Today was the first day I was lost in New Jersey without a clue where I was or where I was going. I had been turned around before, but was familiar enough with the area to work it out. I actually had to ask for help on this one.
I had just left Panera (from writing thank-you cards) and wanted to find the nearest Blockbuster to switch movies. I thought I had seen one by the EastGate mall (apparently NOT!) and turned at a wrong light and got onto 73 (I think). I couldn't see any of the exit signs once I got on because there was a large truck in front and behind me. Well, I ended up making another turn, and ended up on the PA Turnpike headed South for Delaware. I continued for about 10 minutes and realized I didn't have a map or a clue when the next exit would appear. I called Steve and asked for a heads up on when the next exit would be. I did eventually get home, but the worst park about this was I had just finished an iced-tea prior to getting in the car. I HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM IN THE WORST WAY!
Some days are just more interesting than others :)
Friday, July 27, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Finally Home
Home is such a good word. For me, it evokes mostly memories of warmth and safety.
It is so wonderful to be together in our own house. I am not sure whether it is a woman's nesting instinct that drives me, but I suddenly find that little things like curtains and making the bed everyday are important things to me. It may wear off, like having a new car and vacuuming it everyday, or having a new haircut and actually styling it for a week in a row. For now, I love the little things that makes these walls our house.
Steve has been great about working around the house. I hear that most wives nag about home repair stuff, so I've tried to be careful about balancing my excitement for things to get done, with the fact that he comes home tired everyday and has stuff that he needs to take care of that is more important than putting a new dining room light in for me.
Here are some pictures of things we've done around the house:
Old, ugly light-
Steve putting in the new light-
Can you see the new light from the kitchen?
Living room (new curtains and couch pillows, pardon the mess)
Steve's like, "Beth, more pictures?"
It is so wonderful to be together in our own house. I am not sure whether it is a woman's nesting instinct that drives me, but I suddenly find that little things like curtains and making the bed everyday are important things to me. It may wear off, like having a new car and vacuuming it everyday, or having a new haircut and actually styling it for a week in a row. For now, I love the little things that makes these walls our house.
Steve has been great about working around the house. I hear that most wives nag about home repair stuff, so I've tried to be careful about balancing my excitement for things to get done, with the fact that he comes home tired everyday and has stuff that he needs to take care of that is more important than putting a new dining room light in for me.
Here are some pictures of things we've done around the house:
Old, ugly light-
Steve putting in the new light-
Can you see the new light from the kitchen?
Living room (new curtains and couch pillows, pardon the mess)
Steve's like, "Beth, more pictures?"
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday- Drive Home!
Well, it was time to leave our cozy cabin. We thought that we would wake up around 9, pack and be out by 12. Unfortunately, we received a phone call earlier that morning that said we needed to be out by 11. It was a rush to get everything together, but we did it. As we were leaving, the cleaning ladies were parked in a van. I don't' think they were happy that we took the time to take last minute pictures with the cabin. Oh well!!!
I was really restless on the way back. It was a four hour drive, but felt like a million. I needed to stop for a bathroom break (right away), so we took the next exit. Unfortunately, there weren't any restrooms OR places to eat for miles. We were about to give up, but we finally found something. We agreed on Quizno's and while I ran to the bathroom, Steve held our place in line.
We were on the road in no-time. It was a nice drive. We decided to create a T.V. show about a mail truck that burned and the letters that people were supposed to receive and how it changed their lives that they didn't. It would be cool.
It was GREAT to walk into our house! It looked wonderful. Steve's mom had cleaned it for us, so it was all sparkly and smelled good. We basically dumped our stuff everywhere and opened our presents and relaxed.
It's always good to go away, but better to come home.
I was really restless on the way back. It was a four hour drive, but felt like a million. I needed to stop for a bathroom break (right away), so we took the next exit. Unfortunately, there weren't any restrooms OR places to eat for miles. We were about to give up, but we finally found something. We agreed on Quizno's and while I ran to the bathroom, Steve held our place in line.
We were on the road in no-time. It was a nice drive. We decided to create a T.V. show about a mail truck that burned and the letters that people were supposed to receive and how it changed their lives that they didn't. It would be cool.
It was GREAT to walk into our house! It looked wonderful. Steve's mom had cleaned it for us, so it was all sparkly and smelled good. We basically dumped our stuff everywhere and opened our presents and relaxed.
It's always good to go away, but better to come home.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Saturday - Day 20
We woke up later than we had planned... We wanted to wake up and leave at 8 to get to the water park by 9am. Instead, we woke up at 11 and got down there around 12:30.
Massanutten Water Park is an indoor water park at a ski resort. I guess the idea is that in the winter, they have a fully functional water park for their guests. It was extremely nice to be inside - no breezes and kept at an extremely nice temperature all day.
We spent a good bit of the day hiking up a stairwell to get to their big water slides. Three of the slides were for rafts, two others were for people without tubes. We did all of them several times throughout the day. A couple of the slides were completely dark the whole way down - that was crazy!
We spent time on the lazy river and on a slide they had outside. We both tried their "Flow Rider" - it was a wave machine that simulated surfing. We didn't try surfing but tried the body-boarding approach. It was a lot of fun but we both did very badly...
We drove back and got home to start cleaning and packing.
We were both EXHAUSTED after the long day. We had Lucky Charms for dinner and went to bed early again. We had planned to pack in the evening but we were just too tired.
Massanutten Water Park is an indoor water park at a ski resort. I guess the idea is that in the winter, they have a fully functional water park for their guests. It was extremely nice to be inside - no breezes and kept at an extremely nice temperature all day.
We spent a good bit of the day hiking up a stairwell to get to their big water slides. Three of the slides were for rafts, two others were for people without tubes. We did all of them several times throughout the day. A couple of the slides were completely dark the whole way down - that was crazy!
We spent time on the lazy river and on a slide they had outside. We both tried their "Flow Rider" - it was a wave machine that simulated surfing. We didn't try surfing but tried the body-boarding approach. It was a lot of fun but we both did very badly...
We drove back and got home to start cleaning and packing.
We were both EXHAUSTED after the long day. We had Lucky Charms for dinner and went to bed early again. We had planned to pack in the evening but we were just too tired.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Friday - Day 19
Even though I thought my body had started to wake itself up in the morning, I definitely slept until 12 pm. Yeah...
We went to the Internet Cafe to create and order a honeymoon photo album from Shutterfly. I don't know if you have ever been on their site, but their products seem really nice and the site is easy to use. We are pretty excited to get ours. We actually didn't make it around to ordering it. We were there for a couple hours between sorting through pictures, arranging them and writing captions so...we are going to do that later. :)
Steve grilled hamburgers (they were REALLY good this time!) and we ate at sunset and relaxed. Tomorrow we are off to the water park!!!!! :)
We went to the Internet Cafe to create and order a honeymoon photo album from Shutterfly. I don't know if you have ever been on their site, but their products seem really nice and the site is easy to use. We are pretty excited to get ours. We actually didn't make it around to ordering it. We were there for a couple hours between sorting through pictures, arranging them and writing captions so...we are going to do that later. :)
Steve grilled hamburgers (they were REALLY good this time!) and we ate at sunset and relaxed. Tomorrow we are off to the water park!!!!! :)
Thursday - Day 19
Hello everyone!
