vacation
Ryan and I took a mini-vacation this weekend (had Friday and Monday off) and went camping in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. The drive down was gorgeous, as it was the peak week for the leaves down there and it is hilly and mountainous, which meant fun driving for Ryan.
Then, it decided to rain all. night. long. on Friday. When the weatherman said a few scattered showers. So we put out tent up in 40 degree weather while we got soaked, and it took forever to sop up all the pools of water that accumulated in the tent before we could get it up and the rainfly on. We were so miserable we just changed into dry clothes and snuggled under the blankets for a few hours until the rain went away for a bit at 9. But then, oh, of course, we bought firewood from some shady people and it turned out to be too wet to get a good fire going. So we coooked our expensive steak over the little propane cookstove instead, and sat in the car with the heat going full blast eating with our hands because it was too awkward trying to cut it.
Luckily, we woke up Saturday and even though it was still only in the low 50s, the rain had died down to an occasional mist, which was perfect for hiking. We did a few mile hike that was pretty much all up mountain to go to the top of Seneca Rocks. It was good times, although my poor knees were still a little sore yesterday from the beating they took on the long way downhill.
We also drove up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia, and it was eerie. Because of the weather, we were actually driving in clouds, which made the narrow winding drive up there kinda stressful. And it meant we didn't get to see the supposedly amazing panoramic views. But it was still cool - there was no one else up there when we go there, and it was so completely quiet except for the wind and you couldn't see anything because of how dense the clouds were. And the vegetation was completely different than everywhere else we went - mostly pine trees and low shrubs and lots of rocks.
We also did a cavern tour that was fairly decent, although they waited until the group size was about 50 people and far too many young kids to make it all that enjoyable.
Ryan was so excited at the prospect of a rain-free night that he bought FIVE bundles of firewood from the camp manager (which means it was DRY!) and we had a 6+ hour long bonfire. It was awesome. We ate dinner then sat around drinking and talking and staying warm all night long. We were both more relaxed than we'd been in a looong time. I really needed a vacation.
By the way, our campsite was amazing. It was basically totally private, set far back from the road, with lots of forest separating us in everyway from our nearest neighbors, and the back of it ending in a ravine. I'm used to places where it's pretty open and you might have a couple trees for shade but your site backs right up to and is next to other sites. It was great!
Sunday we woke up to sunshine, so had a nice big breakfast over a fire made with the last of the wood and then packed up. We stopped at another park for a picnic lunch, and drove to a state park and took a shortish hike to see a pretty big waterfall. Even the rest of the ride home was fairly nice, as we were still in winding mountain roads with colorful views of all the trees for a good chunk of it.
Waking up Monday and having ANOTHER day off felt awesome. I actually got a lot of stuff done - Ryan helped me give the inside and outside of my car a thorough cleaning (both were pretty trashed after the trip), we did laundry, finished unpacking, did a little grocery shopping, I got the rest of what I needed to wear to a wedding this weekend, we both got some work done on our cars (i just needed a tire rotation, he got all sorts of stuff done to his civic, as it's been sitting for six months and needed prepared for the winter). i also went and got pumpkin ice cream, read a magazine, and watched about 4 hours of TV. Now that's a good day off.
I'm very sad to be back at work this morning, but at least it's only four days until the weekend again! :)
Then, it decided to rain all. night. long. on Friday. When the weatherman said a few scattered showers. So we put out tent up in 40 degree weather while we got soaked, and it took forever to sop up all the pools of water that accumulated in the tent before we could get it up and the rainfly on. We were so miserable we just changed into dry clothes and snuggled under the blankets for a few hours until the rain went away for a bit at 9. But then, oh, of course, we bought firewood from some shady people and it turned out to be too wet to get a good fire going. So we coooked our expensive steak over the little propane cookstove instead, and sat in the car with the heat going full blast eating with our hands because it was too awkward trying to cut it.
Luckily, we woke up Saturday and even though it was still only in the low 50s, the rain had died down to an occasional mist, which was perfect for hiking. We did a few mile hike that was pretty much all up mountain to go to the top of Seneca Rocks. It was good times, although my poor knees were still a little sore yesterday from the beating they took on the long way downhill.
We also drove up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia, and it was eerie. Because of the weather, we were actually driving in clouds, which made the narrow winding drive up there kinda stressful. And it meant we didn't get to see the supposedly amazing panoramic views. But it was still cool - there was no one else up there when we go there, and it was so completely quiet except for the wind and you couldn't see anything because of how dense the clouds were. And the vegetation was completely different than everywhere else we went - mostly pine trees and low shrubs and lots of rocks.
We also did a cavern tour that was fairly decent, although they waited until the group size was about 50 people and far too many young kids to make it all that enjoyable.
Ryan was so excited at the prospect of a rain-free night that he bought FIVE bundles of firewood from the camp manager (which means it was DRY!) and we had a 6+ hour long bonfire. It was awesome. We ate dinner then sat around drinking and talking and staying warm all night long. We were both more relaxed than we'd been in a looong time. I really needed a vacation.
By the way, our campsite was amazing. It was basically totally private, set far back from the road, with lots of forest separating us in everyway from our nearest neighbors, and the back of it ending in a ravine. I'm used to places where it's pretty open and you might have a couple trees for shade but your site backs right up to and is next to other sites. It was great!
Sunday we woke up to sunshine, so had a nice big breakfast over a fire made with the last of the wood and then packed up. We stopped at another park for a picnic lunch, and drove to a state park and took a shortish hike to see a pretty big waterfall. Even the rest of the ride home was fairly nice, as we were still in winding mountain roads with colorful views of all the trees for a good chunk of it.
Waking up Monday and having ANOTHER day off felt awesome. I actually got a lot of stuff done - Ryan helped me give the inside and outside of my car a thorough cleaning (both were pretty trashed after the trip), we did laundry, finished unpacking, did a little grocery shopping, I got the rest of what I needed to wear to a wedding this weekend, we both got some work done on our cars (i just needed a tire rotation, he got all sorts of stuff done to his civic, as it's been sitting for six months and needed prepared for the winter). i also went and got pumpkin ice cream, read a magazine, and watched about 4 hours of TV. Now that's a good day off.
I'm very sad to be back at work this morning, but at least it's only four days until the weekend again! :)