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Day 8 – App State at JMU, Harrisonburg // Maryland/Virginia 2023

Isaac Church — Sat, 18 Nov 2023 23:00:28 +0000

We all slept in this morning, which was quite welcome after our week-on-the-go parading around Maryland and the surrounding states/commonwealths.

Moxie33

Dad and I drove down from our Airbnb to Moxie33, a local bakery and coffee shop right next to Kline’s Dairy Bar, where we visited last night. We got a few flavors of sweet rolls (one caramel pecan sticky bun, one peaches and cream, and two browned butter cinnamon rolls) and some coffee to bring back for breakfast. Mom and Dad got mochas, Faith got an Americano, and I got black coffee. Everything was very good, and gave us a much-needed jump start to get us moving; we were all very tired.

Moxie33

App State at James Madison

Dad and I loaded up my car and drove into Harrisonburg to the campus of James Madison University (JMU), to tailgate with some friends and see some of the campus. JMU (ranked #18) was hosting ESPN’s College GameDay, which had been in Boone last year after our monumental victory over Texas A&M. The Dukes boasted an undefeated record for the 2023 season, and our Mountaineers hoped to spoil their chances at a perfect season.

Bridgeforth Stadium

App State at JMU

JMU’s stadium, Bridgeforth Stadium, is very nice (other than being purple), but is strangely lopsided, with most of the stands in one large half-bowl on only one side of the stadium.

App State at JMU

Meanwhile...

While Dad and I were at the game, Mom, Faith, and Walker spent the day shopping, browsing a large bookstore, and relaxing at the Airbnb.

Bridgeforth Stadium

Green Valley Book Fair - Crawford, VA

Harrisonburg, VA

7Brew

Sunset

Victory

The game went into overtime, but the Mountaineers managed to secure the victory with a goal line touchdown pass to Kaiden Robinson to end the game. There was a sizable crowd of App fans, up in the nosebleeds and the celebration was a lot of fun. It had gotten quite cold by the end of the game, but there was plenty of standing and jumping around to keep us warm.

App State at JMU

Here are some highlight videos from the game, and a recording of the entire TV broadcast.

Romano's // Kline's

After the game, we drove back to Massanutten, picked up dinner from Romano’s Italian Bistro, and took dinner back to the Airbnb. We got a bacon/pineapple and a meat lover’s pizza, and two Caesar salads. After scarfing down the pizza, Dad and I went back out to Kline’s Dairy Bar to get more soft serve, per Mom’s request. This time, we got two pints to go: chocolate and chocolate brownie batter. It was a very good meal, and we were happy to finally have some hot food after a very tiring and cold day.

Romano's Italian Bistro

Mom enjoyed her birthday dinner and dessert, but she especially enjoyed spending the day with Walker (and Faith)!

The Best Things we Saw Today

Isaac

The best thing I saw today was… “the victory celebration”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the browned butter cinnamon roll”.

Faith

The best thing I saw today was… “the book fair”.

The best thing I ate today was… “custard”.

Jerry

The best thing I saw today was… “an App State victory”.

The best thing I ate today was… “the cinnamon rolls”.

Amy

The best thing I saw today was… “the giant bookstore”.

The best thing I ate today was… “cinnamon roll and pizza”.

Conclusion

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Tomorrow, we’re headed back to North Carolina via Roanoke.

– The Churches

The post Day 8 – App State at JMU, Harrisonburg // Maryland/Virginia 2023 appeared first on Isaac Church // isaactchurch.com.

Trip 2, Day 1/2 – Austin, Snow’s BBQ, San Marcos // Texas 2022

Isaac Church — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 02:00:10 +0000

Welcome to part two of our 2022 Texas adventures! For those of you just now joining, we traveled to Texas at the beginning of September to watch App State upset #6 Texas A&M. Last time, Dad, Trevor, and I made the trip; this time we added Larry Knight (a friend from Granite Falls) and Cody (one of my college roommates).

The first two days of our second trip, we ate some excellent barbecue, saw some beautiful scenery, and watched an extremely disappointing football game.

Travel // Allison's

We all took a half day off work on Friday, and met in Granite Falls just before 13:00. From there, we piled into Larry’s SUV and headed for Asheville. First, we stopped at Allison’s Family Restaurant in Morganton so everyone could get caught up on lunch. After fighting I-26 traffic, we finally made it to the airport, and wound up having to park in an overflow lot (which I’m convinced was actually in Fletcher) and ride a shuttle back to the terminal. We checked in, and finally made it through security, notwithstanding a slight mishap with Cody’s birth date in the airline’s system.