We really wanted to do better job posting our blog on time, but sometimes we just forget. Our apologies to our faithful readers!
Steve and I have been talking about out honeymoon, realizing that it has probably been a little different than most people would have arranged theirs. We've loved the opportunity to see all kinds of things and the chance to be lazy when we want to. (We've stopped calling it relaxed and just admitted that some days we've been plan old lazy!) Some days we've slept into the afternoon and watched tons of movies and other days we've been up at the crack of dawn and conquered the world. I think one of my favorite parts of this vacation is the freedom to do whatever we want on our own time schedule. Some people don't every experience that.
Today we went to our favorite hang-out (Panera) just to be out and around people. Have you every really watched the way people interact with each other? It's so fun to watch some conversations that involve wide gestures and others that are intimate and intent. There were these two ladies who were there before we arrived and didn't leave until just before we did. They had gotten up to leave and ended up standing talking for another 30 minutes. What a blessing it is to have people who you really want to be around and who want to be around you.
After Panera, we decided to do some shopping. We've been picking things up for the house here and there from a tablecloth to looking at curtains. This has been Steve's favorite part of our honeymoon :) When we realized that the new Harry Potter movie was out, we decided to see it at the 8 pm showing. Some people have been REALLY following the series (ahem-Emily) and others aren't that interested, but I think it's been great and would recommend this movie if you've been following Harry Potter at all. I think I liked it better than the last one. I did have to go to the bathroom part-way through and missed something...
I wanted to take pictures of our ticket stubs so that at least we could have a picture for this entry, but I forgot the camera and you probably aren't that interested in seeing out ticket stubs anyway. So, no pictures this time.
Lata!
We really wanted to do better job posting our blog on time, but sometimes we just forget. Our apologies to our faithful readers!
Steve and I have been talking about out honeymoon, realizing that it has probably been a little different than most people would have arranged theirs. We've loved the opportunity to see all kinds of things and the chance to be lazy when we want to. (We've stopped calling it relaxed and just admitted that some days we've been plan old lazy!) Some days we've slept into the afternoon and watched tons of movies and other days we've been up at the crack of dawn and conquered the world. I think one of my favorite parts of this vacation is the freedom to do whatever we want on our own time schedule. Some people don't every experience that.
Today we went to our favorite hang-out (Panera) just to be out and around people. Have you every really watched the way people interact with each other? It's so fun to watch some conversations that involve wide gestures and others that are intimate and intent. There were these two ladies who were there before we arrived and didn't leave until just before we did. They had gotten up to leave and ended up standing talking for another 30 minutes. What a blessing it is to have people who you really want to be around and who want to be around you.
After Panera, we decided to do some shopping. We've been picking things up for the house here and there from a tablecloth to looking at curtains. This has been Steve's favorite part of our honeymoon :) When we realized that the new Harry Potter movie was out, we decided to see it at the 8 pm showing. Some people have been REALLY following the series (ahem-Emily) and others aren't that interested, but I think it's been great and would recommend this movie if you've been following Harry Potter at all. I think I liked it better than the last one. I did have to go to the bathroom part-way through and missed something...
I wanted to take pictures of our ticket stubs so that at least we could have a picture for this entry, but I forgot the camera and you probably aren't that interested in seeing out ticket stubs anyway. So, no pictures this time.
Lata!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday - Day 18
Today we woke up and planned to rest. Beth proudly got out of bed at 10:30, but I slept until 12. I had breakfast (Beth already did, she harassed me since it was lunch time) and we tried to figure out what we wanted to do. We've been making lists of gifts and things we'd like to get with gift money from the wedding. While we were talking about that, it started to rain very heavy outside. Beth went and sat out on the porch in a rocking chair for a little bit and then I joined her. We made a list of some things we will and won't miss when we go back home:
Things we are looking forward to:
Things we are looking forward to:
- Our bed, not the one here at the cabin
- Feeling "at home" and finished living out of suitcases (having our own fridge, closets, even our own couch)
- Having a normal routine
- Being back around our friends
Things we are not looking forward to:
- The boring parts of a routine
- The alarm clock
- Going to work
- Finding a job
- Stress of life back in NJ
- The yappy dog next door (who may have moved while we've been away?)
- Getting the mail
Things we will miss:
- Being alone together without crazy activity around us
- The big wrap-around/screened porch, fireplace, and a real grill
- The freedom of having every day off to do whatever we want
- Sounds of nature (even when the frogs are really annoying)
- Being relaxed
- Sights - seeing the mountains in just about every direction, the clear sky at night
- Actually eating breakfast every morning
Lastly, things that we will not miss:
- Long drives to civilization
- The spiders, other bugs, and the deer in the woods when we drive home (you see tons of eyes staring out at you, it's creepy)
- Extremely slow internet
After the rain trailed off, we went inside and watched the end of "Inside Man" from the other day. Then we opted to go to Movie Starz for a couple more movies which we watched when we got back. Then we went to bed.
Tuesday - Day 17
The days have started to slow down. We are beginning to miss our home in New Jersey and look forward to seeing family and friends. We are at a point where we are finally rested and enjoy the natural tendency for our bodies to wake us up at a decent hour in the morning (8am ish) instead of late in the afternoon.
We left our little retreat after a nice breakfast of Captain Crunch. The day was hot and humid and we decided to head out to Harrisonburng (this was the town where we saw "Ocean's 13"). Steve desperately needed to change the oil in his car. I won't tell you how many miles he was overdue, but between driving around wedding week, to Virginia (about 300 miles)and around places here, we've put a ton of miles on his poor car.
We waited in a friendly waiting room while the people at Jiffy Lube changed the oil and washed the windows of the car. They gave us great service. We headed out to Home Depot to look around and talk about house projects. Steve got a call from work, so I looked at home decorating magazines for a little while.
Our next stop was Barnes and Noble where we spent the better part of our day hanging out. I grabbed a few books (my favorite was one on Bobby Kennedy's investigation of his brother's death called "Brothers"), while Steve worked on our pictures, blog and other things. I would recommend the Vanilla Bean slushie-thing. It is a cold, non-coffee drink....extremely good.
We were starting to get very hungry, so Steve and I left to go to Texas Road House. He had spotted it yesterday and was really excited to go. I actually ordered steak and it was very delicious. While we were eating, we saw a very weird animal pinned to the wall. I texted my sister with the picture, because neither Steve nor I knew what it was. She wrote back that it was a jackolope. What the heck is a jackolope? I have no idea. Here is what wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope
It was a bit scary to have as a dinner partner, but it makes for great conversation. :)
After dinner, we headed to Staples to look at a phone holder for Steve and pick up some notebook paper (in cleaning out our bags, neither of us had scrap paper beyond one notepad that we had just about used up). While watching the previews for "Ocean's 13", we had seen a preview for "License to Wed" and decided to see it. The showing was for 7:50, so we headed over after Staples. It was really funny. It had a lot of the actors from "The Office".
