Oh, Shenandoah

We made our first overnight family outing since Henry was born this past Friday. Vince took the day off and we all hopped in the mini van and headed to Shenandoah National Park. We left right before Eleanor's nap and she was all worked up because Vince was packing the car while I was trying to feed her lunch. We had been talking up "going to the mountains" so much that she had a bit of a meltdown as he loaded all of the baby gear into the car. Having not yet eaten and being rather tired, she started saying "metch" over and over again, until finally we realized she was saying "mountains" and likely feared we would leave without her.





Luckily, it is not that far to the park, so we were able to stop along the way and take a small hike along part of the Appalachian Trail. Eleanor found several little treasures (acorn, rock, oak leaf) and of course asked us to "ho" (hold) them. We even saw a hiker who jokingly offered to pack our kids down to Georgia -- needless to say we declined!





We stayed the night at Skyland Lodge between mile 41 and 42 of Skyline Drive. It was so beautiful, our room looked out to the west over the mountains. There was a lovely sunset, which Eleanor thought was the moon since she hadn't seen a sunset like that before. We brought all of the comforts of home to make the hotel room seem like a natural place to sleep; blankets, pillows, bed rail, and of course, blanket and giraffe. Eleanor enjoyed a few 'Jimmy the Skunk' stories and then settled in for the night without a problem. Henry likewise fell asleep almost as easily as if we were at home.





On Saturday as we wound our way along Skyline Drive, we came across a large group of bikers who were signalling us to slow down. We couldn't figure out why, we really weren't going very fast. As we turned the next corner, we saw why -- a young black bear at the side of the road. We were so excited and started pointing it out to Eleanor. She seemed somewhat less interested than her parents. I shot a few pictures but between all the excitement and shooting through the window (we were REALLY close), the shots turned out somewhat blurry.



I love taking the kids to National Parks. Even though they are young, I think that they will benefit from the beauty and wonder our country has to offer. Our family took several monumental and fantastic vacations to National Parks throughout the country when we were young and I still reminisce fondly and often about those trips. The thing I sort of realized but never fully understood is the amount of planning my dad and mom put into preparing for those trips. I have a new appreciation for traveling with kids; granted, my brother and sister and I were older on those trips, but nonetheless, it must have been a lot of work for my parents.