Allison's Family Restaurant

Flying into AUS

Terry Black's BBQ

We landed in Austin just after 19:00CST at the AUS South Terminal, and waiting a solid 30 minutes on a shuttle to take us on a long drive back to the main terminal. As Cody commented, “It took us 30 minutes to get from the airport to the airport”.

We waited in a moderately long rental car line, got our matching black Nissan Altima’s (one for Larry and Dad and one for Cody, Trevor, and me), and headed to downtown Austin to find some food. Of course, our first stop in Texas was going to be barbecue, so we went to Terry Black’s BBQ in downtown Austin.

Terry Black’s is a buffet-style (except they dip/weigh everything for you) joint that serves a tremendous amount of people. I primarily chose it because they’re open late, and was honestly not expecting the food to be as good as it was. We got brisket (plus the free burnt ends they gave us), a beef rib, turkey, pork ribs, creamed corn, mac & cheese, pickles, jalapeños, onions, and white bread. For dessert, I got a peach cobbler, and everyone else got banana pudding.

Terry Blacks' BBQ

The whole meal was excellent. The brisket and beef rib had a thick, peppery crust and a delicious fat cap. The turkey was tender and moist, and the sides were very good. It was an excellent kick-off to our trip.

Terry Blacks' BBQ

Austin, TX

We were all genuinely surprised by this place. I expected a bit of a tourist trap because of the sheer volume of business they do, but I was wrong. Everything was exceptionally good, even late at night. While Snow’s was better, considering we didn’t have to wait in line at Terry Black’s (or wake up at 04:00), I’d be more likely to revisit Terry Black’s. Don’t miss the beef ribs!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

Lexington

The Austin City Limits music festival was going on, so it took quite a while to get out of Terry Black’s parking lot. However, while we waited, we enjoyed some of the best people-watching we’d ever seen, as thousands of University of Texas students paraded down the road in rickshaw bikes, on foot, and via other various wheeled vehicles.

We finally made it out of the parking lot, and drove northeast to Lexington, TX. If that sounds familiar to you, you’re not mistaken; we stayed there last time. Just after our first trip, we decided to make yet another early morning barbecue run, this time with Cody and Larry joining us.

We stayed at an Airbnb just outside of Lexington in Blue, TX. The property was managed by Rosamaria, who ran the 10 acres as a well-decorated “health retreat”. Clearly, our planned pre-dawn brisket run didn’t constitute “health”, but the house was a nice place to stay for the far-too-short night.

Snow's, Part II

Sometime before 04:30, I dragged everyone out of bed. Everyone piled (quite literally) in Larry and Dad’s rental car, and we drove over to Snow’s BBQ, arriving just before 04:45. Last time, we arrived around 05:15 and were #44 in line; this time, we were number #85, despite arriving over 30 minutes earlier. The five of us rotated standing in line and sitting at a picnic table, until an hour or so later when someone from Snow’s brought out a pallet of dilapidated lawn chairs. We snagged three of them.

Early start in Lexington, TX

At some point, Cody and I walked down the street to observe the local cattle auction. Eventually, Snow’s broke out the cornhole boards, and Cody and I took on Trevor and Larry. Pro tip: don’t play Larry in cornhole unless you enjoy getting soundly beaten, especially not at 05:00.

Snow's BBQ

Cattle auction

We soon realized what all the fuss and longer lines was about: Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages, a regional distributor, was sponsoring an event at Snow’s that day. They were giving away various prizes, and had commissioned a drone light show at around 06:00. I’d never witnessed anything like that…it was basically like a quiet, choreographed fireworks show. Here are some social media posts highlighting the event:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (@cocacolaswb)

The in the dark. @snowsbbq for @CocaColaSWB
CC: @flintfieldtx pic.twitter.com/ToD1wvk4rW
— Mark Champion (@Mark_Champion) October 13, 2022

The restaurant started serving around 07:30, and we got our food around 08:45. The line definitely moved faster than our previous visit. We ordered everything on the menu, except for chicken, which sold out at #80 in line, just before us. The food was just as special as before, and the ribs were even better this time. We ate at a picnic table beside the pits, and then headed back to our Airbnb.

Snow's BBQ

Brisket

Turkey and pork ribs

Pork steak and sausages

Dad and Larry left quickly so they could travel to New Braunfels to watch Larry’s grandson’s football game. Meanwhile, Cody, Trevor, and I stripped the beds, checked out, and then started the drive back towards Austin.

