Last weekend we made a long weekend trip to Virginia. This was a special trip, especially for Eli, because it is where he vacationed with his family all of the time growing up. He has been begging asking me to go for a couple years now. I think he finally couldn’t wait anymore because he came home one day and said that he booked our condo and we were going the following month!
We left on Thursday (October 2). Now, a vacation for me is definitely going to the beach. But, this place was beautiful. I’ve never really seen the mountains other than while driving through on our way to the beach.
We stayed in the Wintergreen Resort which is actually a ski resort. Ironically, Eli has never been there when its had snow. Once we settled in, we went on a short trail that was just outside our condo. It led us up to an overlook that made the slightly treacherous hike (especially with a baby bundled to you) totally worth it. Or maybe we just realized just how out of shape we were…
The resort is surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains. From the pictures, you can see they are aptly named.
Later, we went to the little market that they have just to get some things to drink and snack on at the condo. A box of cereal… $7! A HALF gallon of milk… $6.50. Um…no thank you. We spent the next 5 minutes trying to find the most expensive items. The winner was a dinky, little bottle of natural maple syrup for a whopping $17. We left with a box of hot cocoa and a gallon of water. Needless to say, we made the 45 minute drive the next day to a Target. (Yes, Target was worth the gas.)
Friday morning after breakfast, we drove to the Luray Caverns. If you are ever in Virginia, definitely make a stop there. It is a mile tour that takes you 16 stories underground! There are hundreds of thousands of stalactites and stalagmites. (Yeah, I had no idea what those were before either.)
Saturday, we spent the morning being lazy with Ellie and took advantage of the glorious king-size bed. We spent the day driving around the resort, stopping to take pictures, and going on some hikes. I loved today because Eli was like a kid in a candy store. He told a bunch of stories from when he was a kid and took us to all of the places that they used to go. Eli’s dad passed away over 20 years ago so I never got to meet him. He always speaks fondly of him. And this weekend, I really felt like I got to see a glimpse into his childhood. Everywhere we went he was radiating excitement.
I love that I got to capture him taking pictures of his favorite place on earth.
We went on a trail called Shamokin Falls Trail that made me realize that an “easy” hike is “not-so-easy” when you’re wrapped to your baby. But, we went slow, took some pictures, and made it to the waterfall.
That night, we drove to an overlook and watched the sunset.
On Sunday, we woke up, packed and left at 9 so that we could stop at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Ellie was not too keen on the crowded areas and small rooms but we made the best of it. We had just gotten to the first bedroom on the tour when Ellie started to get cranky (which also means hungry). I swear our tour guide pushed a secret button because she had only made a couple whines when someone came to escort us to the side porch so that I could feed her. Of course I left my nursing cover in the car because I didn’t think we’d need it, so Eli stood and covered us with his jacket. Two minutes later we realized that this porch was the last stop on the tour… So every 5 minutes a new group of 25 people came out for the grand finale. That was fun. Oh well. Who can say they got to breastfeed on a former president’s back porch?!
And after 7 more hours in the backseat of a tiny car, we were home. This was such a great mini-vacation. I know Eli was so happy that he got to bring Ellie and I here. We will definitely be going back soon.
