A Vacation (Adventure) with My Family - This is what makes it all worth it…

Peyton and I (2003)
One of the things that prompted me to get into shape was the thought of not being able to play with my son as he grew up.


I look back at pictures of me holding him as a baby and cannot believe how close I was to missing out on some of the best moments of my life.



This year, I decided to take my son on a road trip for his Spring Break.  He’s seven and in the second grade so I figured this was a great time to do it (before he's too embarrassed to hang out with me).


With this in mind, I sat down and planned out a full week of crazy adventures.


We started with a family run, the Krispy Kreme Donut Run.  This was on the first day of his vacation (Saturday).  My wife, son and me made up Team "Moore Ons Running" and had a blast running the 3 mile race (and eating the donuts).
Team Moore Ons Running!


After the race, we drove to Gatlinburg, TN.  We stopped several times to walk around and take in the scenery.  We made it there that evening, parked our car and started walking.  We checked out the stores, played putt putt golf, walked some more and then went swimming.



Gatlinburg
The next day we had planned to run a three mile trail race, but we were caught in traffic and missed the race (that was a bummer).  So we went for a hike, walked around some more and did a lot of swimming to make up for the missed run.  


Whitewater Rafting!
Monday we drove to Bryson City, NC, for a whitewater rafting trip!  This was a full on two hour trip down the Nantahala River!  I planned the trip with Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) and they were amazing.  It was a total blast (and workout) and my son got to have an incredible outdoors adventure that he will never forget.  No way would I have been able to do that four years ago…


Peyton taking it all in...
On our trip back to Gatlinburg over the Smoky Mountains (it’s about an hour) we hiked some trails to a waterfall and a great lookout.  It was so amazing…



When we got back that night we still had enough energy to go to the Aquarium.  We spent a few hours there and then headed back to the hotel (and more swimming).




Natural Bridge KY 
The next three days we were in Kentucky to visit my family.  One day we hiked for hours to the top of Natural Bridge and were treated to some of the coolest sites ever.  The next day we visited the Dam at Cave Run Lake and even ran up to the top!



Peyton and Jen!
We headed back through West Virginia and Virginia and stopped in North Carolina where we met up with my wife Jen.  The next morning we got up and spent the day at Carowinds amusement park (hours and hours of walking, riding and just plain fun).  We even did some shopping at the Lego Store that night and headed back to the hotel.


We stayed one more day to hit IKEA and then headed home to South Carolina.



Now that’s a road trip!



Long Road Trip...
I could not even imagine doing all this when I weighed over 265 pounds.  I think of all these great times and memories we will have from this trip and how close I was to never being able to do these things.  


These are the motivators in my life; these are the things that get me out of bed at 3:45am to run twenty miles in the middle of the hot Charleston summer (or winter).  


This is what makes it all worth it…

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