Snow's BBQ

Lexington, TX

Okay, you know this place is going to get three stars, because we’ve made two special trips to come eat here, and have woken up at 04:00 to wait in line for hours. Would I wake up that early again? If you offer me a chance to go back, I probably won’t refuse.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

McKinney Falls State Park

Our first stop was McKinney Falls State Park, which sits southeast of downtown on Onion Creek. The park has two falls, a variety of ruins, a giant bald cypress tree, and an old Tonkawa shelter dating back to 500 BC. We hiked the trail to the lower falls, and crossed the limestone creek bed to traverse the trail through the homestead and grist mill ruins. Both the upper and lower falls were quite dry due to the lack of recent rain, but there were several people swimming in the creek at their bases. Next, we drove up the road to the visitor center parking lot, walked to the upper falls, found “Old Baldy”, visited the ancient rock shelter, and got semi-lost in a cactus field on our way back to the car.

McKinney Falls State Park

Smith Rock Shelter

Cacti

Upper Falls

Dutch Bros

By now, we were thoroughly hot and exhausted, so we decided to seek out something cold to drink. After a quick search, I excitedly realized that Dutch Bros had spread to Texas. Faith and I discovered the Grants Pass, OR-based chain during our trip to Colorado Springs this summer. We each got a Dutch Freeze, a frappuccino-like drink with chocolate and a shot or two of espresso. It was extremely refreshing, and we immediately started discussing when we would return.

San Marcos

Since we didn’t really have time for another adventure before the football game, we decided to drive on to San Marcos, home of Texas State University. We easily found parking next to the stadium, and proceeded to walk around campus and the town for a couple hours. Texas State has a beautiful (and huge) campus, highlighted by the San Marcos River flowing through the area. There’s a place on campus where they’ve canaled the river, and students can swim in the clear waters under lifeguard supervision. Farther downstream, you can rent a kayak and paddle through campus and town.

San Marcos River

While we’d rate their campus 5 stars for water features, we would rate it 0 stars for gameday atmosphere, 1 star for landscaping, and 1 star for friendliness. The friendliness star was earned solely by a campus employee who directed us from our parking lot towards the river and campus. Most of their campus is on a sizeable hill, with nice views of the buildings below. Other highlights of our campus tour included not finding a statue of George Strait (very disappointing, considering he’s an alumnus), finding a statue of LBJ (I guess that’s understandable, since he was president), and a finding a very large statue of fighting horses (with no plaque explaining its meaning). Interestingly, their performing arts theater also had a moat around it, scattered with several sizable snapping turtles.

Texas State University

Not George Strait

Moat

Snapping turtle

Texas State University

Football

Soon, we walked over to Bobcat Stadium, well before kickoff, to watch warmups and explore the venue. It’s a pretty nice stadium, but the overall gameday atmosphere pales in comparison to most college football games we’ve visited. Atmosphere aside, Appalachian played horribly, mostly thanks to a lack of pass defense, and suffered an embarrassing loss. But, as always, it’s great to be a Mountaineer, and we all had fun despite the dismal result.

Bobcat Stadium

Tailgating

Bobcat Stadium

Buc-ee's // In-N-Out

After the game, Cody, Trevor, and I managed to weave our way back to our car, despite railroad tracks and baseball fields making it challenging to walk in a straight line. Once again, we drove south on I-35, this time heading towards San Antonio for the night. On the way, we stopped at Buc-ee’s (read this post for more info) so Cody could experience the 138 gas pumps and endless snack options. Instead of getting “sat-out-all-day” food from Buc-ee’s, we opted to drive down the street to In-N-Out for a hot $3.25 burger. Can’t beat that! It took a while to get our food, but it was delicious.

Buc-ee's

In-N-Out Burger

We finally arrived at our hotel in San Antonio around 23:00, and immediately headed to bed.

Conclusion

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The next two days, we’ll explore San Antonio and possibly more of Austin.

– Isaac & Co.

Snow's BBQ

Restaurant

Location

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* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

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Part 2 – New Orleans 2019

Isaac Church — Sun, 29 Dec 2019 03:33:00 +0000

We opened day two in New Orleans with a typical mediocre hotel breakfast, and immediately headed over the National World War II Museum for the day. Tonight is the New Orleans Bowl!