It was to bed for us after the movie, so we headed home. All in all, a fun day. :)
We left our little retreat after a nice breakfast of Captain Crunch. The day was hot and humid and we decided to head out to Harrisonburng (this was the town where we saw "Ocean's 13"). Steve desperately needed to change the oil in his car. I won't tell you how many miles he was overdue, but between driving around wedding week, to Virginia (about 300 miles)and around places here, we've put a ton of miles on his poor car.
We waited in a friendly waiting room while the people at Jiffy Lube changed the oil and washed the windows of the car. They gave us great service. We headed out to Home Depot to look around and talk about house projects. Steve got a call from work, so I looked at home decorating magazines for a little while.
Our next stop was Barnes and Noble where we spent the better part of our day hanging out. I grabbed a few books (my favorite was one on Bobby Kennedy's investigation of his brother's death called "Brothers"), while Steve worked on our pictures, blog and other things. I would recommend the Vanilla Bean slushie-thing. It is a cold, non-coffee drink....extremely good.
We were starting to get very hungry, so Steve and I left to go to Texas Road House. He had spotted it yesterday and was really excited to go. I actually ordered steak and it was very delicious. While we were eating, we saw a very weird animal pinned to the wall. I texted my sister with the picture, because neither Steve nor I knew what it was. She wrote back that it was a jackolope. What the heck is a jackolope? I have no idea. Here is what wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackalope
It was a bit scary to have as a dinner partner, but it makes for great conversation. :)
After dinner, we headed to Staples to look at a phone holder for Steve and pick up some notebook paper (in cleaning out our bags, neither of us had scrap paper beyond one notepad that we had just about used up). While watching the previews for "Ocean's 13", we had seen a preview for "License to Wed" and decided to see it. The showing was for 7:50, so we headed over after Staples. It was really funny. It had a lot of the actors from "The Office".
It was to bed for us after the movie, so we headed home. All in all, a fun day. :)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Monday - Day 16
Today we woke up late - we were both completely exhausted from yesterday. I think I got out of bed at 1:30pm (Beth woke up earlier and started watching Toy Story but fell asleep). We had planned on taking the day slow and resting a bit.
The local internet cafe is only open from noon to 5pm so it wouldn't work for today (since it was 3:30 before we were going to be ready to leave). We looked up the nearest Panera and decided to head down there for the evening (in Harrisonburg, about 45 minutes south). We wanted to watch a movie tonight too but there wasn't anything interesting playing at the local theater (the "Page 4" that we mentioned a few days ago for Evan Almighty) but there was a Regal 14 also in Harrisonburg.
We hung out at Panera writing Thank You cards and uploading pictures - when they closed, we moved to Walmart. Beth needed a couple things (more aloe) and we needed to kill some time. At about 9:45 we went over to the theater to see "Oceans 13". We were the only ones in the theater for the whole movie - that's the first time that's ever happened to me. The movie was pretty good, we'd both recommend it.
After that, we drove back home and went to bed (it was pretty late - we got out of the theater at 12:45 and were back home by 1:30am).
After that, we drove back home and went to bed (it was pretty late - we got out of the theater at 12:45 and were back home by 1:30am).
Sunday - Day 15
When the alarm went off at 4:30, we rolled over and looked at each other. Yes, it was early, but we were excited. After packing the cooler and getting dressed, we were out of the door by 5:15 with a three hour drive ahead of us. There weren't any marinas in the Luray area, and the closest one (Lake Anna) seemed a little small, so we opted for a longer drive with a bigger lake.
The drive was beautiful. We had a fun time talking. I have only ever been on canoes, ferries and a whale watching boat but had never rented a smaller boat for water sports or relaxation. We pulled up to Claytor Lake State Park around 8, signed our papers and went to pick up the boat. We rented a white and blue 18 ft. Four Winns Horizon for the day. She seated 8, had lots of room for storage, and was quick (190 horsepower engine).
Claytor Lake is 21 miles long, with tons of little coves to explore. We started the day by driving through part of the lake, taking it in and relaxing. After a while, we decided to try the water for a swim. It was great, a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Steve taught me how to drive and I spent a while getting used to the boat and tooling around the lake. I like going fast, but the lake started to get busy, so I handed the wheel back. We spent some more time talking and driving the boat through all the little inlets around the lake. There are a ton of houses along the shore. It seems that everyone has their own boathouse or slip. A lot of people owned a boat or two plus a few waverunners. Oh the life of the rich! Steve and I kept pointing out houses and remarking what we liked about them, what we would change and what it would be like to live there and have the freedom to take your boat out anytime you wanted. There were a few people who had slides that allowed you to slide right into the lake. We also saw some kids jumping from decks into the lake...very cool!
We stopped the boat for lunch and another quick swim. I laid out on the boat for a while, enjoying the fresh breeze and warm sun. Steve finally got the radio to work (we tried a CD, but it wouldn't work and the CD came out with water on it)and we listened to country (surprise, surprise). After some more exploring and picture taking, we started to get a little bored. There is only so much you can do with 2 people on a boat without any water sports. We were a little jealous of the people on waverunners, so around 3 we went back to the marina to gas up and ask them if we could trade in the boat for a waverunner. They didn't have any available, but they did have a tube. We didn't think that we would be able to use it since we didn't have a spotter (someone to look out for the person on the tube), but they said it didn't matter.
I had never been on a tube, so I was pretty excited. We had to develop a system for communication since he had to operate the boat, look out for other boaters/tubers, jet skiers, etc., and watch out for my safety. We had a head nod, thumbs up type of thing going on, and it worked really well. He had barely started to go the first time when I fell off. I was laying too close to the front and the tube toppled over. I went in head first, a little surprised, and yelled and waved my hands to get his attention. I was wiser the second time around and off we went. He was gentle the first time so I could get a system worked out. It was a LOT of fun! The second time he went faster and I had to start hanging on harder and harder. I convinced him to let me drive the boat and give him a turn. I could tell he was a little nervous (remember, this was my first boating experience) but he was brave and let me have a chance. Driving/lookout was harder than it seemed....you had to be everywhere at once. He had a decent time, but it was much more fun for him to try to get me to fall off than it was for me to drive. I went back in the water and yet again, I was hanging on for dear life. I did fall off once. The tube started to tilt to the right, so I hoisted myself up on the left, but then the tube went over. I've never had so much water in my nose! By the time I got back on the boat, my hands hurt and I was tired. Steve said he was impressed. That made me feel good.
