It Was Good - While It Lasted

Ahhh... vacation.  A time to relax.  A time to unwind.  A time to slow down and just enjoy each day.  And that's exactly what we did.

This year's trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina was another big win.  Sitting on the beach, soaking in the sun, the surf, the sand.  Light houses, historical sites, surf and sound fishing for the guys.  It was a glorious, stress free week!   (Disclaimer - several of the next few posts to this blog will be trip related.  So, if you're interested in our vacation - you're in for a treat.  If you're scowling at the idea of having to sit through a slide show of our trip - you may want to just skip reading those posts.)

But, as we know - all good things must come to an end.  As did our vacation.  With a bang.  Literally.  As we started to cruise our way out of the Piedmont and into the Mountains - the family vehicle chose that moment to throw a rod.  Bringing the trip to a rather abrupt end.  Fortunately it was at the end of the trip.  And we were close enough to home to have family come rescue us rather quickly and close enough to have the car towed to town.  Unfortunately we are now looking at the unexpected expense of putting a new engine into the vehicle. 

What is it with us, transmissions, and vacations??  We ended up with this car 5 years ago when the transmission went out on our minivan while in Florida!  Only 2 exits away from our destination of the day: Sea World.  That time we were also fortunate to be within driving range of the Florida relatives and to have a brother in law who worked for a car dealership. 

They say there's a bright side to every penny.  I suppose our bright side is that even when these automobile related disasters occur we have never been stranded in the middle of nowhere, and it has never ruined the actual vacation.  Which was good... while it lasted.