We had more visitors! The Carter Crew descended on North Carolina, some flying down and some even driving all the way from Michigan. We had a blast hanging out with them in their rental cabin and exploring all that Grandfather Mountain had to offer.

We started our adventure together with a trip to Crab Orchard Falls. Which was a nice, relatively easy one mile round trip hike through a woods filled with rhododendron bushes. The waterfall was very scenic and had places for the boys (of all ages) to scramble up the rocks to explore the falls higher up the mountain. Little Hosanna decided that she wanted to walk Remi and did an amazing job holding onto the leash with me for almost the entire hike! After our hike we drove over to the Original Mast General Store in Sugar Mountain, NC where we walked through the multi-story old-time general store.

The next day we got an early start and went up to catch the view at the Beacon Heights Overlook Trail….and our roughly mile hike was rewarded with a view of…fog. Although it made for some cool “edge of the world” pictures it was a bit of let down so we hiked around on the trails that went down the mountain for a bit and then went back to the cabin for lunch and little kid nap time. Afterwards we made the short drive back to the overlook to see if we could catch the view now that the fog had burned off and we were not disappointed.

On our last day with the Carter Crew we made the roughly 30 minute drive to the Hawksbill Mountain Trail . This was a more intense hike that took us nearly a mile up a mountain side, which Hosanna once again mostly walked on her own holding Remi’s leash with me. At the top we were throughly rewarded with an almost 360 degree view of the mountains. It was an impressive vista that even the boys spent close to 10 minutes taking in (hence why there are so many pictures from our time at the top).

On our drive back to the campsite I noticed that the voltage on the truck kept randomly dropping. Later that night I tested the alternator and found that is was generating between 7 and 12 volts and it was constantly jumping around. Suspecting a bad internal voltage regulator I ordered a new one and swapped them at the campground. Thankfully we were fortunate enough to have family visiting so I had a car to borrow and I didn’t have to rely on a taxi to bring my new part like last time.

All things considered, our time in Banner Elk ended up being less about North Carolina and more about having family around again. Just like our last visit from family, having more than just the four of us together in one place—some of whom had driven all the way from Michigan—was incredibly special. We got to hike, explore, laugh, let the cousins run around together and, for a few days, feel a little less like we were living on the road. It was hard to say goodbye when everyone headed home, but seeing them was also so motivating to have them come. This trip has been long, complicated and at times pretty exhausting, and having people we love make that much effort to come be part of it reminded us that we aren’t doing any of this alone.