National WWII Museum

We didn’t take many photos in the museum, because we were far too busy engaging with the exhibits. It was a fascinating museum, and we all learned many new things about WWII. Each exhibit was decorated/designed to reflect the circumstances of the subject matter; for instance, it was colder in the room about the Battle of the Bulge, and hot in the North African front exhibit. Time passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was time for lunch.

Cochon

Some friends of ours recommended Cochon, a modern Southern/Cajun restaurant in the warehouse district, within walking distance of the museum. Though arriving earlier than our reservation, we were immediately seated, and promptly ordered a variety of items to split:

Fried alligator with chili-garlic mayonaise
Pork belly confit with sweet apple relish
Boucherie plate (cured meats, pickles, mustard, head cheese, pickled green tomatoes, crab pâté, and crostinis)
Wood-fired shrimp with chili-garlic butter
Macaroni and cheese

Mac & cheese, pork belly, and shrimp

Yeast rolls

Alligator

Boucherie plate

The entire meal was outstanding, from the complimentary yeast rolls to the mustard. We all agreed the macaroni and cheese was by far the best any of us have ever had, which is saying something.

Cochon

New Orleans, LA

One of the best, and most distinctive meals I’ve ever had. Everything was amazing – this was probably our best meal in NOLA, or maybe in the whole south.

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

More Museum

After lunch, we walked back to the museum and browsed some more. At 15:00 we headed to the Solomon Victory Theater to watch a fantastic ~45min 4D movie narrated by Tom Hanks.

I would highly recommend visiting the WWII museum if you ever get the chance. All the exhibits were extremely realistic, engaging, and inspiring. It was great for all ages, and we could’ve spent far more time there than we did.

The museum finally wore us out, so we headed back to our hotel to rest a little before the big game.

Enigma

Bourbon House

Bourbon House oysters

Before the game, we went to grab a quick bite at Bourbon House in the French Quarter, after our original restaurant choice had a line wrapped around the block.

It turned out to be a fortunate misfortune: we split two dozen charbroiled oysters with a Creole bordelaise sauce, and a Caesar salad topped with Brussels sprouts and bacon. Both dishes were excellent, and we soon arrived at the Superdome with no delay.

Bourbon House

New Orleans, LA

We only got oysters and a salad, but I’d come back just for that!

* – Would definitely visit again

** – Exceptional, must visit if you’re in the area

*** – Worth making a special trip to eat there

For more info on food ratings, click here.

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

As I mentioned in the Introduction, App played UAB in the New Orleans Bowl, at 20:00CST (21:00EST). We arrived around 18:00CST, found our seats, reunited with many friends of ours, and prepared to watch the game. I donned my protective plastic faceguard to shield my nose…

After a rough start, the Mountaineers pulled together and dominated the final three quarters of the game, pulling out a 31-17 victory over the Blazers. The victory extended App’s NCAA record of five straight bowl victories by teams in their first years of bowl eligibility.

The Superdome lit up black and gold after a Mountaineer victory

Victory Donuts

Once back at the hotel, we were too hyped-up to go to sleep, so I ordered us a dozen donuts via Uber Eats, and they arrived at our doorstep a quick 25 minutes later. They were unsurprisingly a bit stale from sitting in the shop most of the day, but they hit the spot nonetheless. The sugar rush didn’t keep us from crashing in bed less than 10 minutes after our last bites.

Conclusion

That’s all for today! More to come…

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl 2019

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Introduction – New Orleans 2019

Isaac Church — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 19:01:29 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all! I don’t know about everyone else, but it’s been a busy fall and holiday season for us. It seems I’ve been traveling every other week: Brazil, Atlanta/Columbia/Chapel Hill, plus a couple undocumented work trips to West Virginia, Raleigh, and Charlotte.

I originally thought my next blog would be a trip with Faith, but it seems I jumped the gun on that thought, because the travel bug has bitten once again. I’m headed with Dad and Trevor to the Big Easy for [prepare to be shocked] App’s bowl game.

Updates

Aside from football and the aforementioned traveling, our lives have been pretty jam-packed. Faith has been busy teaching violin/piano, and playing at weddings and Christmas productions. Mom had gall bladder surgery that ended up being more complicated than expected, but is now recovering well. We’re all looking forward to some peace and quiet over Christmas.

I broke/dislocated my nose on our anniversary, so more to come on that.

Bowling

After a stellar 12-1 season, the Mountaineers were overlooked by the CFP committee for the Cotton Bowl, and instead are headed back to New Orleans, LA for the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, where they will face the 9-4 University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) Blazers.