It was nearing the end of the day, so we started to drive back. I lost my hat, so we had to circle around for it. I tried to reach off the side of the boat, but it was too far down. Instead, I laid on the tube and Steve pushed me out in the direction of the hat. I must have looked ridiculous laying on the tube, swimming with my hands towards the hat. We took quick showers (if you can call them showers) and headed out. Boy, we were burnt! My sunscreen failed us miserably and we soon realized we had spots of red all over (Steve more than me, I was just mostly red). We left, exhausted but happy. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and since we were in the area, we decided to see the Natural Bridge. I will let Steve take over from here...I think this was his favorite part... :)
-------------------------------------
Steve says:
Bethany's "spray-on" sunscreen was a complete failure. I learned as we were on the boat that she and her friends had all used the same small can when they went tube-floating on the river the week before the wedding. The can felt near empty, but it still sprayed out a good mist, so we used it. At the end of the day, we found out that the mist was more water than sunscreen. I sprayed it all over - only splotches here and there actually got protected. It's frustrating to have sunburn when you were intentional about applying sunscreen. Oh well, it's too late now.
Now for the Natural Bridge...
Before anything else, the title just sounds funny. We had looked at a brochure at the Chamber of Commerce when we first got into town. It was interesting, but nothing we were going to make the 2 hour drive down to see. Since we were driving past it (it was 3 miles off the Interstate we drove down on), we figured we were obligated to stop in and take a look.
It looks like the Natural Bridge was a big deal 30 years ago. When you pull up, it feels like it was a big, happening place one day and a ghost town the next. Everything around it was called the "Natural Bridge ______" (Natural Bridge Caverns, Natural Bridge Motel, Natural Bridge Post Office, Natural Bridge Wax Museum, etc). As we were getting out of the car, Beth asked if she should bring the camera. Being overwhelmed with how much "Natural Bridge" advertising there was around us, I jokingly responded: "Of course, it's the freakin Natural Bridge!". That became a long-running joke through the rest of the evening.
We got there around 8pm and went inside the "Entrance/Gift Shop" to look around. Tickets were $12 each to go and see it, along with some kind of light/music presentation about how it was created. Beth tried to find out if we could just see it without a ticket but the lady was very clear that we must purchase a ticket. So we purchased tickets and headed down the stairs and path to the foot of the Natural Bridge (we later found out there was a shuttle - we used that for the trip back). It was a little bit impressive - here's a couple pictures we took:
Wikipedia has some other info on it if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Bridge_(Virginia)
After walking around, we headed out to the car to take a fast nap (15 minutes) and then start the drive home. We were both exhausted and figured the nap was a good idea (since we had 2 more hours to drive). We just missed the light show as we left but didn't want to wait around and get home much later.
When we got home, we unloaded the car and went directly to bed (Beth emptied out the Aloe spray first, trying to soothe her sunburn).
The drive was beautiful. We had a fun time talking. I have only ever been on canoes, ferries and a whale watching boat but had never rented a smaller boat for water sports or relaxation. We pulled up to Claytor Lake State Park around 8, signed our papers and went to pick up the boat. We rented a white and blue 18 ft. Four Winns Horizon for the day. She seated 8, had lots of room for storage, and was quick (190 horsepower engine).
Claytor Lake is 21 miles long, with tons of little coves to explore. We started the day by driving through part of the lake, taking it in and relaxing. After a while, we decided to try the water for a swim. It was great, a lot warmer than I thought it would be. Steve taught me how to drive and I spent a while getting used to the boat and tooling around the lake. I like going fast, but the lake started to get busy, so I handed the wheel back. We spent some more time talking and driving the boat through all the little inlets around the lake. There are a ton of houses along the shore. It seems that everyone has their own boathouse or slip. A lot of people owned a boat or two plus a few waverunners. Oh the life of the rich! Steve and I kept pointing out houses and remarking what we liked about them, what we would change and what it would be like to live there and have the freedom to take your boat out anytime you wanted. There were a few people who had slides that allowed you to slide right into the lake. We also saw some kids jumping from decks into the lake...very cool!
We stopped the boat for lunch and another quick swim. I laid out on the boat for a while, enjoying the fresh breeze and warm sun. Steve finally got the radio to work (we tried a CD, but it wouldn't work and the CD came out with water on it)and we listened to country (surprise, surprise). After some more exploring and picture taking, we started to get a little bored. There is only so much you can do with 2 people on a boat without any water sports. We were a little jealous of the people on waverunners, so around 3 we went back to the marina to gas up and ask them if we could trade in the boat for a waverunner. They didn't have any available, but they did have a tube. We didn't think that we would be able to use it since we didn't have a spotter (someone to look out for the person on the tube), but they said it didn't matter.
I had never been on a tube, so I was pretty excited. We had to develop a system for communication since he had to operate the boat, look out for other boaters/tubers, jet skiers, etc., and watch out for my safety. We had a head nod, thumbs up type of thing going on, and it worked really well. He had barely started to go the first time when I fell off. I was laying too close to the front and the tube toppled over. I went in head first, a little surprised, and yelled and waved my hands to get his attention. I was wiser the second time around and off we went. He was gentle the first time so I could get a system worked out. It was a LOT of fun! The second time he went faster and I had to start hanging on harder and harder. I convinced him to let me drive the boat and give him a turn. I could tell he was a little nervous (remember, this was my first boating experience) but he was brave and let me have a chance. Driving/lookout was harder than it seemed....you had to be everywhere at once. He had a decent time, but it was much more fun for him to try to get me to fall off than it was for me to drive. I went back in the water and yet again, I was hanging on for dear life. I did fall off once. The tube started to tilt to the right, so I hoisted myself up on the left, but then the tube went over. I've never had so much water in my nose! By the time I got back on the boat, my hands hurt and I was tired. Steve said he was impressed. That made me feel good.
It was nearing the end of the day, so we started to drive back. I lost my hat, so we had to circle around for it. I tried to reach off the side of the boat, but it was too far down. Instead, I laid on the tube and Steve pushed me out in the direction of the hat. I must have looked ridiculous laying on the tube, swimming with my hands towards the hat. We took quick showers (if you can call them showers) and headed out. Boy, we were burnt! My sunscreen failed us miserably and we soon realized we had spots of red all over (Steve more than me, I was just mostly red). We left, exhausted but happy. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and since we were in the area, we decided to see the Natural Bridge. I will let Steve take over from here...I think this was his favorite part... :)
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Steve says:
Bethany's "spray-on" sunscreen was a complete failure. I learned as we were on the boat that she and her friends had all used the same small can when they went tube-floating on the river the week before the wedding. The can felt near empty, but it still sprayed out a good mist, so we used it. At the end of the day, we found out that the mist was more water than sunscreen. I sprayed it all over - only splotches here and there actually got protected. It's frustrating to have sunburn when you were intentional about applying sunscreen. Oh well, it's too late now.
Now for the Natural Bridge...
