the solar what?

Last Saturday we went to Boone to see my brother-in-law's hard work on the Solar Homestead / Solar Decathlon Project at Appalachian State University.  They designed a "self-sustaining, zero-energy home."  It will be on exhibit in Washington DC for the US Department of Energy starting this week and Travis is the project manager in charge of the construction part of the Solar Homestead.

We knew we probably wouldn't get a chance to get up to DC to see it on display so we decided to visit him in Boone before they broke it all down to travel.  It really was pretty amazing.

The kiddos were kinda tired and as it neared bedtime Josh got droopier and droopier as we carried him through the house.  We were terrified that he would run through and tear something apart that took months to build so we tried to keep him on a tight leash.

It was kinda funny to hear that all the guys working on the project decided to grow beards for their exhibition in DC in keeping with the Appalachian theme.  You can see pictures here.  Travis is the third person pictured.


Before we went to App, we also got a chance to walk around Boone a little and visit the Mast General Store on Main Street. Of course we had to buy some candy from the candy barrels.  Josh found a sock monkey hat to wear and Jules took my picture sitting beside this sexy man.

It was a quick trip, but I really enjoyed it.  I hope we're able to go back to Boone sometime in the near future, or at least take a weekend trip to the mountains with the kids when we can spend a little more time.

If you're interested, you can read more about Travis' project here and watch a video about it here. Everyone in the family is so proud of his hard work and it really is impressive.