After the sudden, but overall-unsurprising departure of Eliah Drinkwitz after one successful season with the Mountaineers, O-Line/assistant head coach Shawn Clark will take over as the 22^nd head coach of the ASU football program.

The bowl game will be nationally televised on ESPN at 8EST/9CST, and will be in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Conclusion

Our flight to NOLA (MSY airport) leaves Greensboro at 06:30 Friday morning, so I have a lot of prep to do before then.

Thanks for reading! As always, we look forward to sharing our travels.

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Pennsylvania Day 2/3

Isaac Church — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 02:24:28 +0000

Before I get started: sorry that this blog is coming about a week late; I’ve been very busy since I got back, and haven’t had time to work on it until today.

The Morning

Saturday morning, we awoke around 7:00 and enjoyed the remainder of our donuts from Krumpee’s (2 Bavarian cream, a coconut, and a glazed chocolate cake) for breakfast. We stopped at a gas station close to our hotel for fuel, and then started making our way up to State College, Pennsylvania.

There is no good way to get to State College. We were feeling adventurous, so we opted to take the most direct route, which was certainly not the easiest. We were mainly on US-522, US-22, and PA-26, but our path wound its way through the Pennsylvania mountains with numerous turns and side roads. To our great annoyance, we got caught behind an enormous tractor for almost 30 minutes, and finally ended our suffering when the driver decided to turn off into one of the thousands of corn fields we’d been driving through. It was a very scenic drive, but we thought it was never going to end!

The Pennsylvania State University

It seemed as if State College just materialized out of nowhere. It is very isolated, but the campus itself is quite expansive. After getting stuck on some side roads, we finally made it to the yellow lot (which was just one of the intramural fields), and parked. Those people know how to tailgate! I’ve never seen so many people crammed into one space. Everyone was very friendly, and it was definitely the most welcoming crowd of all the Power 5 schools we’ve faced.

After we parked, we walked around campus for well over an hour, seeing the soccer fields, swimming complex, tennis courts, intramural facilities, practice facilities, dorms, and several academic buildings. The most interesting structure we saw was the Millenium Campus building, which housed life sciences, design, and several other programs. It is a very bizarre shape, and had an open space with a garden in the center of it.

The Pennsylvania State University

The Tailgate

Finally, we met up with Cody and Morgan McKinney (my former roommate/fellow accounting graduate and his wife), and Kenneth Davis and his friend Blake, who we know from other Appalachian sporting events. We’d planned to tailgate with some friends of Kenneth, so we waited around until we finally found where they were parking. Somehow, they’d managed to secure a spot in the green lot right next to the visitor’s gate. We enjoyed a wonderful tailgate, and Cody, Morgan, and I walked around the stadium some more.

The Game

About an hour and a half before kickoff, we entered Beaver stadium, and climbed up to our seats. It was a fantastic game! I’m sure you’ve seen multiple highlights from it by now. It was wonderful to hear the fans silenced as we far surpassed all reasonable expectations for a small Group of Five school.

I’m still disappointed that we lost in overtime, but it was one of the best football games I’ve ever seen, and I have great confidence that we are well-situated for the current and the next several years. All I really care about is that we destroy UNC-Charlotte next weekend in Charlotte at Jerry Richardson Stadium.

The Post-Game Meal

After the game, we finally found the truck (there were so many people and cars we weren’t sure we would), and headed out of town to I-99. Along the way, we dropped off Kenneth and Blake at their hotel. We decided to take the Interstate back, rather than attempting to navigate the Pennsylvania backwoods in the dark. A few exits down, we stopped at an Outback to take care of our hunger and exhaustion (we felt like we’d been down on the field playing alongside the team).

We took I-99 > I-70 > I-81 back to our hotel, about a 2h 40m drive. Finally we arrived back at the hotel, and immediately showered and fell asleep, only pausing to watch our highlights on SportsCenter before we headed to bed.

Outback

The Sunday Travel

The next morning, we woke up around 7:30, and left our hotel by 8:00 for our journey home. We made it through most of the Shenandoah Valley in good time, only stopping once at a rest area. Around 11:30, we stopped at a barbecue restaurant in Christiansburg, VA (halfway between Roanoke and Blacksburg) called Due South BBQ. Dad got a brisket sandwich, mac & cheese, baked beans, and banana pudding; I got a pulled pork sandwich, mac & cheese, and fried okra. The sandwiches were excellent, and we enjoyed some live music from a local while we ate.

