Places to Go (Vacation) - Camping in November at Sky Meadows State Park (Delaplane, VA)

Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday! We spent the weekend with Dan's family - eating SO MUCH food and then visiting the Vermeer exhibit at the National Gallery of Art and Kingdom of Colors at Artechouse. As far as art goes, we couldn't have had two more different experiences in one day - but I really enjoyed both.

The photos are from the weekend before last - when we spent Friday night camping at Sky Meadows State Park. We had hoped to see the meteor shower, but the light pollution was worst than anticipated (plus, we went to sleep rather early). Sky Meadows is a walk-in campground - the sites are about 1 mile from the parking lot. The hike/walk is easy, but it felt a little surreal to arrive at our campsite in the dark. As did hiking in with P as the light slowly faded away around us.

On the upside - we were thrilled to camp without bugs, but turns out ticks last longer than expected - both dogs found a few. So it goes. The night was COLD, but all in all the experience was pretty amazing (I heard owls all night) and I'm hoping we'll go again next year.

Places to Go - Wednesday Night Camping at Shenandoah River State Park (Bentonville, VA)

A few weeks ago, I had a relatively easy weekday schedule (no real estate work, no weddings to edit) and Dan just finished trial, so he had a few mellow workdays too. Thus, we decided to take the kids out of school a few hours early and head to Shenandoah River State Park to camp for a night. I've wanted to spend a night here for awhile now, but weekends are usually booked solid up to a year in advance.

And now I see why. The campsites are AMAZING!! Huge. Private. Water views. Plus, since the sites are walk-in (a really short walk), you don't have to listen to cars all night long.

Dan fished. We hiked (we didn't see a single other person on any of the trails). P explored. T kept the fire burning. F read (of course).

We saw snakes. And butterflies. And honeysuckle.

Turns out camping on a Wednesday night is pretty awesome. I wish we could go all the time.

Shenandoah River State park is only 75 miles from Arlington (about 1.5 hours away). They also have a zipline course that looks super fun (I really want to try it next visit). You can find more info on the park here.



The baggage carts were a huge hit. Somewhere along the way they became a "ride".








Seriously, how gorgeous is this campsite?



Several of the park's trails leave right from the campground. We're hoping to take the kids overnight backpacking this summer (fingers crossed), so T decided to test out his new pack.

Places to Go - Floating & Fishing at River Run Campground (Rileyville, VA)

Since we returned from our 5 week road trip, I've wanted to go camping almost every weekend. In some ways this isn't surprising, as I've always liked to camp. But now that we have better systems in place - a container full of plates, towels, and silverware; all of our sleeping bags in one set location; tents in an easily accessible corner of the garage - camping seems EASIER. In just a few minutes, we can throw most of what we need in the car and go. And if we forget something? Well, we usually only camp for one night anyways.

Though, honestly, now that all three kids can pack themselves all weekend trips are so much easier.

Anyways, once we decide to camp, the big question is always - where to go?

A few years ago, when we floated down the Shenandoah River (posted here), we passed by numerous people camping on the river. So for Dan's birthday this year, I used my google skills to try and find the best of the riverfront camping options.

And eventually I found River Run Campground. On the downside, the sites are primitive (no water or hook-ups and only port-a-potties for bathrooms) and somewhat close together - they are basically big rectangles with the small side facing the river, so the sites are large in that you have a ton of space to park and camp, but you are still close to your neighbors.

On the upside, the riverfront sites were clean, the views were GORGEOUS, and each site comes with a picnic table and firepit. Further, the proprieters sell floating tubes for $10 and they will drop off firewood at your campsite for an additional fee. The port-a-potties were clean, but not sparkling, if you know what I mean.

All in all, River Run Campground was a great place to spend a night. The kids had a blast in the river (all except for F, who remains somewhat appalled that we camped without flushing toilets nearby), though the bank might be somewhat steep for preschool-age kids or younger. Click here for more info.






We even have a camping table cloth, that's when you know we're becoming serious campers (or so I'd like to believe).



I tried to "fancy-up" our dinner by pre-making hobo snacks to cook over the campfire (Italian sausage, cut up potatoes, and red peppers) and they were SO GOOD!!



The non-river front campsites were all unoccupied, so the kids had a huge field to run in and tons of hay bales to climb.





For T, the highlight of the trip was sleeping side-by-side with his best friend, Coco the dog.

Places to Go (Vacation) - Camping at Seneca Shadows (Seneca Rocks, WV)

I never know whether to include camping posts in the local category or the vacation category. Is camping really a vacation? I go back and forth on this. Usually, I base it on the length of the car drive; this one took 3 hours, so I'm categorizing this as a vacation.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! These photos are a few weeks old now, but we had a fabulous time camping with friends under towering West Virginian cliffs.

The campground has large group sites, allowing multiple families to stay together. Plus, the sites have tons of room to run, scooter, and/or kick a soccer ball around. But the highlight for the kids was walking to the camp store, where candy sold for under 25 cents. We all enjoyed a nice hike up to green vistas - not a city in site for as far as the eye can see. And a great nature center, that had live bluegrass the weekend we visited.





On the drive home we toured Smoke Hole Caverns and watched goldfish glide through a subterranean lake (oxygen for their water is pumped in). Beautiful.

Places to Go - Cabin Camping & Swimming at Cunningham Falls State Park (Thurmont, MD)

A few weekends ago, we spent the weekend with friends at Maryland's Cunningham Falls State Park (located approximately 1.25 hours from DC). We visited a few years ago (click here for past posts), but this time felt extra lucky as we reserved two of the campground's rustic cabins. As much as I love camping, sleeping on a bed (even a super hard "rustic" bed) really trumps sleeping on the cold, hard ground.

The cabins are pretty basic - two SMALL single bunkbeds and a a double mattress for adults (or in our case, for adults plus T). The kids had a great time "decorating" the few shelves and quaintly unpacking their few belongings. And then (of course) we ate smores over a campfire while all the children made a super detailed fairy home (honestly, hours were spent on this fairy dwelling, making me hope they really are real) and playing flashlight tag with all the other children in the campground. Without an ipod in site. Pure magic.

























A small man made lake resides within a quick drive of the campground, with plenty of shade to lounge under. The water is pretty shallow but the kids still swam and swam, despite the fact that the lake looked rather, um, murky. Two days later F caught a hell of an ear infection. Coincidence? I think not. Oh well, still a nice way to spend an afternoon.











We spent Sunday morning hiking to Cunningham Falls. The state park offers a few alternate trails to the waterfall; we chose the one with boulders to climb. So. many. boulders.

All in all a great weekend (despite the lake's icky water), click here for more info.