Grayson Highlands Camping Trip

While the washer and dryer are working their miracles (one load folded, one load in the dryer, one load in the washer, and one load still on the floor), I thought I would share some memories from our Grayson Highlands (State Park) camping trip over the past week:

• During the day, high temperatures in the 60s
• Matthew zooming around the campground on his bike
• taking the “scenic route” to find the Virginia Creeper bike trail
• coasting/biking the 17 miles down the Virginia Creeper through the Jefferson National Forest
• hiking on the Appalachian Trail (and several others) – Michael’s First Non-Complaining Hike!
• Spending time with the cousins: Rachel, Rebekah, and Ruthie
• All of the animals we saw: deer, turkey, salamanders, chipmunks, etc.
• Trying to cook ribs in the crockpot – only to find that my knob fell off (and I had no idea of the settings) – moved to trying to cook the ribs on the grill, but that wasn’t working either…ended up cooking them on the campstove
• Pouring rain for h*o*u*r*s in the wee small hours of Saturday morning
• Roasting marshmallows over the fire and listening to campfire stories
• Sparklers on July 4th courtesy of Aunt Karen (hi Karen!)
• The fly swarm that descended on the camper while Alan was cooking bacon one morning
• All of the bandaids that got used
• Hanging out with Alan’s sister Terri and her family (and enjoying their leftovers Saturday night – Thanks, Terri!)
• All of the reading…I re-read (for maybe the 3rd time) The Devil Wears Prada and starting The Boxcar Children with the boys
• The wonders of the campstore and all of the amazing items the boys felt were worthy of purchase (came home with a stuffed chipmunk and – shock – a dinosaur)
• A salamander hunt with cousins
• Oh! The gifts of sticker books and cap guns from Aunt Karen (double snaps to Aunt Karen!) resulting in a Cap Gun Showdown with Daddy in "The Meadow"
• Learning about the thrill of geochaching with the Straussers – I found four of the ones we hunted!
• Loving the entertainment of "Tom and Jerry" when it was pouring rain in the afternoon
• Matthew (spontaneously) telling me: “My life wouldn’t be complete without you, Mommy.” (yes, I then told him he could have whatever he wanted)
• Alan teaching the nieces to play “poker” and “21”
• The snack mix: cheerios, fruit loops, corn chex, semisweet chocolate and butterscotch chips, golden raisins, goldfish
• Alan’s “reunion” with an older couple we met camping last summer
  

We always have lots of good times when we camp there. And this time it was even better and easier because of Camilla. Matthew always asks why we only stay “five” (or, the applicable number) days. We’re looking forward to one more trip there later in the summer. It will be hard to top this one.