Good Lord protected us all, and Brandon and I made it home just a few moments before they did.

Devils Backbone

We were in Nelson County, Virginia. And one of the larger destinations in this area was a place purchased by Anheuser Busch in 2016:

The timing could not have been worse. This was day 31 out of the 46 days of Lent, the year I gave up drinking.

Calling the location a “brewery” would fail to do the site justice. Calling it a “campus” was a better fit.

Though it might be hard to tell from the image above, from left was the stage, the cigar store, the liquor store, the restaurant, the outdoor bar, the enclosed patio, the store, and the outdoor grill.

For Lent, you are supposed to have 1 day a week of “grace” on Sunday. For the rest of the week, the goal is to remember what Jesus gave up for us, and be reminded of our own weakness and pray through the difficult times.

Honey, it worked, because I was a very weak man.

5 years ago, I gave up drinking for Lent, and allowed myself 1 flex day per week, whenever it worked out best. However, any time I mention that I successfully gave up drinking for Lent, my dearly beloved will remind anyone within earshot that I did not successfully make it through.

This year, I am allowing for no “flex” days, and going the whole 46 days without a drop. Why? 80% for the right reasons, and 20% to be able to tell Taylor, at any point during the rest of our marriage, that I was successfully able to give up drinking for Lent.

The place was awesome. I didn’t have a drop to drink. Even when the kids were screaming and I sure could have used one, I held strong and lived out the experience by getting a few cases of beer to take home, and set aside to drink 15 days from now.

The Brisket from the restaurant was amazing. The kids did awesome. THe view was amazing. It really was a fun trip, and would be great to get back at some point with our families.

Just like always when I write these updates on Monday mornings, the kids are starting to wake up.

Before I go, special shout out to Taylor’s parents for watching the dog for the weekend. Thank you so much! Here are a few final pics: