Anniversary Vacation

Hopefully I can remember everything we did and the order in which we did it. We had a great time and it was wonderful to get away from everything for a few days. First off, the flowers.

We left on Thursday after Boo-Boo got off of work. As usual we had not done much packing the day before so I was rushing to get stuff done during the day. We ended up leaving a little later than we had wanted but it ended up only taking us an hour and a half to get to the cabin. We arrived around five, unpacked and settled in and then did a little looking around. The cabin was described as being secluded with a river view and river access.

It was all of those things but not to the degree we expected. We figured by being secluded it meant that there were no other homes in the area, but we had very close neighbors (one of which was described by the owner of our cabin as territorial). It also had a river view and river access but the river was separated from the cabin by a very busy road. The cabin also had a train track that was up a very steep hill behind the cabin. Trains came by quite frequently and Smidgel and I would wave “bye-bye to the choo-choos” whenever we had the chance.

Friday morning we went to the Luray Zoo. It is a small rescue zoo but it is known for it collection of snakes, which I do have to say is quite impressive.

They also have quite a few birds, a tiger, Capuchin monkeys, wallabees, a few other cats and a petting zoo. In the petting zoo are some deer with very funny antlers.

There is a sign explaining why their antlers look bumpy and deformed and that is because they have been neutered. Apparently when you neuter a deer it does something to the hormones that help develop antlers. I think that Smidgel enjoyed the petting zoo portion the best because he was on the level of the animals.

Boo-Boo and I enjoyed watching the Capuchin monkeys and the tiger being fed.

Mother with sleeping baby on her back

We probably stood at both exhibits for at least twenty minutes! After the zoo we went back to the cabin so that Smidgel could nap and we could relax. After nap time we went down to the river and swam for an hour or so. While we were swimming another family came by in kayaks so we enjoying talking with them. We also found out that our territorial neighbor rents out his cabin too but he does not inform his guests about the line division when down at the river. It all ended up working out, mostly because the mother didn’t feel like dealing with the kids and the dog and ended up taking their dog back to their cabin. The rest of the night was spent relaxing and after Smidgel went to bed Boo-Boo and I played some board games.

Sunday morning was a very early morning, I believe that Smidgel woke up right around six. Unfortunately the cabin only has one bedroom (and a pull out sofa) so we were in the same room as Smidgel. He is a very active sleeper and moves around a lot. Usually if he wakes up early or in the middle of the night I give him a little bit of time to settle back down and see if he is actually ready to get up. We didn’t have that luxury because he would stand up in his pack-n-play and there we were. So he would bang on the foot of the bed and laugh and scream, anything to get our attention. This was also the morning that he was running a fever and was cranky. He stayed up for a few hours and then went back down for a nap. The plan for the day was to go to Luray Caverns and then do some shopping in Luray. We weren’t sure we were going to end up doing that because of his fever and decided that we would see how he was when he got up. After his nap he seemed like he was doing a little better so headed to Luray Caverns. I was t the Caverns a few weeks ago with Aminallady but this was Boo-Boo’s first time. I could go back millions of times, they are amazing.

The Shaggy Dog

The Ghost (when the caverns were first discovered they thought a ghost was following then because every where they went they caught a glimpse of this. Eventually they used it as a guide as they made their way around the caverns).

The wishing well

About half way through the Caverns, Smidgel started getting antsy. When we picked him up, he was very warm which was a little alarming because it is pretty cool in the Caverns. We finished our tour, carrying Smidgel the majority of the time, and then went to the Garden Maze. I thought that the Garden Maze would be short and sweet and we would be on our way in no time. The Garden Maze is just what it says, a maze (which I expected but I didn’t expect to spend thirty minutes in it). I also thought there would be pretty flowers to take pictures of but they didn’t have those either. I did end up getting this shot of the horizon and the Luray Singing Tower at the terrace where you can sit and relax.

We did end up driving through downtown Luray but there weren’t any shops we were interested in stopping at. We made a quick stop into CVS to get a thermometer and Tylenol and then went back to the cabin. After a dose of Tylenol and another nap, Smidgel was pretty much back to his normal active self. Boo-Boo grilled out for dinner and we enjoyed dinner on the deck over looking the river. Once again, after Smidgel went to bed, Boo-Boo and I played board games, which included Scrabble (which I beat him seven games to one over the next two days).

Sunday we didn’t have anything planned so we just decided to go to Skyline Drive. We spent about three hours driving towards Front Royal and stopped in at one of the waysides for lunch. I can’t remember where we got off but it was a beautiful day with beautiful scenery and a few deer sightings.

After a few hours of relaxation at the cabin, and probably another Smidgel nap, we went back down to the river. Smidgel wasn’t as tolerant of the river this go around and we probably only spent thirty minutes in the water. Once we got Smidgel to sleep we did a little packing and then enjoyed our last evening together at the cabin.

We spent the majority of Monday morning packing up the car so that we could make out of the cabin by checkout time. We made it just time time. We were able to get the dogs down to the river one last time before we left and I think that Apollo was grateful for that. Georgia could have cared less as she spent most of the time trying to pull me back to the cabin. The morning was kind of hectic as we left the majority of the packing, once again, for the morning. That on top of the bees that were discovered in our car the night before made for a morning that flew by. We had decided the day before that we would take Skyline Drive down to Waynesboro and then head home from there. We didn’t stop as many time this go around but we did stop at the wayside to get some food. Smidgel was pretty much over his carseat by this time so it was a cranky ride home. We had a wonderful time and we plan on making this a yearly vacation. We probably will not go back to this cabin next year because of it only having one bedroom. If we can’t find another one in our price range, that allows dogs and is within walking distance of water we will return. It was a beautiful place to stay and we really enjoyed our time, it is the sleeping arrangements that are the only thing deterring us.