Visitors

Bill's parents came up for a quick visit since we were in West Virginia.  The kids showed them around the overlook at Coopers Rock.  Such pretty scenery.  We got an ice cream, played a bit of Boggle, showed off the trailer, and then headed out for dinner.  We love it when we get a chance to visit with friends and family while we're travelling, so this was a treat for us!

Coopers Rock

I've never camped in West Virginia before, so we got to add this to our states stickers on our trailer.  There's an overlook trail that we went to on thr drizzly/rainy day.  It was pretty, and more of a walk than a trail.  Such beautiful views.  And we love the style of the boardwalk and overlooks.  There's an underlook trail, too, which takes you through the enormous rocks.  We took that trail on the way to rock city, another trail in the middle of the park.                                

The kids enjoy getting to walk over and around the rocks. K was a bit disappointed, she rather preferred the Bearfence Mtn trail in the Shenandoahs.  But this was a good, shorter version.                                      

There was a lot to explore, highs and lows.  The kids crossed onto this "island," and I encouraged them to explore down below.  I sat on part of rock up top, and had the kids yelling at me from down below because there were holes in the rock you could see from underneath.  They assured me I was going to fall to my death at any moment, so I moved along.  I think I was fine, though.                                  

Coopers Rock is super close to Morgantown, where Bill went to college.  One of his fellow Eagle scouts (they Eagled at the same time) still lives in Morgantown, so we got the chance to spend an afternoon with them.  Nick & Renee were such wonderful hosts, we had a great time meeting their kids and socializing.                  

We went to the Morgantown Botanic Gardens, where we found this little gem.  Bill immortalized in a tree.  Had to have this picture.  The gardens had nice trails, but not a lot of gardens that we saw.  It was a rainy day (again), so we didn't explore all it had to offer.

Deep Creek

After the Shenandoahs, we wanted to hit MD, so we headed to Deep Creek.  We saw this little guy on our way in.  The campground was virtually empty.  The two camp hosts arrived the day before, there was us, and another RV pulled in a little after us.  There were three different prices we found for the site, so we decided to stay one night, and settle up with the actual office in the morning.  Didn't seem to faze the lady in the office that their sign in the park differed from the park's website, which differed from the reservation system.  I hate disorganization.  And I hate that people don't see the problem with their lack of consistency or professionalism.  Blech.  That's the main reason we left after one night.  I don't want to support that way of doing business.  But with more rain in the forecast, we needed to hit an electric site.  So in the morning we packed up and headed for Coopers Rock in West Virginia.      

On our way out, though, we did stop at the aviary they have in the park.  It was drizzling, so it's a good thing it was a small aviary.  They take in rescued/injured birds that can't be released into the wild again.  That's how the screech owl ended up at Shenandoah.  We think that's a fantastic program, so we were excited to see the birds here.                

It was hard taking pictures of the birds, beccause they've got fencing around them.  This guy was at the aviary because he was hit by an airplane.  A lot of their birds have wing amputations and such.  An amazing opportunity to see these birds up close, but it makes me sad they have these injuries.                                    

I have heard Great Horned Owls at different campgrounds, but I don't think I've seen one out in the wild.  Most of the birds at the aviary have been rescued after being hit by a car.                                        

We have seen a ton of turkey vultures in the sky, but this is the first one I've seen so up close.  We have truly been blessed to experience so much this year!

More Hikes and Still Searching....

The kids really wanted to rock scramble.  REALLY.  The trails here have a lot of rocks all over them, but for actual rock scrambling, Bearfence Mtn trail cannot be beat.  We had a great time on this trail, but the kids grumbled at the beginning because it takes a bit of hiking to get to the real scrambling part.                  

What in the world is this?  It's probably a weed, looking at its leaves, but I don't know it.  I think it's really pretty, though, especially close up.  I love to stop and pay attention to little things along the trail.  God has put so much detail into this world, it's stunning.                  