Before anything else, the title just sounds funny. We had looked at a brochure at the Chamber of Commerce when we first got into town. It was interesting, but nothing we were going to make the 2 hour drive down to see. Since we were driving past it (it was 3 miles off the Interstate we drove down on), we figured we were obligated to stop in and take a look.
It looks like the Natural Bridge was a big deal 30 years ago. When you pull up, it feels like it was a big, happening place one day and a ghost town the next. Everything around it was called the "Natural Bridge ______" (Natural Bridge Caverns, Natural Bridge Motel, Natural Bridge Post Office, Natural Bridge Wax Museum, etc). As we were getting out of the car, Beth asked if she should bring the camera. Being overwhelmed with how much "Natural Bridge" advertising there was around us, I jokingly responded: "Of course, it's the freakin Natural Bridge!". That became a long-running joke through the rest of the evening.
We got there around 8pm and went inside the "Entrance/Gift Shop" to look around. Tickets were $12 each to go and see it, along with some kind of light/music presentation about how it was created. Beth tried to find out if we could just see it without a ticket but the lady was very clear that we must purchase a ticket. So we purchased tickets and headed down the stairs and path to the foot of the Natural Bridge (we later found out there was a shuttle - we used that for the trip back). It was a little bit impressive - here's a couple pictures we took:
Wikipedia has some other info on it if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Bridge_(Virginia)
After walking around, we headed out to the car to take a fast nap (15 minutes) and then start the drive home. We were both exhausted and figured the nap was a good idea (since we had 2 more hours to drive). We just missed the light show as we left but didn't want to wait around and get home much later.
When we got home, we unloaded the car and went directly to bed (Beth emptied out the Aloe spray first, trying to soothe her sunburn).
OH! I almost forgot Foamhenge! We drove past it and I made Beth turn the car around so I could take these pictures. It is exactly what you'd think - a to-scale replica of Stonehenge made of foam. We only saw it from the road at night, but felt it was my obligation to document such a crazy thing.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Saturday - Day 14
Steve and I woke up around 9 and set out to sign our lives over to Page Valley Aviation for a Shenandoah Valley sightseeing tour. We had scoped out the airport a few days earlier before making a decision to go. A few of the planes had grass growing under them, so I was a little hesitant to go if they hadn't had business in a while. Turned out that they are usually pretty busy and were a great company to go with. We were greeted by some very friendly people and in a few short minutes were strapped into the smallest plane I have ever been in.
It seated 4 people including the pilot. It was a bit of an older plane, but started very well and it only took a couple of seconds to get her off the ground and into the air. Kenny, our pilot, was great! He was so nice and had all sorts of information about the area. We flew over the beautiful mountains and vallies of the Shenandoah area. It was so exciting to see everything from high up! Somehow it makes you feel humbled about the life you live, realizing how small you are in comparision to the world. Kenny pointed out the waterfalls (White Oak Canyon in Shenandoah National Park) that would have been amazing, but they were only operating at 10% of what they normally are (the area is in need of rain).
After we toured for about 45 minutes, Kenny handed the wheel over to Steve to fly the airplane. Ahhh! He did a great job and we got some funny footage of it on our video camera. Just as we started to circle the runway, Kenny took the wheel and we landed smooth and perfect. Here is a picture of us with Kenny after we landed:
The people at Page Valley Aviation are so funny! We talked to all of them for quite a bit afterward. They all tried to convince us why buying a plane would be a great idea and showed us maps of small airports all over Virginia, Maryland, and NJ. All in all, it was a wonderful time!
We stopped at Subway for some lunch, washed the car (there was still some smears from the "Just Married" paint) and walked along the Luray Hawksbill Greenway. This walkway was built along the Hawksbill Creek for recreation and relaxation. It was pretty, but Steve and I were dressed in jeans since we were going horseback riding later in the day, so it was a little too warm.
Speaking of horseback riding, that's where we were headed next!!! I've gone horseback riding about 3 times in my life (this would be my 4th). I really enjoy it and it's something that
I want to keep doing every once in a while in life. Steve pointed out that if the world came to an end and we didn't have any cars, I would be able to survive and travel on horseback.
He wasn't all that exicted about going, but went because it was something I enjoyed-what a trooper!
The farm takes a group of about 10 people at a time with two tour guides, one at the front and one at the back. We had the hour and a half tour and as soon as we were paired with our horses, it was time to go. My horse, Outlaw, was HUGE. I didn't have any trouble getting up because they had a stool to step on, but once I was up, it was certainly a little intimidating. Outlaw seemed really gentle and steady, but a few minutes in, he was spooked by something and whinnied and jumped. I hung on, but was a little more alert from then on.
It was good to have Steve behind me, riding a horse named Carbon Copy. I wonder why they named him that...? I heard him from time to time talking to his horse, convincing him to keep going and not stop for some leaves. Outlaw had a constant itch on his right side and once my leg got caught in his teeth as he was trying to itch it. He didn't bite hard, but I was definately a little annoyed and watched for that head-turning that tells me he's going in for that itch again.
The trail we took through the mountains was winding and rocky. The horses had, of course, been on this trail before, but they seemed to have a hard time finding their footing in several places and it took a lot to lean into your horse and hang on with your knees. The guides didn't want us to allow the horses to eat any shrubbery, but they were naughty and tried to anyway. Oh, and Outlaw had gas-BAD! Boy oh boy- he was letting it loose all the time-and loudly! I kept apologizing for him and then finally ignored it. A horse has gotta do what its gotta do.
On our way back, Outlaw tried to eat some leaves from a tree as we were going down a particularly steep trail and he got a testy. My leg got caught between him and the tree branch. I had to yank his head away and kick his sides forcefully until he moved, but my leg was pretty sore. The people behind me were like, "Ouch, that's gotta hurt!" I didn't want to be the sissy and admit it, but it did. Outlaw got spooked again as were were nearing the stables by another horse. He reared again, and by that time, I had had fun, but was ready to be done.
I think Steve felt the same way by the time we got back. We loved being outside with the horses, but that many horses in close proximity, with that kind of trail was hard on them and since we didn't know their personalities or tendencies, it was hard on us.
We made it into town and ran to Walmart to grab some groceries for tomorrow because we're going boating! Once home, Steve grilled chicken and we ate a nice dinner on the porch. Here is a picture:
We set the alarm for 4:30, so it was off to bed for us at 10:30. Although tomorrow will come really fast, we are both so excited to be on the water.
It seated 4 people including the pilot. It was a bit of an older plane, but started very well and it only took a couple of seconds to get her off the ground and into the air. Kenny, our pilot, was great! He was so nice and had all sorts of information about the area. We flew over the beautiful mountains and vallies of the Shenandoah area. It was so exciting to see everything from high up! Somehow it makes you feel humbled about the life you live, realizing how small you are in comparision to the world. Kenny pointed out the waterfalls (White Oak Canyon in Shenandoah National Park) that would have been amazing, but they were only operating at 10% of what they normally are (the area is in need of rain).
