Peaks of Otter

Last week we went on a WONDERFUL camping trip! We left Wednesday around lunch time and drove 104 miles north on the Parkway to Peaks of Otter, pulling the 10' blue trailer that Aaron's family used to pull when we grew up camping together. We had bikes, camping gear, and firewood galore packed away in it! My parents and brother, Joe had already arrived a couple hours earlier and set up their campsite next to the site they had reserved for us. We set up our own tent, fixed supper, sat around the camp fire, and played games while we waited for Amanda, Joe (Lorenzo), and Lynn to arrive. They finally got there around 9:30 that evening.
The next morning, my siblings and I rode bikes for a while, and then we came back and packed lunches to go on a hike. We hiked between 5 and 6 miles which included climbing to the peak of a mountain and hiking to a gorgeous, somewhat restored farm out in the middle of nowhere. It was so cool! There is no public access road to this old farm, so the closest hike is a 1 mile hike through the woods. We'd already been hiking for over 4 miles by the time we got to it, but it was just awe inspiring. The farm was last lived in back in the 1920's (I think) and all the out buildings like a spring house, chicken house, etc. were still standing in their original spots. The National Park Service restored the farm in the 70's and are struggling to keep it maintained now. The house was just so cool. It was fully furnished with period related items, including clothes, toys, pots and pans, tools, quilts, etc. It makes me want to be self sufficient even more than I ever have wanted to be! (particularly with the economy going down the drain like it is right now!!) It was a wonderful hike and Savannah hiked the whole thing, and Aaron, the bionic man, carried Alan in the back pack carrier!
That evening, after we had eaten our delicious dinner that Amanda and Joe (Lorenzo) brought, Lauralee and D showed up right before dark. After they set up their tent, we played catch phrase as we sat around the camp fire. It's a good thing we brought as much firewood as we did, because it was cooler than we had expected it to be and we had a fire going the whole time we were at the campsite.
The next day, Friday, it was REALLY cool and cloudy. All of my siblings and I went for another short bike ride (just like the old days!) down to the visitor's center. We spent about 1/2 an hour drooling over all the books that we didn't have enough money to buy. I would like to have a copy of every book that is sold in a National Parks store. : ) I ended up purchasing 2 children's books with the help of my sweet sister, Amanda, and my dear brother, Joe. : ) One was called The Ecosystem of a Fallen Tree, and the other was called Lost in the Woods. Both books have excellent photography in them and the tree book is very educational.
After lunch, all 13 of us took another hike up Sharp Top Mountain. It was nearly a 2,000 ft elevation climb in less than 2 miles. It was very strenuous and AGAIN, Aaron carried Alan the whole way! There was a bee's nest on the trail that we'd been hearing about from other people, and though we tried to get by with no one getting stung, Mama got stung anyway. Amanda, being the earthy know-it-all that she is, found some plantain nearby, chewed it up, and slapped it on the sting. Mama said it really did help a lot and took most of the sting out. While we were hiking, an older, out-of-shape maintenance crewman drove up the mountain in the shuttle bus and started back down the trail to try to spray the nest. You've got to realize, this is a very mad yellow jacket's nest that is in the ground practically on the trail in the middle of the day. Well, this fella takes two cans of spray and decides that should take care of it. On our way back down, we found out that the man had gotten to the nest, gotten stung right away, dropped both cans of spray and his radio and ran all the way down the mountain. It was actually quite comical. We took a substantial detour through the STEEP woods so as not to get stung again, because they were NOT happy bees. By the time we got to the bottom, they had roped off the trail and wouldn't allow any hikers to go up. They killed the nest of bees that night after dark like they should have done in the first place. Once again, Savannah hiked the whole way though her legs (and everyone else's too!) were sore from the day before. That night we had dinner that Lauralee, D, and Lynn provided. Afterwards, we sang, played guitars , violin, and more catch phrase around the campfire.
Saturday morning was breakdown time. I was so sad to be leaving. It was a great trip and the kids did so well. They slept so well in the tent together even when we were in the adjacent campsite before coming to bed. Though it was QUITE cold at night, Katie Mae did fairly well too, sleeping with us some, but made it all the way through the last night on her own pallet. The other nights, she ended up with us halfway through the night. We sisters have decided that we need to do this twice a year, though Daddy is begging for it to just be once a year, for a while anyway. : ) : )

I would post pictures cause believe me, I took enough pictures to fill an entire album. But my dear daughter, Savannah managed to outsmart the Land Rover and lock both Aaron's and my sets of keys IN the car after we got home yesterday afternoon. (The car doesn't lock if the keys are in it...Aaron has even tested it, but somehow, Savannah managed to do so.) My purse, cell phone, camera, Aaron's wallet and check book, Alan's blanket, Katie's diaper bag, and of course all 3 car seats are sitting in a very large paper weight in our driveway. We can't call a lock smith or try to unlock it ourselves because it will void the warranty. So it has to be towed to the Roanoke dealership, unlocked, and then towed back home. A tow truck came to get it today, but he couldn't because he didn't have wheel dollies and was unaware of the fact that we couldn't get it out of gear because we CAN'T GET IN TO THE THING!!! So, another tow truck is supposed to come tomorrow to tow it up there. Thank goodness though, the warranty is supposed to cover all the towing and unlocking fees. I'll believe it when I see it. So, for now, I'm homebound until our car is back home unlocked, but that's ok, I love home!!!