What the world looks like at the end of March 2020, is wildly different than what it looked like at the beginning of the month. Not just for us, but for everyone around the world with the rapid spread of the Covid-19.
We have been extremely fortunate as this drastic change has unfolded. In the radical slowness that we now find ourselves, we spend lots of time imagining into the future and connecting with our family, friends, and colleagues around the world. I can feel the germination of creative ideas, inspiration, and strategies that we might bring forth in the future to contribute to a more beautiful world.
This trip continues to teach us that home is wherever we are together. As we’ve gone from worldwide freedom to sheltering in place, our togetherness has maintained a beautiful stability for which I am extremely grateful.
We started the month in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kendall’s mom (Babe) flew there with the kids after they spent over a week with her and Dude in Portland. We spent a few days exploring and eating our way through that beautiful city.
One afternoon we visited the Whitney Plantation Museum, which did an excellent job of helping visitors understand the role of the slave trade and slavery in the history of the sugar plantations in Louisiana. It’s very potent land, and while it’s an intense tour and story, it feels so important that they are telling the story, and that millions of visitors are getting to see, feel, and experience it in this way.
We couldn’t visit New Orleans without walking around the French Quarter a bit. We did a good six or seven miles seeing above ground cemeteries, taking in the architecture, eating beignets, and collecting beads from the trees.
We wrote a long blog post about our time on Grand Cayman. It was a magical week full of sunshine, clear water, and friends.
With bellies full of good New Orleans cooking, we boarded a plane a few days later to Grand Cayman. This was during the time that the virus was still primarily in Asia, on cruise ships, and just begining to hit the US. While people we still flying on previously purchased tickets, few new tickets were being booked and we were greeting with a COVID warning brochure as we waited to head through customs. The plane on the first leg of the trip was nearly empty, but the airports and other flights all felt pretty normal.
When we returned to New Orleans after the week away, the news of the virus spreading was getting more significant and closer to home. We were visiting with friends who live just outside the city when the news came through that the NBA season was canceled. This friend loved watching basketball games as a way to unwind and the news helped us realize all the other changes that could be coming.
The following day we decided to head towards more open space and spend the next night in the Bayou at a Harvest Host location in Mississippi that was also an alligator preserve.
As we crossed into Mississippi we saw a giant rocket booster next to the freeway and stopped at the NASA Infinity Science Center. Seeing the scale of the boosters and rockets in person was amazing, but it was also a lesson in how the world was changing. The museum was very quiet and signs about social distancing and cleaning processes were cropping up.
As we drove along the Mississippi coast we were both impressed by the beauty of the sand, views and warm water, but also bummed about all the silt clouding the otherwise beautiful the water.
We decided some self imposed isolation would be good and heard about Dauphin Island at the Alabama Welcome Center. We figured that would be a great place for quiet, sunshine, and room to play outside. We’d spend a few days there and then decide what to do next.
As we walked the beaches, watched the news, and supported our youngest through some serious anxiety struggles, we decided not to head further north into Alabama and Georgia for civil rights tours and museums. We thought it was likely the museums could be closed before we got there (not to mention putting ourselves in bigger cities with potential infections), it didn’t seem wise to visit at that time.
Instead, we hugged the coast and made our way into Florida. The beaches in Destin were beautiful, but the campgrounds were fully booked or cost more than the hotels. So we found an inexpensive hotel room at a resort so we could use the pool and facilities, and camped in the parking lot while Mark worked from the room. Despite the beaches and restaurants being ridiculously packed (social distancing was being talked about, but no one was practicing it there yet), the hotel and pool were nearly empty.
That night (March 16th) we saw the start of high school and college spring breaks with crowded bars and people hanging out at the beach even though the next town over had closed the restaurants and beach already. As we saw the patch work response to the virus on the Florida coast we decided we didn’t want to be in an area that wasn’t taking the virus seriously.
We’d been planning to be in southern Georgia at the end of the month for a gathering at a hunting plantation to take part in an annual conservation burn of the land. The friend who was hosting the event invited us to come early and to stay in a lovely home on the property. We took him up on his generous offer and spent a glorious week at the lodge on this plantation. We saw him and his family when we first arrived before they’d decided to self-isolate, and were able to do a few trips around the property with them to watch the burning, visit the hunting dogs and horses, and spend an evening doing an informal dinner with them.
We took advantage of having a full kitchen again — baking cookies, roasting veggies in the oven, and using a Vitamix! Mark and I ran the mile-long driveway loop every morning and did yoga on the lawn. The girls made a movie and enjoyed all the space to spread out and use as a backdrop for their imagination games.
I enjoyed all the details lovingly placed throughout the house. This is just a small sampling of some of my favorites!
Upon noticing their incredible collection of Christmas-themed dinnerware, we plotted to throw a Christmas dinner party. We were hoping our friends could join, but by then they were in self-isolation as well. It was just the four of us, but it was a fabulous evening full of Christmas cheer, trivia, and red and green treats.
We watched the chaos of the virus and the stay-at-home orders unfold over the course of the week. With the event we planned to attend officially cancelled and the possibility that the house might be needed for other uses, we started plotting our next move. While we were sad to leave the beautiful space without enjoying it with others, we mostly felt grateful for the generosity of our friends for the time there.
After quite a bit of research, we found a darling little home on the shores of Lake Norman in North Carolina. We know this area well as one of Mark’s brothers and his mother live on this lake as well and we’ve been visiting for years.
The house is a perfect spot for us to be for (at least) a month. We have a loft bedroom upstairs, the kids have the entire lower level, and we have a lovely view of the lake and a dock. The house also came with a canoe and kayaks that we can use.
The weather was mostly sunny and warm (in the 80s) and we were able to be out on the dock, using the paddling gear, and enjoying the sunshine.
We stopped by to see Mark’s mom and step-dad and drop off some groceries and goodies. It’s strange to not be able to hug them or even be very close to them as we visit.
Mark’s brother and three of his sons made the hour trip to come over by boat for a visit. We had a lovely hangout on our dock, despite not hugging or sitting close together. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of all of them, even if only from a distance.
T got a nasty cold shortly after arriving in Georgia and has been battling it for the second half of the month. A lot of our activity was curbed to make sure she was staying still and resting as not to aggravate her cough. With all the talk of sickness, our senses are heightened, but we are grateful it isn’t something worse.
Our hearts and thoughts go out to everyone who finds themselves staying in one place, and dealing with fear, sadness, anger or loneliness. And our prayers go to all those who are working to heal themselves after contracting this virus, who are dealing with the passing of loved ones, and those on the front line taking care of us all. (And many thanks to Babe for sending us some homemade masks!)