After we toured for about 45 minutes, Kenny handed the wheel over to Steve to fly the airplane. Ahhh! He did a great job and we got some funny footage of it on our video camera. Just as we started to circle the runway, Kenny took the wheel and we landed smooth and perfect. Here is a picture of us with Kenny after we landed:
The people at Page Valley Aviation are so funny! We talked to all of them for quite a bit afterward. They all tried to convince us why buying a plane would be a great idea and showed us maps of small airports all over Virginia, Maryland, and NJ. All in all, it was a wonderful time!
We stopped at Subway for some lunch, washed the car (there was still some smears from the "Just Married" paint) and walked along the Luray Hawksbill Greenway. This walkway was built along the Hawksbill Creek for recreation and relaxation. It was pretty, but Steve and I were dressed in jeans since we were going horseback riding later in the day, so it was a little too warm.
Speaking of horseback riding, that's where we were headed next!!! I've gone horseback riding about 3 times in my life (this would be my 4th). I really enjoy it and it's something that
I want to keep doing every once in a while in life. Steve pointed out that if the world came to an end and we didn't have any cars, I would be able to survive and travel on horseback.
He wasn't all that exicted about going, but went because it was something I enjoyed-what a trooper!
The farm takes a group of about 10 people at a time with two tour guides, one at the front and one at the back. We had the hour and a half tour and as soon as we were paired with our horses, it was time to go. My horse, Outlaw, was HUGE. I didn't have any trouble getting up because they had a stool to step on, but once I was up, it was certainly a little intimidating. Outlaw seemed really gentle and steady, but a few minutes in, he was spooked by something and whinnied and jumped. I hung on, but was a little more alert from then on.
It was good to have Steve behind me, riding a horse named Carbon Copy. I wonder why they named him that...? I heard him from time to time talking to his horse, convincing him to keep going and not stop for some leaves. Outlaw had a constant itch on his right side and once my leg got caught in his teeth as he was trying to itch it. He didn't bite hard, but I was definately a little annoyed and watched for that head-turning that tells me he's going in for that itch again.
The trail we took through the mountains was winding and rocky. The horses had, of course, been on this trail before, but they seemed to have a hard time finding their footing in several places and it took a lot to lean into your horse and hang on with your knees. The guides didn't want us to allow the horses to eat any shrubbery, but they were naughty and tried to anyway. Oh, and Outlaw had gas-BAD! Boy oh boy- he was letting it loose all the time-and loudly! I kept apologizing for him and then finally ignored it. A horse has gotta do what its gotta do.
On our way back, Outlaw tried to eat some leaves from a tree as we were going down a particularly steep trail and he got a testy. My leg got caught between him and the tree branch. I had to yank his head away and kick his sides forcefully until he moved, but my leg was pretty sore. The people behind me were like, "Ouch, that's gotta hurt!" I didn't want to be the sissy and admit it, but it did. Outlaw got spooked again as were were nearing the stables by another horse. He reared again, and by that time, I had had fun, but was ready to be done.
I think Steve felt the same way by the time we got back. We loved being outside with the horses, but that many horses in close proximity, with that kind of trail was hard on them and since we didn't know their personalities or tendencies, it was hard on us.
We made it into town and ran to Walmart to grab some groceries for tomorrow because we're going boating! Once home, Steve grilled chicken and we ate a nice dinner on the porch. Here is a picture:
We set the alarm for 4:30, so it was off to bed for us at 10:30. Although tomorrow will come really fast, we are both so excited to be on the water.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday - Day 13
Since we didn't get to bed quite as early as we had hoped last night, we woke up late this morning. Beth showered and then woke me up so I could hurry and get ready. We left the house by 12:15 and headed out to Charlottesville to visit Monticello. We were there by 2pm and bought our tickets to tour the house. The next open timeslot they had was 4:15 so we had 2 hours and 15 minutes to walk the grounds. We took these pictures while we wandered around:
They didn't allow any photography in the house, so no pictures there. We learned that they converted the upstairs to offices. They said we couldn't tour up there because of the fire code... It seems that because Thomas Jefferson used very narrow staircases, they wouldn't satisfy the fire code to have the public wandering around upstairs.
After our tour, we boarded the shuttle to go back down the mountain, then got in the car and left. We were both pretty hungry so we stopped at a TGIFriday's in Charlottesville for dinner. Since we were back in a reasonably populated area, they had stores around and we wandered through Target to pick up a few things.
Then back home, dishes and other cleaning, laundry, hot tub, and to bed...
Tomorrow we're going horseback riding and on a sight-seeing flight over the Shenandoah Mountains - we're very much looking forward to it.
Thursday - Day 12
We woke up this morning, exhausted from our long day in DC yesterday, and did a whole lot of nothing. Beth made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We went to the local "Internet Cafe" to check a few things online (because our slow internet up in the cabin isn't sufficient for everything). We uploaded a ton of pictures to Shutterfly, checked on some name-change info for Beth, got caught up on some blogging, and just generally hung out. The place was cool - it was basically the downstairs of a house downtown. They had a dining area (tables setup if you were going to eat dinner), a room with a few computers for the public to use, and a "lounge" room (a small living room with a few couches and a coffee table) where Beth and I hung out. A neat experience - we'll probably go back again before we leave. It was great to get to hang out (we had the "lounge" room to ourselves) together with other people around - nice to hear the sounds of people on occasion.
We came home and got dinner (the cafe closed at 5pm so we had to leave) and then went back out to Movie Starz. We got two movies (I don't recall the titles at the moment) - both were pretty good. While we were watching the movies, we put a good dent in our list of "Thank You" cards we need to send out. We brought all of the cards from the wedding with us so that we could take time to sit down, read them, and write thank you cards back while we're away.
After that, we went to bed so as to be well rested for our trip to Monticello in the morning.
We came home and got dinner (the cafe closed at 5pm so we had to leave) and then went back out to Movie Starz. We got two movies (I don't recall the titles at the moment) - both were pretty good. While we were watching the movies, we put a good dent in our list of "Thank You" cards we need to send out. We brought all of the cards from the wedding with us so that we could take time to sit down, read them, and write thank you cards back while we're away.
After that, we went to bed so as to be well rested for our trip to Monticello in the morning.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Wednesday - Day 11 - July 4th!
WHAT A DAY!
We woke up this morning very well rested and got ready to leave. We had decided earlier that we didn't want to have to carry around a bag (dealing with the security checkpoints and all) so we packed the digital camera, an extra battery and extra tapes for the video camera into Beth's purse. We were driving from Luray up to Fairfax, VA to get on the DC Metro (at Vienna/GMU). We got up there and couldn't park as the lot was full so we found a metered spot out on the street near the station. Then we found out we didn't have enough quarters to feed the meter for the 12+ hours we would be gone - instead we, in good faith, put 10 hours of time on the meter and hoped for the best.
