after one last visit to the swimming pool and rocking chairs at the stonewall jackson hotel in staunton, virginia,
we hit the park.
and hit the trails
we picked the trail with the most bouldering/scrabbling/hiking on the appalachian trail. it was a winner.
after lunch, we had a parking lot picnic. it was superb.
this sign excited me: bears! bears might run out and right into our car! but alas...despite their claim of 400-600 bears living in this park, we didn't see a single one.
after some visitor's center education, an abandoned attempt at another hike (the kids finally put their collective foot down), we made it up to skyland in the park. ah, skyland. what a place. we found our hotel room, perched on the mountain top wtih a commanding view of the shenandoah river valley, and immediately fell in love. i remember that when we reserved the room way back in winter, there were few left, and the ones that were were all a little splurgy, and we went for it, and then i kinda forgot about it until we walked into the room...and our jaws just dropped.
the whole place was amazing, ridiculous, and perfect. it was so much more than we needed, but was also just right.
we spent some down time ready, looking, resting, and working on junior ranger work books, until dinner time arrived and we walked over the restaurant in skyland, and we dined like kings. we were sure to save enough room to share a piece of the highly recommended house specialty: the blackberry and meringue ice cream cake. holy. cow. it was good.
the walk home after the rain
and the sunset views over the river valley.
ah, beautiful morning.
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