Gone Mudding...Yet Again!!!

It would seem we are 

not strangers to the phenomenon 

called mud.
It actually seems to attract us...

not sure why.

But we have found Virginia mud to work just

like Pennsylvania mud.

It is dirty and slippery.

Let me begin at the beginning.

You see, 

several months ago I discovered a music

festival of the kind that Chelsea adores happening

near Ashburn, Virginia.

It seemed like a wonderful opportunity for time

away and to allow our sweet girl to enjoy

one of her favorite activities.

This time big brother, Jonathan, would 

be her companion at the actual festival.

Warren and I have outgrown such foolishness.

LOL

I think it was the MUD festival

called Creation 1989 that cured us.

Our day yesterday got of to a bit of a 

halting start when I ...ahem...

swallowed my crown.

You know, the kind the dentist puts 

on your tooth?

It was a temporary crown that would

have been replaced sometime in the next year

or so anyway....but heading out for 

a weekend minus this tooth covering

really wasn't on the agenda.

Thankfully it really doesn't hurt and as long

as I remember not to chew on it I should

be ok until I can see the dentist next week.

So....then we headed out.

Fighting our GPS and torrential rain all the way to 

Virginia......

You can see the rain just beyond the Bobblehead Jonathan attached to the dash board for this trip.  Don't even ask...I don't know.

There was more frustration as we would 

search for Starbucks noted on signs on the highway

only to find them invisible when we got off the exit.

Grrr....someone needed their coffee.

She has a very nasty cold and yesterday was 

the worst day. 

She was miserable.

Finally, after several attempts we arrived

at a Starbucks.

All became right with the world.

There is something wrong about that

but that is a whole 'nother post!

LOL

We found our hotel....

HILTON's HOMEWOOD SUITES.

Remember that.

This is where you want to take your

family when you travel.

Can you say

Kitchen, Living Room, Bedroom

and Bath.....

for around $100???

They also have guest laundry facilities,

business center, workout room and 

a very, very nice breakfast which is 

included in the price of your room.

This morning I enjoyed a waffle, potatoes,

bacon and juice.

Chelsea had oatmeal with raisins and 

gorgeous looking walnuts.

Also available were eggs, fruit, pastries,

yogurt, granola, cereal and more.

O.k. that was the commercial portion of 

this post.  But really, this is the third time we have 

stayed in one of these hotels and we are sold!!

The only downside to this one is that it is 

most directly on the flight path to Dulles International Airport.

The planes nearly kiss the roof every time they go over.

But....even so we slept perfectly fine.

So....back to the story at hand, 

which by the way, I am telling as much for our 

memories as for your benefit.

We headed out to take the kids to the festival

and thought we would never find our way back

due to the most roundabout way the GPS took us.

But as we got within the last ten miles 

of that journey things became magical.

How to do this justice?

I don't know.....

Imagine that time of the day where the light

gently touches everything leaving it with 

a soft glow.

Now imagine long acres of fencing with groves of 

trees gracing gentle hills dotted with black 

angus cattle.

The greens could not have been more intense

and as the road wound through this countryside

tears came to my eyes from the sheer beauty of it.

Alas, I have found another spot on this planet that 

is at least as beautiful as some of my favorite places 

in Lancaster County.

So green that Jonathan announced this was a place

he could happily live....

that is saying something. 

He, being very committed to the beauty of Potter County.

We MIGHT go back that way today to 

get some photos.....

it is under consideration.

But, I digress.

You see, as we were preparing to leave the hotel

we put the address for the Concert site into the 

GPS.  It gave us a message we have never seen before.

"Cannot get to this location with the preferences 

you have set."

We quickly looked to see what unusual settings we

had that would make a location unreachable.

Ah...we had asked it not to take us on any dirt roads.

Apparently we were about to travel on at least one 

dirt road because after changing this preference 

the GPS was happy.

We found the dirt road.

Well, we found a road that had been dirt and 

was now completely turned to mud.

Then we found a long line of traffic waiting on this

road of mud.