When Cici & Ruwan came up with their kiddos, their oldest was spooked by the heights and such.  This is not the trail for him.  Or maybe it is, in a forced therapy sorta way.  There are a lot of ledges and fall-off-the-edge-of-the-world areas.  But it's so much fun hiking this trail.  There are places that you can get a 360 view of the forest and park.  A seriously awesome trail.                

We tried to pack as many trails in as possible on the sunny days, since we had several rainy days.  We found this gargoyle tree on the Story of the Forest trail.  It's an easy trail, so we did this one right before heading to Harrisonburg to get our tires replaced.  NB wants gargoyles in his room when we are in a house again, and I think this tree growth makes a super gargoyle, so it's my model for what to get him.  

 We spent several hours in Harrisonburg getting the tires replaced.  Since the Sprinter is so huge, they need several people to work on it.  They had some difficulties with it, but we now have new tires.  We've been hard on our car, but it's doing a great job!        

After returning from Costco, we wanted to hit one more falls trail.  In the morning, some of the kiddos and I went to the amphitheater to look out for bears.  No luck, but we found the trail marker for the falls, and it was only 1.2 miles from the amphitheater.  That sounded like a short enough trail for an afternoon hike, so that's what I wanted to do.  Holy stink.  Check out how rocky that trail is.  This was a rough trail.  When we returned, the ranger in the campground said he usually tells people it's an 8.  Ugh.  It kicked my butt.  But, oh my, the falls are gorgeous.                                

Friends

Good friends of ours came and visited us while we were in the Shenandoahs.  The morning that they came up, there was a talk on birds of prey at the amphitheater, so we told them to meet us there.  We got to see the Eastern Screech Owl at the talk.  Our friends showed up right after they put the bird away.  So sad.  But after the talk, we took them to the trailer and showed them around a bit.  After lunch, we hit the trails!                                  

We started out on the Appalachian Trail.  We all have this overwhelming desire to say we've walked part of the AT.  The part of the trail that goes by the campground is pretty easy stuff, so it's nice for all the kids.  We decided to hike to the south, since Georgia is warmer than Maine. Since NB and I really liked the spring, we decided to make that our destination.                

NS thought some of his siblings might like a dunk in the spring, so Bill thought he should be the first in.  Somehow we underestimated the kids and thought it would be over with NS.  HA HA!  ALL the kids, including the two visiting, decided to get their hair wet.  Weirdos.  It was a cold morning....I can't imagine this felt good.                                    

Cici wanted to take a falls hike, but the one she had picked out from home the ranger said was no good for our group.  He re-directed us to the Rose River fire road.  Also said we might spot bears because they like to hang around the fire road.  No such luck, but that's probably better for a group with a ton of kids and a dog.  The walk was beautiful, and Cici also took pics of things in nature, which I loved seeing.  Her kids would ask why we were taking pictures of plants...my kids have seen it too often to bother any more.  But it does help the kids slow down and look around.  I often have my kiddos point something out to me to check out.  Love it!            

I was a little down the path and went for the group photo.  I don't see so well, so I totally missed that BOTH TIMES I took the pic, Ruwan was obscured.  Sorry about that!  The rest of the crew is looking good, though!  We had a great time. It's so awesome for us when people make time in their schedule to come out and see us and spend time with us along our journey.

Shenanddoah National Park

Here's J the first time on the AT.  We literally parked the trailer and headed out onto the trail, just to say we'd been on it.  I would ask the kids if they wanted to go to Maine or Georgia, then we'd head north or south depending on their answer.  Our first time we headed towards Maine.  Later that same day, NB and I headed to Georgia.                  

On our way to Georgia, we came across a spring.  How do we know it's a spring?  It's labeled.  And just so I don't mislead you, this is maybe a quarter mile from the campground.  Thru hikers are way more impressive than we are, but we've now been on the AT in North Carolina (or were we in the TN part of the Great Smokies?) and Virginia.  We'll hit it again in Maine.                                  

