Back to work after 2 weeks vacation. I love taking time off in the Fall. After working all summer in a beach resort environment, I am always ready to get away from all this and see something different.

The first week was spent painting the living room, cleaning out closets, setting up the guest room, and throwing out useless junk. Why do we keep that stuff around? Taking up precious space and causing frustration.

Last Sunday night, we decided to pack our bags and load the car. We took an impromptu road trip. Stopping at Ft Bragg to see our son-in-law for about an hour. He was at Bragg for 3 days from Germany. Hadn't seen him since November and was he surprised at my weight loss! I now weigh about 17lbs more than he does...he's about 2 iches taller than me and of course he's the one with muscles...lol.

After our visit with our SIL, we decided to see where the road would take us. We stopped in Sanford NC for dinner, then off to Pilot Mountain NC. Spent the night in a nasty motel just north of Winston-Salem...not my choice, but my DH was tired of riding and wanted to stop at the 1st place he found. Next morning, we went to Mt Airy, home of all things Andy Griffith and Mayberry. We did the tourist thing and walked all over town. Beautiful weather, cute town, and nice people. Stayed in a nice hotel with a view of Pilot Mountain that night, went hiking on the mountain the next day. The leaf colors were gorgeous, the view breathtaking, and I didn't want to leave. But off to Asheboro we went, stopped for some retail therapy along the way, and enjoyed dinner and a quiet evening there. walked all over the mall after dinner to help work off dinner.

This is the first time I have been confronted with menu issues at restaurants. Having to search for safe items and asking for special preparations. But everyone was very accommodating, some concerned that I wasn't eating everything on my plate and worried that I didn't like the food. I was honest with the waitstaff and told them that I had wls. Everyone I told was supportive, encouraging, and had a friend or family member that had wls and was a success story. It was wonderful to hear THEIR stories.

Looking forward to next year's Fall trip and wondering where I will be in my weight loss journey.