Hansel & Gretel, Part 2

In the original, the crummy parents took the kids out in the woods and tried to lose them, and they were nearly eaten by a witch.  What a heart-warming story to tell your kids at bedtime, no?

As you're aware, seven of our dozen grandkids live in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and only make it back to the States once a year.  They've been here for almost a month, visiting their dad's family out west, and then attending the Henderson beach reunion a couple of weeks ago.  

We also try to do something fun with them and their cousins from Jacksonville, North Carolina while they're here, such as rafting or camping or hiking.

This year we decided to try to lose them in the woods.

We took them to the mountains of Virginia and rode bicycles down the Virginia Creeper rails-to-trails path.

They had a lot of fun, 18 miles of gradual downhill following the route of an old limited rail line.  However, try as we might, we weren't able to ditch them.

Perhaps you're aware of the hazards of playground equipment.

We couldn't find any that was very scary.  

Figuring that the freezing-cold pool at the motel would slow them down, we tried that.  They figured out how to get back in the motel and found their way back to their rooms.  Great.  

Next, we found a Dominoes Pizza that was so cold you could see your breath.  Maybe loading them down with pepperoni and making a break for the van would throw them off our trail.  No such luck.

So we tried again, this time hiking up the trail to Mt. Rogers, the highest mountain in Virginia.  

We saw them trying to leave a trail of candy wrappers to find their way back, and one of them reminded the others of Park rules and they picked them up.  Our big chance!  

We re-oriented the trail markers to lose them.  No luck.

The Creepy Cave That Probably Has A Bear!?  He was apparently on holiday.

Speed on our part turned out to be a no-go.  They were usually way ahead of us.

How about one of the oldest tricks in the book - The Poison Berries Gambit?  That ought to work!

Turns out they were blackberries and were actually delicious.  Aaargh!

Our last chance was the feared Wild Horses of Mt. Rogers!

Yeah, well, they turned out to be the Placid Ponies of Mt. Rogers, more interested in whatever snacks we had than devouring our grandkids.

Driving their cholesterol levels up eating fast food on the way home was going to be waaayy to slow.

In the end, we gave them back to their parents, who had enjoyed a couple of quiet days back in Raleigh and were ready to tackle the horde again themselves.  

So, just as in Hansel & Gretel, Part 1, everything came out OK in the end.  We wished the Uzbek gang a good trip back to Tashkent as we left them (safely) at the airport early this morning.

We hope that your grandkid adventures are as much fun and that you can't lose yours either.

Dave & Paula