Our first real hike in the park was Dark Hollows, down to the falls.  It's a steep descent, which means a steep ascent on your way out.  It was a good hike, but it tested G's breathing.  He's thinking he might actually start treating his asthma.  This is just one of many falls trails, but we wanted to make sure we hit at least one.  Which, it turned out, it was good we did this our first day since it rained pretty hard the next two days.                

Since it was raining on Thursday, we hit the Skyline Drive, headed north.  It was also COLD, and we had left our really cold weather gear in CO.  Brrrr.....  We spent the time checking out the cool views and looking for bears.  Everyone else was spotting them, but not us.  Sigh.                                      

Searching in vain for a bear.  The ranger at the Dickey Visitors Center told us that a lot of folks had seen bears in the Pass Mtn area, so we took the short hike over there.  A beautiful walk, so I'm glad we did it, but the bears did not join us.                  

Friday we had to change spots off the AT since the premium spot was reserved starting that day for a week.  When we got up and started getting ready, Bill called my attention to the clouds moving through the mountains.  This is one of my memories from staying in Shenandoah 20 some odd years ago.  Love it!                                  

We took advantage of the need to change sites to go ahead and dump before setting our trailer back up.  Across from the dump station, this pileated woodpecker was going to town on this log.  It was really cool to see.  He was quite cooperative and let me get a ton of pictures, even a little video!                

The rain was still falling, so we drove about some more.  On sunny days, water does not just pour off the tunnel, but it did this day!  It was cool to see all the waterfalls that come out when the rain comes down.  But we needed to get out and do something.                  

Saturday we hit the town of Staunton.  K had picked up a paper on Sunspots Studios, where you can check out glassblowing seven days a week.  No reservations, no fees, just check them out doing their art.  Pretty cool.  There's a storefront as well, with some incredibly beautiful items.  Oh my.  It was fun exploring parts of Virginia I'd never really seen before.

Battlefields

After staying at Smith Mountain Lake for several days, we headed out to Northern Virginia.  We wanted to go to Shenandoah National Park straight after the lake, but we needed to stop in at REI, so we camped for a night at Prince William Forest again.  Turns out, we needn't have bothered.  

We had put J's shoes in the washing machine at Monica's and Ray's because J left them out in the pouring rain at OBX.  These are brand new shoes.  I've put shoes in washers and dryers before, never a problem.  REI wouldn't accept them back because you're not supposed to wash shoes.  I had never heard that.  I've put tons of shoes in the washer and dryer, never had them fall apart. So, after detouring to the NOVA area for naught, we bought some shoe goo at Wal Mart and headed out to Shenandoah.              

On our way, we stopped in Fredericksburg.  We needed to hit Lowe's, and then we went ahead and hit the battlefield since we saw the signs for it.  This statue is in honor of Sergeant Richard R. Kirkland.  He was a confederate, and he crossed into the line of fire to bring water to the Union soldiers who were crying out. Union soldiers ceased firing at him and cheered him on.                

The Jr. Ranger booklet had the kids looking for things all over the battlefield, including in the cemetary.  K was struck by how many graves there were, which led to the discussion on how many people were killed in the Civil War.  Many, many lives lost.                  

When we arrived in the park, we were greeted by the wildlife.  Not a bear, but I like seeing deer.  We're still looking for a bear.  We've gotten a lot of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and deer, but no bear just yet.                    

The picture above is the campsite we stayed at for the majority of our tiime at Shenandoah NP.  But in the middle, we moved to a spot right on the edge of the campground, right off the Appalachian Trail.  A cool site that let us check out the thru hikers.  Plus, we've played on the Appalachian Trail.  NB wants a shirt that says he's hiked the AT.  I think it's more appropriate to say we've been ON the AT.              

 Our time in Shenandoah has been without internet, so I'm far behind.  I'll catch up at another time.  We're at Costco getting our tires replaced, and now I must shop!