Around 13:45, we arrived back where I had dropped my car in Wilkesboro. I journeyed back up the mountain for my weekly Sunday afternoon soccer match at the Valle Crucis Community Park, and Dad headed back to Granite Falls.

Overall, it was a great trip, even though we lost, and we are looking forward to many other Power 5 road trips in the future. We are also traveling to Charlotte for our game next weekend, but I likely won’t break out the blog for that, since it’s just a day trip.

Thanks for reading! I hope to have my email links fixed soon.

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Pennsylvania 2018 – Introduction

Isaac Church — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:55:29 +0000

Greetings everyone!

Our family trip happened in March instead of August this year, so I’ve all but neglected the blog for the summer. I’ve sort of been looking for even the slightest excuse to publish something, since there are a lot of updates to give! It’s been a summer of exciting changes, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share a bit about the happenings.

Major Events - Graduation

I guess I should go in order…

First of all, I graduated! If that sounds like déjà vu all over again, it is. This was my third [and likely final] time graduating from ASU. This was my official graduation with two master’s degrees: a Master of Science in Accountancy, and a Master of Business Administration in Applied Business Analytics. I graduated as the top MBA student, and was invited to be the student speaker at graduation! This was a huge blessing, and I’m very grateful for that opportunity.

Graduation 2018

You can watch my commencement address in the video below:

Major Events - Employment

After an extensive job search, I accepted a position with Lowe’s Companies, Inc. in Wilkesboro, NC. I will continue to live in Boone, and commute off the mountain. I’m on the projects team in the accounting department, so I’ll be working on a wide variety of material, including a good bit of data analysis, so I’ll be making good use of all my degrees.

Major Events - Engagement

Last, and certainly not least, as most of you already know, I got engaged this summer!

A quick fun fact rundown:

Faith and I have known each other for a little over 6 years, but only dated for a very short time! We both knew very quickly we wanted to marry each other.
She is from Valle Crucis, and is a senior violin performance major at ASU (think professional weddings/symphony/teaching lessons).
We are getting married in Boone on December 15th.
You can find more info on our wedding website, isaacandfaith.com.

About 30 minutes after the proposal - Wiseman's View, NC

We are planning on taking a short honeymoon in December, and later (maybe in the summer) will hopefully travel somewhere awesome together! So, stay tuned for a blog series featuring the adventures of Isaac and Faith…

Major Events - Power Tools/Soccer/Website

In other less exciting news, the Church Family’s lives have consisted of wedding planning, yard care (our weedeater died, and Dad and I are very excited about the opportunity to use new power tools), the occasional picnic, and the occasional Saturday road trip. In the fall, I’m also going to be playing on a High Country Soccer adult league team in the Appalachian Mountain Brewery Premier League.

Also, you might–or, more likely, might not–have noticed that my website is slightly revamped and significantly faster. I finally gave up on my pocket computer server in my living room, and am now hosting the site via AWS Lightsail. In simpler terms, this means it will be faster, and less likely to go offline.

I basically recreated the site by hand because my old server was too decrepit to do any kind of data transfer, so there might be a few bugs or inconsistencies here and there. I was also unable to transfer any comments anyone may have left on posts. However, the email newsletter should still work, and I hope this site will last for many years to come!

Major Event - Football Season

I mentioned I needed a reason to fire up the blog again (other than just to give a life update), and what better excuse than Appalachian State football? So, finally, the reason that I’m posting on my travel blog: it’s road trip* time for the Church Family^!

*Note: by ‘road trip’, I mean a one and two-halves day trip.

^Note 2: by ‘Church Family’, I mean Dad and me, but that’s no surprise to those of you who know Mom’s football game attendance record.

On Labor Day weekend, ASU opens their 2018 football season at Penn State, and Dad and I are going to make the trip to Beaver Stadium in State College, PA to see the game! We plan on leaving NC Friday afternoon and driving to Hagerstown, MD (about 5h 20m through the never-ending Shenandoah Valley), and then driving the remaining 2h 30m to Penn State University the next morning; kickoff is at 3:30pm. After the game, we’ll return to Hagerstown, and will journey home Sunday. On our way home, we might stop in Shenahdoah National Park, or somewhere else along the way.

That’s all the life updates for now! Thanks for following our travels (even if this round will be brief). You can click the button below to subscribe to posts, if you haven’t already.

Beaver Stadium

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