I got off work early on Friday and headed home to find that with my early arrival, we could set out to go run some errands and get dinner. Honestly, it wasn't so much an errand as stopping in Old Navy to grab a small gift for a friend - which inspired me to decide I needed to come back later in the weekend to actually shop, ha-ha!
Saturday morning I had coffee and my Dad whipped up waffles for breakfast - delicious! I decided that I'd try my hand (legs?) at bike riding instead of my usual elliptical work out... keep in mind I haven't rode a bike in at least 10 years... but that and the extreme heat did not deter me. I hopped on the bike and rode all the way out to the roundabout in our neighborhood and everything was going fine - it was a little warmer than I thought - but no worries. As I returned, I had to bike up a hill and ended up having to hop off the bike, walk it up the hill and began to feel a bit light-headed and altogether unwell...
I rolled back up to the house and went inside, where I promptly flopped into the floor hugging a bottle of water. It was much warmer and much more difficult to just hop back on a bike than I'd thought - so after a bit of recovery time, I went down and hopped on the elliptical. After lunch and a shower, I started watching Picnic at Hanging Rock before we set out for our afternoon and evening adventures - I'm intrigued and at this point through three of the six episodes that make up the miniseries.
We headed toward West Virginia for a birthday party but stopped on the way at a couple farmer's markets - the fruits, vegetables and flowers were all so gorgeous, even if they were extra shiny in the almost 100 degree temperatures of Saturday afternoon. It was almost as if Mother Nature looked up and realized that it was almost July and cranked up the heat setting - it was oppressive! When we stopped at the second farmer's market, I grabbed a bag of gummi bears to snack on - or as the woman at the check out called it, fruit salad!
We went to Harper's Ferry, WV for the birthday party of our friend's little girl - sweet Amelia! She was turning four and so they were celebrating her with a cookout, cake and presents - and it just so happened that her party coincided with the town of Harper's Ferry's fireworks celebration - visible from their backyard. We visited for a bit before having a spread of burgers, chicken, hot dogs, pasta salad, baked beans, chips, dips, cookies and chocolate cake - all so delicious and it left me stuffed!
The cake was chocolate and when asking Amelia about it, she'd proudly announce she'd requested chocolate cake and then lick her lips! She's a mess y'all!
After dinner, Amelia opened her presents and was so sweet - asking after each one "please may I get another?" - even though everyone kept telling her they were all hers! Her little sister Evelyn promptly parked herself in the new pink Adirondack chair that was part of my parent's gift...but I suppose that's how it goes with little sisters, they just help themselves, ha-ha! After the gifts were opened and thank you(s) were said, we headed out into the backyard for the fireworks - which Amelia thought were just for her birthday - and of course, no one is going to tell her different!
We arrived home late on Saturday night and I immediately crawled into bed! Sunday morning I headed to church, then grabbed lunch with my family and popped back into Old Navy to try on a few things - I ended up getting four really cute shirts and I can't wait to wear them! We returned home and relaxed for a little bit before heading into the Shenandoah National Park for blackberry ice cream and the gorgeous views - I should mention, it was 96 when we entered the park and by the time we reached the Elk Wallow camp store (24 miles in, elevation of just over 3,000 feet) the temperature had dropped to a delightful 76!
The blackberry ice cream is an annual thing at Shenandoah and they even have a blackberry festival later in the month of July! Watson thoroughly enjoyed the bites he received - I worry he is going to think that ice cream is something we eat every Sunday, ha-ha! My parents checked out a campground area near the camp store and then we headed back down the mountain - and got quite the surprise!
A bear - right near the edge of the road was a black bear, foraging for some food and just ambling along! We were able to watch and photograph it for quite a while and it never seemed to care a bit that we were there, even when Watson went nuts barking at it. I'm sure that bear never even had a second thought for Watson, ha-ha! I was just so surprised to see a bear - but as always - it was also really cool!
We stopped for a few more pictures on the way down... the views were a little hazy due to the crazy heat but the views were also absolutely beautiful, as always. I love living right at the foot of such breathtaking mountains and I love being able to ride down the road, into the park and take in such amazing views.
We grabbed pizza for dinner and I closed out the weekend with a bubble bath and some light reading in the bed. And now, here we are at Tuesday - I get off work at 1:00 today and then I'm off for the rest of the week, what a joy! I'm sure there is plenty more interesting adventures to take part in over the next few days... so bye for now!
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