A narrow road of mud with an occasional 

car headed in the other direction causing the 

entire row of waiting cars to move to the 

perilous piles of mud at the road side.

Thankfully no one got stuck as we 

moved slowly, stopping often, 

toward the event site.

It became clear that the parking and the 

concert stage were far, far apart.

I begged Warren to ask if we could 

go closer to drop the kids off because I 

had to show my ID to pick up the tickets we had 

purchased.  At a tent, near the stage.

Thankfully, they let us drive down the sodden road

and up the hill to a spot closer to the tent.

(About a quarter of a mile)

Along this way families

and youth groups were sloshing through mud

and puddles and walking in front of us,

beside us and behind us.

Not an ideal situation.

Finally, we arrived at the "top" of the hill

behind two stuck vehicles and a big bus.

Warren said there was no way he would pull into the 

field where cars were being parked with promises

to pull them out later.

Jonathan, Chelsea and I got out and waded though

ankle deep mud to the tent.

I'm thinking that this is ridiculous because we were 

planning to come back for them at 11pm.

Things were only going to get worse.

But, this was what we had come to do

and we were going to make the best of it.

After saying goodbye and making arrangements

for a general meeting place at 11pm we left.

My heart pounding.

Did I mention they had not eaten dinner?

I assumed, incorrectly, that we would pass something

on the way....nope!

But surely they would find something there.....

I crawled gingerly back in the van trying to keep my mud encased

feet from touching anything of import.

Warren was so calm and sweet when he 

said that it was just mud and we could clean 

it up....obviously he was beyond himself.

He would normally avoid this at all costs...

but what could he do, really?

So, obviously, we couldn't walk into a restaurant

like this...I mean they would likely just toss us out.

So...back to the hotel to wash my one and only 

pair of shoes in the sink.  We were only going to be 

gone a short time....why would I need more than

one pair of shoes?

Sigh....

Finally sometime after 8pm we headed out to find 

dinner.  Bertucci's fit the bill.  

It was close.

The food is good.

And ....did I mention it was close?

We took our time with the salad and bread

and were leisurely eating our main course

when the cell phone rang.

The kids had had enough.

They were about to begin the trek down to 

our meeting place.

We told them we would see them in about an 

hour.  One would have thought we could

make it in that time.

However, the fog had rolled in and formed

a blanket around all of that beautiful scenery.

The going was slow.

And then there were flashing lights ahead.

This didn't look good.

It wasn't.

Some of the young people from the festival

had crashed their SUV.

We found out later they were fine

but we sat on the road for about 20 minutes

while the accident was cleaned up.

I was somewhat concerned about Jonathan 

and Chelsea now waiting way past the time

we had agreed to meet but as there was 

nothing we could do I tried to put 

my mind at rest.  

Finally, we followed the tow truck and 

its occupants up to the festival site where the

four young men piled out, obviously shaken.

I asked them if they were ok and they responded 

to the affirmative.  Such a blessing!

Jonathan and Chelsea had not been bored

while waiting for us.

Apparently due to their location they had 

been serving by answering questions, directing campers

and Jonathan had helped to push at least one 

car out of the mud.

A little bit of the mud....the rest is still in the car.

You don't want to see his shoes. We are going shoe shopping.  He needs them for work tomorrow night.

They both chattered away about the day

but had not gotten anything to eat and were

starving by now...after 11:00 PM.

Having thought ahead we had asked our 

server about local McDonald's.

We already had one scoped out and in the 

GPS by the time we picked up the kids,

slipped and slid our way down the road, 

then squinted through the fog and 

made our way back to civilization.

It was so good to get back to the hotel

and return to our beautiful room and soft

comfy beds.

That, my friends was day one of our

adventure.  Day two began with 

Chelsea speaking softly in the dark....

"I don't think we need to go back today.

I'm just not up to all that mud."

OKAY!

That works for me.

Don't know what we are going to do today.

But we'll have fun together.

We might end up in DC or Baltimore

or perhaps just go to a mall and shop...

I'll let you know...

Later!