Shenandoah, Day 3

Ben took Alison fishing one last time and we gave back our keys to the cabin.  We loaded up the car and headed out to find an apple orchard.  

 

Then we went to the Shenandoah National Park to drive Skyline Drive and take some hikes.

As much as I love the mountains, they don't love me.  Shortly into the drive I remembered how carsick I get in the mountains.  We pulled over for lunch and to give me time to regroup.  It was really cold when we got up in the mountains and I was not prepared.  I pulled out some blankets and the kids huddled up to eat.  THEN, I discovered the bread for our lunch was moldy.  So we had peanut butter and jelly on hotdog buns and bagels.

Ben took the boys exploring and let them run around.  They found a funny looking tree stump and laughed and laughed that it looked like a potty.

 

He found a patch of milkweed and taught the kids about them.

 

We found the closest "kid friendly" trail.  I think they classified it as that because it was only a mile long, but it was a steep, narrow and rocky mile.

 

Ben carried Colin pretty much all of the way and I walked in between Eli and Alison.  They did amazing and the view was worth the work.

There was a couple at the top when we got up there and they offered to take our picture.  The lady was SO nervous about our kids, which is understandable, but then kept saying, "Um, that boy isn't looking at the camera."  Um, we don't care where he is looking as long as he's not falling off the cliff.

 

Eli found a little nook that was out of the wind and instantly started playing house.  I love this boys' imagination.

 

 

 

 I loved chatting with Alison on the way back down.  She had such fun things to say!

We drove on, in search for a less rocky trail and all of the sudden A BLACK BEAR JUMPED ONTO THE ROAD!

 

I write it in caps because it was the craziest, scariest thing I've ever seen.  I was driving (it helps the carsick thing) and panicked.  Ben told me to stop and rolled down his window and get a picture and I panicked even more.  Yes, let's open our car for the black bear, good idea.

We eventually found this meadow trail, that was much more kid friendly.

 

 I'm disappointed I don't have a picture of the end of our day, but we met my cousin Ed and his family and my aunt Jill for dinner.  They live right by where we were hiking and we've only been up to see them once since we've lived here.  I wish we could have made it up more often, but it was fun catching up over pizza.