We hiked up to the Metro station, bought our farecards and went down to get on the train. So far so good. We rode the train in to Federal Triangle where we got off right in the middle of the parade activity:
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Beth has some other comments........
We woke up this morning very well rested and got ready to leave. We had decided earlier that we didn't want to have to carry around a bag (dealing with the security checkpoints and all) so we packed the digital camera, an extra battery and extra tapes for the video camera into Beth's purse. We were driving from Luray up to Fairfax, VA to get on the DC Metro (at Vienna/GMU). We got up there and couldn't park as the lot was full so we found a metered spot out on the street near the station. Then we found out we didn't have enough quarters to feed the meter for the 12+ hours we would be gone - instead we, in good faith, put 10 hours of time on the meter and hoped for the best.
We hiked up to the Metro station, bought our farecards and went down to get on the train. So far so good. We rode the train in to Federal Triangle where we got off right in the middle of the parade activity:
No clue why the Teletubbie made it into the parade, but whatever.
At one point during the parade, we went up to a cross street and were going to cross over (with a mob of other people) to the other side of the road. When there was a break, one of the policemen motioned that it was okay for us to cross. All of the sudden, as we were getting ready to cross, this lady stepped in front of us with her hands on her hips facing the parade and just stood there. I said "excuse us", hoping to quietly slip through like everyone else did - she responded back: "Everyone is supposed to cross in the crosswalk, our blanket is here". The people behind us grumbled as well while we all went over 10 feet so as not to interfere with her territory.
After the parade, Beth needed to go to the bathroom. They had a ton of port-a-pots setup in the National Mall but you had to get through security checkpoints to get to them. Once the parade ended, there was just too much mob to deal with that. Instead, we walked up towards The White House and stopped in the White House Visitor's Center. They had air conditioning, bathrooms (real, not portable-out-in-the-heat-and-crowds) and not too many people... It was neat to look around in there for a while. They were running some kind of family program where they had kids signing the Declaration of Independence - that took up more than one half of the Visitor's Center so we kinda hurried through the other half. I'd be very curious to go back.
Next up was a trip to the White House (since we were so close). Beth took these pictures:
From there, we hit a hotdog vendor for hotdogs and a bottle of water (Neither of which were as filling as we had hoped) and headed out to the Capitol to get in line for the concert. The "A Capitol Fourth" concert was scheduled to begin at 8pm with admission to the Capitol lawn beginning at 5pm. We got in line at 1:45pm (it was more like a crowd than a line) and waited there until about 2:45 when we gave up. No one had gotten "in line" behind us and we were baking in the sun. We walked around to another hotdog vendor for two hotdogs and a bottle of water. We only had $5 and would have needed $6 but he gave it to us anyway (either to be extremely kind or was afraid we'd go somewhere else if we wandered around for an ATM). He was really nice about it.
We got back in line for the concert back down at the US Capitol. Beth met some nice people while I wandered around looking for a trashcan (seriously - HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of people at the US Capitol and ZERO - literally ZERO - trashcans). I ended up walking all the way back to the hotdog vendor to find a trashcan.
We waited in line talking with our line-neighbors for a while. At 5pm they still hadn't opened the gates and started moving people through security yet. Then the excitement level stepped up a notch with this announcement from the head guy with the Capitol Police at our gate: "There is an electrical storm in the area. If you wish to seek shelter, we are opening a parking garage across the street for your shelter and safety. This is optional - if you wish to seek shelter, proceed to the parking garage".
About 5 minutes later, he made another announcement which was followed by an announcement from the stage: "Everyone must evacuate to the parking garages - this is a mandatory evacuation".
We backed up away from the entrance gate where we had been in line, but stayed on the US Capitol property. As the US Capitol Police made their rounds, we backed up further and further. Finally, we ended up across the street in a park. US Capitol Police cars drove up and down the street announcing that everyone must evacuate to the garage. I was extremely uninterested in sitting in a parking garage with 200,000 other people and figured I'd prefer to take my chances outside until the weather gave some indication of something worse than clear skies.
We (along with a ton of other people) were waiting in the park when a policeman came down the sidewalk insisting that we all go to the garage. After he told us we had to leave, I engaged him in a quick conversation:
Steve: "Excuse me sir, could you tell me where we can go that we wouldn't be on Federal property so we can wait out the weather"
Policeman: "You can't stay in the park, this is federal property - you need to go to the parking garage. There are several tornados that have touched down in the area."
Steve: "Can I go over there (pointing to a traffic island where other people were waiting) - is that federal property?"
Policeman: "Yes, that's federal property"
That was more or less the end of the verbal part of the conversation. In frustration, I gave up and figured I'd go across the street to 101 Constitution (the Washington Gas building) where there were a ton of people waiting. As we started that direction, the policeman yelled back at us "That's federal property over there" (he thought we were going to the traffic island, which we had to cross to get across the street).
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Beth has some other comments........
Backing up a little bit-
It had started to sprinkle when the security guards made the announcement about inclement weather. We weren't worried and it was kinda fun to watch everyone communicating on their walkie-talkies like there was a major storm moving in.
We left the line after the announcement and hung out at the park for a little bit. Every one was a little grumpy (the guy who sat down next to me had all kinds of nice things to say about the Capital Police). When the policeman came over to tell us to evacuate the park, there was a general growl that went up.
Although Steve politely asked the policeman where we could go that wasn't federal property, I could see that he was in no mood to take attitude from anyone. As Steve was talking to him, a girl moved up to our conversation and was making comments like, "Well, you keep telling us to go places and making us move again". Between the girl and Steve, the policeman didn't look very happy. I think he threw in that last remark to us about the traffic island being federal property just because he could. I didn't want to get arrested, so I tried to gently usher Steve away from the nice policeman.
The day was getting better and better! We had fun hanging out in the 101 Constitution Building and watching the weather unfold. It was raining hard, but not nearly the kind of weather (hail and all) they had predicted.
Finally it cleared up....
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Here are some pictures from our wait:
(Beth was pretending she was stuck in the ficticious tornados they kept trying to scare us with)
When the rain seemed to let up a little, we saw a giant mob (presumably from the parking garage) running towards the Capitol. Everybody took this as a sign that the were letting people in now. We stopped and got a soda and another hotdog for me (Beth wants the record clearly showing her at TWO hotdogs, not three) and ran up to the security checkpoint. We made it through easily and found a seat on the front stairs of the Capitol. Here are some more pictures:
The concert was fair. Tony Danza was the host - he was a little loopy... The music was pretty good (the symphony was great!). Dirks Bently was especially good (he was the biggest act of the night). Then came the fireworks. I was disappointed - they could have been so much better if they lowered the giant screen from above the stage:
Tuesday - Day 10
I didn't sleep well at all last night. Beth and I went to bed around 1am and I got up every 20 or so minutes all through the night until about 4:30am. We had planned on waking up at 8 and heading out to Monticello by 9:30 but scrapped that plan when the alarm went off at 8 - there was just no way.
