We had a nice weekend planned in Shenandoah at Big Meadows Lodge. We traveled out on Friday, stopping along the way to let the kids have some fresh air and a nap in the stroller. Skyline drive was lovely, as usual, even with a little bit of rain. I even saw a black bear in the woods as we drove along. We arrived at Big Meadows in the early afternoon and checked into our room. I would say this is really where the adventure began. We entered the room (#13), adjacent to the main lodge by way of a steep narrow staircase. It was basically the attic, though it did have a fireplace. And, instead of the two adjoined rooms the woman on the reservations line had mentioned it was one very small, extremely hot room with a double bed.
We managed to get everything sorted out. The heat was on, so that got turned off. The adjoining room was actually #14 -- equally small but with two twin beds -- across a landing of four stairs. While not ideal, we figured that we could put the kids in one room and I could sleep with them. At least that way Vince could actually get a bit of sleep after a long week of work.
We played around all afternoon at the playground and near the lodge. We saw some deer and the view from Blackrock. We had dinner at the Wayside, which included some amazing sweet potato fries with maple butter.
Then bedtime arrived. We had taken every possible measure to make the hotel room feel as much like home as possible, including bringing every blanket and pillow from Eleanor's bed. We got them down to sleep after some cajoling and everything seemed to be going fine. Until, someone from the lodge came in and wanted to check room #14 for a lost article from the previous inhabitants. Ugh. Henry was wide awake wanting to see what was happening and Eleanor was a bit unsettled by the whole thing as well. Needless to say, the gentleman didn't find anything other than two tired babies.
So, at this point, I was starting to get a bit frazzled. I really try hard to roll with the punches but I just wanted this to be a nice retreat from everyday life at home and it was starting to get all muddled. Henry did manage to go back to sleep, as did Eleanor. I climbed into bed shortly thereafter not knowing how long I might have until everyone was awake again. Turns out, not long. Eleanor woke up worried about her daddy and needing some water, which in turn woke Henry again. Then, Henry make the executive decision to stay awake for several more hours. By 12:30 am, I went across the landing to ask for Vince's help. We looked helplessly at each other and decided to drive home for fear that with Henry screaming we might never be allowed to come back.
We packed up the car in record time, tossed the keys on the reception desk and hopped in the car. Eleanor half asleep and shaking in the cool night air as I carried her to the car said, "Its so dark." Right she was. Henry was instantly asleep in his seat and Eleanor was able to get a bit of rest as well. However, Vince and I kept our eyes on the road. In his words we were in an "animal obstacle course". After passing a possum, myriad deer, two bobcats (or some such animal -- hard to tell in the dark but definitely cat-like), more deer and nearly hitting a sweet fox with black socks, we managed to make it back to 211, the main drag back towards the city. We decided to take a "direct route" to 66 instead of following 211, which ended up being a long-cut instead of a short-cut. I have never been so happy to see 66 in all my life. In fact, driving on a virtually traffic free 66 at 3 am was actually almost enjoyable.
We made it home into our comfortable beds and were happy to wake up in a familiar place. Yesterday involved lots of sleeping and thankfully, Henry obliged us last night with an all-the-way-through sleep. Hooray. We'll just have to try again another time for a weekend away.
No comments:
Post a Comment