During this Thanksgiving break, I took a 14-hour road trip to my second home: Lake Toxaway, N.C.. My trip included plenty of pleasant people, pie and pickleball.
Since we arrived at Lake Toxaway at 2 a.m. on Saturday after driving through the night on Friday, we spent most of the first day of the trip waiting around the house. We ended the night by continuing our family tradition of having dinner at Villa Amato, our favorite Italian place.
Sunday was a more active day, with a visit to the country club for lunch, drinks and, of course, the Miami Dolphins football game. Later in the evening, my tía’s family finally arrived, bringing laughter and noise to the house once again. We finished our day off with a huge family dinner, complete with my cousins Seba, Juliana and Javi all sleeping over when the night ended.
On Monday, we visited the RV resort my cousins were staying at and (poorly) played pickleball. The pickleball court was situated at the highest point of the resort, with a gorgeous view of the Blue Ridge mountains, featuring fog and occasional rain. We played until around 4 p.m., where we had a late lunch consisting of burgers and strawberries in the 47-degree weather. We ended the night with yet another family dinner and sleepover, but this night, my cousin Juliana, my sister Joanna and I spent the rest of our night watching “The Great British Baking Show: Juniors.”
Tuesday was a jam-packed day, with things to do at every hour; the main event of the night being my oldest brother arriving home from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To beat the torrential downpours that followed us around the entire day, we left the house at 9:30 a.m. and made our way into South Carolina and to Clemson University, which consisted of a one-and-a-half hour drive filled with amazing views of the fall foliage mixed with rain and the curves of the mountain. While at Clemson, my dad, mom, tía, sister and I visited a cafe and drank coffee and ate delicious cakes. After our short visit to Clemson, we made our way to Greenville, where we visited the Falls Park on the Reedy River, which was a giant waterfall sandwiched in between two beautiful resorts in the middle of the city. Lastly, we ended our day trip to South Carolina by go-karting. After being stuck in the rain all day, burning rubber on the tracks was just what we needed to do to lift the rainy spirits. After 45 minutes of drifting, speeding and almost getting totaled by Seba, we rushed out to retrieve the five pies and carrot cake my mom ordered earlier that day — the carrot cake was some of the greatest I ever ate. We finally retrieved the pies after a drive through the pouring rain, ending our night with a pasta and pie feast.
On Wednesday we had a late start, driving 30 minutes into the town of Brevard. Brevard is filled with cute stores and a tiny movie theater that plays one movie per week. While in Brevard, we got ice cream at their local Kilwins, and Joanna and I went to the local bookstore, Highland Books. There, we sat in the store’s lounge area and read for around three hours before going home.
On Thanksgiving day, we woke up late and spent our morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Around noon, we made our way to the meadows at the top of the mountain and my brothers, cousins, tío and dad played their annual Thanksgiving championship football game, whoever scored the most would get the turkey leg. My dad, my brother Jake and Seba were able to demolish Ben, Javi and my Tío Felipe. At around 2 p.m. we returned to the house for a lunch of grilled cheese, tomato soup and more pie. Our Thanksgiving dinner was much later in the evening, after watching more Bake-Off and sleeping for three hours. We feasted on turkey, rice and beans, brussel sprouts, stuffing, salad and mini hotdogs. For dessert, we had chocolate mousse. Sadly, that night was also the night we had to say goodbye to our cousins who were leaving the next day.
Friday and Saturday were both days of waiting around the house, eating leftovers and doing work. But on Saturday, we spent our evening saying goodbye to my oldest brother Jake and packing for our 15-hour drive the next day.
Overall, I am extremely grateful to have been able to visit my home away from home and to spend it with such an amazing and loving family.