When I got out of bed, Bethany was upstairs watching Disney's "Pocahontas". I wandered upstairs to see the very end of the movie. When it was over, I went downstairs to check out options for the Fourth of July while she put on "Fivel Goes West". I was very disappointed in the fireworks/4th celebrations in Viriginia and finally gave up and went back upstairs to watch the movie.
After "Fivel" ended, we put on "Small Soldiers" (we weren't picking from Blockbuster Online here -there was a selection of about 15 movies at the cabin, most of them were Disney/kids movies).
After that, we went downstairs to get something to eat. I spent more time looking online to try and find 4th of July activities in DC and put together some kind of schedule. Then we went to a local grocery store and paid $4 for a gallon of milk. When we went to the local Movie Starz, we found out that they need to put a $60 hold on a credit card in case we run off with a movie since we are from out-of-state. That's CRAZY. We rented "Shooter" and went back home to watch it. Maybe it was because of the movies we'd watched earlier that day (though I doubt it), but "Shooter" was excellent. We both highly recommend it.
When the movie was over, we both went to bed to get plenty of rest for our early and long day tomorrow.
Here's a picture from our front steps out to the mountains:
When I got out of bed, Bethany was upstairs watching Disney's "Pocahontas". I wandered upstairs to see the very end of the movie. When it was over, I went downstairs to check out options for the Fourth of July while she put on "Fivel Goes West". I was very disappointed in the fireworks/4th celebrations in Viriginia and finally gave up and went back upstairs to watch the movie.
After "Fivel" ended, we put on "Small Soldiers" (we weren't picking from Blockbuster Online here -there was a selection of about 15 movies at the cabin, most of them were Disney/kids movies).
After that, we went downstairs to get something to eat. I spent more time looking online to try and find 4th of July activities in DC and put together some kind of schedule. Then we went to a local grocery store and paid $4 for a gallon of milk. When we went to the local Movie Starz, we found out that they need to put a $60 hold on a credit card in case we run off with a movie since we are from out-of-state. That's CRAZY. We rented "Shooter" and went back home to watch it. Maybe it was because of the movies we'd watched earlier that day (though I doubt it), but "Shooter" was excellent. We both highly recommend it.
When the movie was over, we both went to bed to get plenty of rest for our early and long day tomorrow.
Here's a picture from our front steps out to the mountains:
Monday - Day 9
It was hard, but we actually woke up at 8 this morning to shower and pack for a day of canoeing. I was really excited! I love canoeing, and the Shenendoah Mountains are so beautiful, I knew the Shenendoah River would be just as stunning. We drove to Shenendoah Outfitters to sign our lives away for a day on the river.
We choose the 11 mile/6 hour trip for a good challenge. The river and mountains were gorgeous and the weather was sunny and warm. I did get attached by a few dragonflies. Let me tell you.. it was pretty scary. We hit some great rapids every couple miles, and stopped for a quick lunch on a river bank. Here are some pictures of our canoeing trip.
We choose the 11 mile/6 hour trip for a good challenge. The river and mountains were gorgeous and the weather was sunny and warm. I did get attached by a few dragonflies. Let me tell you.. it was pretty scary. We hit some great rapids every couple miles, and stopped for a quick lunch on a river bank. Here are some pictures of our canoeing trip.
We were both so exhausted from the trip on the ride back to the Outfitter's after our pickup.
When we finished, we were extremely exhausted! We made the 6 hour trip in 4 1/2 hours. I am so sore! It was hard to match Steve's strokes and we only rested for a few minutes towards the end. We both ended up with sun burnt faces, shoulders and knees! Aloe has become my best friend :) I've carried it with me all evening.
When we came home, we showered, smeared on the aloe and took at nap. 2 1/2 hours later, we woke up and Steve put some steaks we had marinated earlier on the grill. They turned out to be really good (a lot better than Steve's hamburgers the night before)! Steve made a fire in the outside fireplace, and we ate steaks, potato salad, and baked beans- a great dinner and a wonderful end to a successful day.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Sunday - Day 8
We got and went to church. Just kidding.
We called the canoe place to see what kind of times we needed to allow for canoeing. Since they didn't call us back right away, we went with plan B. We had decided that we wanted to go back to Shenandoah National Park and do a tiny bit of hiking at some point in the next few days. We looked in Frommer's Guidebook for Virginia to find the shortest trail that would get us to a waterfall. The winner was "Dark Hallow Falls" at 1.4 miles round trip - I think they low-balled that number, it felt more like 10. We took a few pictures along the way.
We left the park and made our way back into town for another visit to Walmart. We got a few more groceries - bread, lunch meat, twizzlers, more lemonade, some steak to try out on the grill, along with a few other necessities. Oh - and we got ground beef. We bought these premade hamburger patties that just weren't working out very well. Beth forced down one of them and I pretended to like them for another night but then finally gave in. Instead, we bought the ground beef and some seasoning. I made them into half-pound patties and grilled them (along with some Italian sausage and two hotdogs). I think I made the burgers just a bit too big and definitely too thick. Beth didn't even pretend to like them (they were a bit dry too) - I ate 3/4th of mine. The sausage was a good experiment, I really liked it.
After dinner, we put on the best movie ever - Man on Fire ("You're the president? THE President?" and "You're from New Jersey? I'm from New Jersey"). Part way through (Creasey was on the phone with "The Voice" the first time), we decided to call it a night and go to bed early (if I'm starting to fall asleep during Man on Fire, I know I'm exhausted).
We called the canoe place to see what kind of times we needed to allow for canoeing. Since they didn't call us back right away, we went with plan B. We had decided that we wanted to go back to Shenandoah National Park and do a tiny bit of hiking at some point in the next few days. We looked in Frommer's Guidebook for Virginia to find the shortest trail that would get us to a waterfall. The winner was "Dark Hallow Falls" at 1.4 miles round trip - I think they low-balled that number, it felt more like 10. We took a few pictures along the way.
We left the park and made our way back into town for another visit to Walmart. We got a few more groceries - bread, lunch meat, twizzlers, more lemonade, some steak to try out on the grill, along with a few other necessities. Oh - and we got ground beef. We bought these premade hamburger patties that just weren't working out very well. Beth forced down one of them and I pretended to like them for another night but then finally gave in. Instead, we bought the ground beef and some seasoning. I made them into half-pound patties and grilled them (along with some Italian sausage and two hotdogs). I think I made the burgers just a bit too big and definitely too thick. Beth didn't even pretend to like them (they were a bit dry too) - I ate 3/4th of mine. The sausage was a good experiment, I really liked it.
After dinner, we put on the best movie ever - Man on Fire ("You're the president? THE President?" and "You're from New Jersey? I'm from New Jersey"). Part way through (Creasey was on the phone with "The Voice" the first time), we decided to call it a night and go to bed early (if I'm starting to fall asleep during Man on Fire, I know I'm exhausted).
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