I have so many pictures from the past weekend - almost all of them taken on Saturday between 10:00 and 2:00, ha-ha! It was a good weekend but as always, it was over way too soon! I was lucky to get to leave work early on Friday and so once I got home around 3:30 I got in some exercise and a did a little reading before meeting my Dad for dinner.
Once I was back home, I sat outside on the deck with my sweet pup for a little while before spending the remainder of my evening taking a bubble bath and finishing up the first season of Top of the Lake on Hulu. I ended up reading until almost midnight... just one of those things that happen when you get all caught up in what you're reading.
Once I was up and drinking my coffee, my Dad was ready to set out to hike... nothing like getting an early start on the day I guess. I had my usual two cups of coffee and then got ready and we set off for the National Park by 9:30. What in the world?!?
We actually drove to Luray, VA to check out a trail we'd read quite a lot about - it's called the Storybook Trail and it's 0.9 of a mile and was supposedly just the simplest "hike" possible with incredible views at the end. Well - the hype for this trail was absolutely real. The trail is not something I'd call a hike so much as a paved walkway through the woods and the viewing platform offers some of the most spectacular views I've ever seen.
You put in absolutely little to no effort - seriously - if you can walk, you can do this trail...and the reward are some of the most stunning views in the Blue Ridge Mountains! We discovered to the right of the viewing platform were several rock outcrops that allowed for even more viewing options and so we climbed around, scoped those out and snapped some other pictures. I cannot stress enough that if you're looking for stellar views but don't want to exert yourself - this is the trail for you. It's absolutely the best!
After making our way back to the car, we headed into the National Park entrance at Luray and made our way to Skyland Lodge to grab some lunch. We'd been planning to eat at the cafe but we discovered that it didn't open until 2:00... so we hopped in the line to eat in the dining room, snagged a table and had a quick lunch while looking at the views. That's certainly the quickest I've been seated at Skyland Lodge and the pulled pork sandwich I had for lunch was pretty tasty too!
Our second hike (if you can call the first one a hike...) was to the Stony Man Summit, which is the second highest peak in Shenandoah National Park at 4,011 feet. The trial is a 1.6 mile round trip lariat trail through the woods and only gains about 300 feet in elevation - so you get a lot of view for a little effort. Seriously - this was another trail that was incredibly easy to navigate, nothing too strenuous and when you arrive at the top - the reward is absolutely amazing!
The sharp rock outcrops are pretty easy to navigate but I'm a wee bit afraid of heights and I have a tendency to imagine myself toppling to my doom... eek! I did end up much closer to the edge than I thought but I wasn't so brave as the people behind me in the photos who were seated at one point with their legs dangling out in the great wide open... As I cautioned my Dad to be careful a man commented on my (epic) t-shirt by saying "surely someone that survived the battle of Winterfell can go to the edge of the rocks?!?" Very funny sir - but nope. I laughed and told him that perhaps being cautious is how I survived?
While we were at the summit we noticed what appeared to be a garland of balloons and soon realized that someone had set up a proposal there on the cliffs. We didn't have to wait long to be rewarded with the couple arriving and the big question being asked - and I even managed to sneak a picture of the moment! Everyone clapped and cheered - so that was a neat moment to get to see!
On the way back down we noticed a deer lying in a clearing off to the right side of the trail - I snapped the above picture of it but it might be a little hard to actually see the brown deer as he was blending in with the surrounding area quite well. It was a little spike with the nubs of some future antlers and I suppose he was taking an afternoon nap! The trail started (and ended, since you wound back around) with some of the most gigantic ferns I've ever seen - some of them were almost as tall as I am! It reminded me of the movie Fern Gully that I remember watching tons when I was younger.
Once we arrived back at home, I laid out on the back deck with the dog for about an hour just reading and poking around on my phone - it was such a nice day and the sunshine and breeze were fabulous! We had leftovers for dinner (hello red beans & rice - yum!) and then watched Solo - my Dad has never seen it and I'm still not sure what he thought of it, ha-ha!
Sunday was church and then lunch at McAlister's Deli and trying to get home and walk the dog before the rain arrived - which I managed to succeed in! I did the laundry, took a little nap, walked the dog a couple times in between rain showers and got things organized for the week ahead. I did a little exercising and then around 6:30 turned on the Nationals game while I was cooking dinner - just in time to see the Nationals hit four consecutive home runs and go on to win the game against the Padres 5-2.
This fun little announcement came over my phone while we were eating dinner and it tickled me so much. There have been nine instances of four consecutive home runs in the major leagues and the Nationals have had two of those nine instances...and in the last three years! The homers yesterday made the Nationals the first team in MLB history to accomplish that feat twice - so that was fun to see!
After dinner I showered and rounded out my evening with some peanut butter crackers, an episode of Top of the Lake: China Girl and some reading before calling it a night. So - good weekend. Short weekend but enjoyable and I cannot wait for the weekend to arrive again!
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