Because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), our cabin trip got cancelled yesterday. We were supposed to be there right now, driving up to Hiawassee, Georgia all day. I was feeling pretty negative (or can we call it realistic?) for the past ten days, doubting that we would really get to go on the vacation we had planned since November because slowly everything has been shut down. The state of Florida is on a "stay at home" order unless you need groceries, have to go to the doctor/ pharmacy, or for the essential people (like me, who works with 911) who still have to keep showing up for work every day. Wednesday night I was looking up the rules at the Georgia state parks and even though before people were urged to spend time outdoors after getting cooped up in our houses, it was like, "Well, now there are
too many people outside and on the trails, so we're closing those off and ticketing and towing vehicles that park at the trail heads.." A week ago Michael emailed the cabin owner and he said we were still good to stay at his place, but then yesterday morning Michael got an email from the cabin owner saying Georgia has banned use of all rental properties, so we were forced to cancel the trip. We did get a full refund, which goes back onto our credit card (instead of being able to transfer it back into savings) saying we owe
negative X-hundred dollars, so it will be nice kind of nice "not having to pay for anything" all month since any groceries we buy will go towards that credit until we get back to zero. We have already discussed trying to plan going on this trip in November instead and hopefully all of this panic and crazy amount of virus cases will be over by then? I'm still taking the week off though.
There are a bunch of pictures that I never posted on
Emma's blog last Spring because they were from when I took Sasha out on walks and I try to keep her blog a little more medical. So since I will have no new mountain photos to show from today until next Thursday, here are those other pictures from last year's trip, at the end of March 2019. They are all unedited and for some reason that it kind of a pet peeve of mine. I like my pictures to "pop"!
**** Hog Pen Gap/ a small part of the Appalachian Trail, just us and Sasha ****
**** Hog Pen Gap/ a few foggy mornings later with Michael's mom (without Sasha) ****
**** Around Blairsville, GA ****
^^ dumb trend of 2019: throwing cheese on your baby's face.. She didn't mind, haha!
**** Walking Sasha down our long, shared driveway ****
^^ trying to start trouble with that doggo!
I fully understand that missing a vacation
or two* is definitely not as bad at getting --or dying from-- the Corona Virus, but it is still a super bummer when we were really looking forward to this trip.
*We were supposed to go to Gainesville the weekend of March 21st- it would have been Emma's first time there- and Michael was
finally going to let Peyton and Helena (my brother's daughters) meet her at the retired horse farm!!! This was going to be a momentous occasion!! We also planned to have lunch with my friend Sharanya who I hadn't seen since December 2018 and she hasn't met Emma yet either, and then also take Emma to the Butterfly Garden with my parents, followed by dinner with them. We also talked about having lunch with my friend Lindsey and her family so her kids could meet Emma too. Not sure when we will be able to reschedule that whole weekend.
We are saying our prayers that nobody in our family gets it and that the virus pandemic ends quickly, and saying thank you prayers that nobody we know has shown symptoms of the virus.
