Last Christmas …. well, actually in 2023, my parents gifted the family with a summer of 2024 vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. But then, mom was diagnosed with colon cancer and treatments started. So, that summer, we headed to Geneva-on-the-Lake. So… this past Christmas (2025), they decided to try again and chose Sandbridge Beach, Virginia. A date was picked early on (June 27-July4) based on work schedules/vacations, and we all waited for summer.
On Friday, we loaded up our car and went to pick up Lilli. She was our adopted child for the way down since Luke’s work schedule shifted, and he couldn’t leave til Sunday, they sent the kids early – Lilli with us, and Sam with Ben and Steph. The girls were excited about the extra rider! We decided to sit everyone in the second row utilizing our 8th seat so we had more space for all the stuff you take to the beach – 4 beach chairs, 3 umbrellas, 4 boogie boards, towels, suitcases, and the regular travel paraphernalia… no one has ever said I traveled lightly.
We drove about 5 hours before pulling in for the night around 7pm. But then, Jeremy said we were close to the Greenbriar Resort, and would anyone like to go? Uh, no one except him even knew what Greenbriar was/is. He tried to hype it up with lots of info… maybe some of these facts, but we had already sat in a car for 5 hours and another 15ish one way didn’t sound appealing. That said, I try to make myself a better human being by doing things that stretch me to learn, so I said I would go. Lilli joined suit, and then the girls were on board.
It was pretty cool. It was grand, beautiful, historical… and we were 100% out of place in our travel clothes while most others walked around in cocktail dresses, suit coats, and the like holding glasses of wine/champagne. But, it didn’t thwart us too much from gawking, posing, and taking it in.
The next day, we headed out early to go to another (planned) historical stop – Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home. We had a tour scheduled of the house around 11am and they ask you be there 30 minutes early. We had a little time to explore the grounds, but were sucked into the hands-on fun they had in place that day – probably in conjunction with the 250th celebration of the United States of America. We printed the Declaration of Independence with a letterpress and ink. It was pretty cool.
You could also try your hand at using a feather fountain pen to sign your name. Harder than it looks.
The tour was pretty interesting.
We learned about his relationship with various politicians, that he was in debt due to the extravagance of the home,
the replicas of the trades/peace offerings with Native Americans, the authentic antlers from Lewis and Clark expeditions,
his tiny bed he slept propped up in and had an iced foot bath beside each morning,
portraits, books some of which he actually owned,
a polygraph machine that would basically copy his letters as he wrote them so he could keep a record of his correspondence to and from others,
his slaves, the slave, Sally Hemings, he had children with and then continued to enslave her and his children – this fact, that our American presidents, had slaves even after signing the Declaration of Independence in which all men are declared equal is so disturbing to me. That coupled with the way they cared for their slaves – in life and in death. I remember some of these same conflicting feelings when we went to Mount Vernon with the 8th graders this year. It reminds me how important it is to do as we say.
and that he brought over things from French culinary trips like French fries, mac and cheese, and ice cream.
Unfortunately, due to communication issues between Jeremy and myself as well as the desire to get to the beach, we missed the movie and more time to walk around. Maybe next time. The view on the back of the nickel…
Others also traveled on Friday/Saturday – Mom and Dad left on Friday morning, Ben and Steph left later in the afternoon, and Nate and Jen left Saturday morning… and Luke surprised Steph and they took off Saturday evening to get in a little sooner on Sunday!
We ended up getting to the beach house around 6pm. We had offered to pick up supper (pizza) on our way in, so that felt helpful to me. We had our first meal together as a family that night.
And who can resist heading to the beach on day one… just for the view if nothing else. *Grandpa was the only one who got his shorts soaked by going in!
As night fell, we headed to our determined rooms – couples in their own rooms (Nate/Jen, Erin/Jeremy, Mom/Dad on main floor; Luke/Steph, Ben/Steph on kids’ floor), Meg, Madison, Landen, and Ellie together in the tiny bunk bed room; Chloe, Lilli, and Sophie in a room; and Cale, Pax, and Sam in a room with a queen bed and a twin on the floor.
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