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Saturday, August 17, 2019

Canada Bound: Grayson Highlands

Setting up camp and the camp host came by to say a bear was in the campground earlier today. There has been one additional sighting, but we need to be bear aware in case it’s still around. About to cook supper, I hope the bear doesn’t like grilled chicken 🤣 

We tried to go to a ranger talk on the night sky. We were the only ones to arrive and then discovered it got cancelled. Maybe it was too cloudy? Maybe the bear scared everyone off? It was too late for a fire so we hung out in our hammocks for a bit and then consoled ourselves with hot chocolate.

Morning coffee at Grayson Highlands. It was cool enough to sleep with the windows open last night. I’m kind of dreading getting back to the heat in Tennessee on Saturday. Maybe the heat wave will be over before we get home. Adventures are waiting for us today and tomorrow. 

Last night at camp. I grilled bacon and made scrambled eggs with grilled pita for our final dinner on the road. We watched the sunset and the kids helped Daniel build a fire to finish our evening. We haven’t had television in three weeks (except for a couple of days of Netflix with family), but nobody missed it. The kids don’t even bug us anymore to watch movies in the car (we still let them some), but they prefer books, napping or the scenery. I don’t know what kind of trip we will do next year. Where it will be, how long it will be. But I know that these weeks together without distractions make us a better family.

Trip Stats:

Campground: Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia

Highlights: Hearing about a bear sighting, Hiking, Biking the Virginia Creeper

Days on the Road: 20-23

Canada Bound: Pinnacle Trail and Massie Gap

Yesterday we had a beautiful day for hiking the Twin Pinnacle trail in Grayson Highlands. Our trip is coming to an end. I’m not ready for it to be over. 

We did one final hike this morning up to Massie Gap and a short section on the AT. We saw a herd of wild ponies from a distance and a very pregnant pony up close. The next time we come up, we may try to do the round trip hike to Mt Rogers. We completed just under 3 miles before heading back to our camp to pack up and we are headed home now.  

Trip Stats:

Campground: Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia

Highlights: Hiking the Pinnacle Trails and Massie Gap

Days on the Road: 22-23

 

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Canada Bound: Virginia Creeper

We did the Virginia Creeper from Whitetop Station to Damascus today. We were going to have Isaac ride part of it, but he fell twice on the gravel before we had gone very far and asked to ride in the trailer the whole way. We figured that would be better for everyone. It also meant we could haul down the mountain. This was Jack’s second time to ride the entire way (the first time he was five and it took us about six hours due to lots of stops and exploring). This time we made several stops including lunch at Green Cove and dessert at the one restaurant on the route, and still made the 18.5 mile ride in 3.5 hours. It was a fun ride through the woods next to a cool mountain stream with lots of bridge crossings for Jack to practice wheelies and bunny hops on. Isaac slept a good portion of the way, and the rest of us enjoyed the fast ride. Max speed for this ride was 19.3mph (even Jack). 

Trip Stats:

Campground: Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia

Highlights: Biking the Virginia Creeper for the 2nd time with the kids

Days on the Road: 21

 

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Canada Bound: Pipestem Resort State Park

We had a rainy drive to West Virginia today. We made a stop to view the bridge over the New River Gorge. Daniel and I told the kids about rafting this river about ten years ago. Jack can’t wait.

Today’s adventure was to take the Aerial Tram down to the Bluestone River. Pipestem has been a little gem of a find for us. There are so many things we are anxious to come back and do: rafting, mountain biking, roads perfect for motorcycles. Overnight rafting and horseback riding. Hayrides. Archery. And so much more. Our tram ride down the mountain was free. To come back up we could pay ($7/adult and $5/kid over age 5), or you could eat at the restaurant at the lodge at the bottom and get a free pass to go back up. We chose to explore the river and eat at the restaurant. Unfortunately Daniel and Isaac took a tumble in the river, getting completely soaked! We stayed a little longer than we had planned to let them dry out a bit. We hope to come back for longer to take advantage of more of the activities that we love! 

Trip Stats:

Campground: Pipestem Resort State Park in West Virginia

Highlights: Pipestem Aerial Tram down to the Bluestone River then eating lunch at a restaurant by the river. We all want to come back!

Days on the Road: 18-20

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Canada Bound: Ohiopyle State Park

Back in the US of A! Crossed on the Peace Bridge at Buffalo, NY and had our camper searched. We had to toss some produce that we had no way of proving actually came from the states. Note to travelers coming back into US from Canada: no citrus foods, no cherries from Europe, and no bell peppers can cross from Canada into the US right now. We are headed to PA tonight for a late check in at Ohiopyle State Park. 

Stopped to replenish the food that got tossed at the Canadian border and to get enough for meals in a campground for the next couple of days.

Morning coffee view from our campsite in Ohiopyle State Park. We are on our return trip home from Canada and will be here for a couple of days. The famous Fallingwater house by architect Frank Lloyd Wright is located in this area. We made a wrong turn in the mountains last night and didn’t get to our campsite until super late. Also I was driving and didn’t realize we were almost out of gas. The mountain roads made us guzzle quickly through our tank. Did I mention we are kind of in the middle of nowhere? Daniel is headed 9 miles to the closest gas station this morning to fill up. I’m praying he gets there without actually running out 😬 

This afternoon we visited the natural water slides at Ohiopyle. Daniel took one for the team and went first. It was cold but not freezing like the Great Lakes. Isaac couldn’t decide if he wanted to do it or not, and had a lot of tears over the experience before letting Daniel take him down a really short chute. I also took a ride down one of the longer slides (Daniel only videoed the first part). We were the only adults sliding when we were there 🤷‍♀️ Then I took a hard fall on the very slippery rock and brought our fun to a halt. I seem fine but we are watching out for a concussion (a nurse was there and checked me before we left). We were hoping to raft while we are here but were told that PA has a state law that the outfitters can’t rent to children under age five. Next year we will be able to do more (Isaac is 4.5). We are going to enjoy a campfire and hopefully get some good rest tonight. 

One of the things I really wanted to do while at Ohiopyle was to bike a section of the Great Allegheny Passage (or GAP). It’s a rail trail that connects Pittsburg to Washington DC. After my fall yesterday, we weren’t sure if we should still do it. We waited 24 hours and I have still had no official signs of a concussion. So off we went. We completed 4.5 miles (Isaac’s longest ride to date) from Ohiopyle and heading toward Confluence. We used our turnaround point to take a break and play in the Yough River. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

After our bike ride, the kids begged to go back the natural waterslides. We agreed to go back since our time yesterday had been cut short. Isaac enjoyed wading in the deeper pools at the bottom. I stayed on dry rock as much as possible to prevent another knock to my head. And Jack and Daniel did a few more runs in the slide. I’m glad we had the chance to go back and no one else got hurt, besides maybe the guy that fell in the second to last video 🤣 He seemed ok though.

 

Coffee view this morning. It rained all night, but we had a slight reprieve and then just a light rain while we packed up camp. We are headed further south. Our original plan had been to go to Shenandoah, but we decided to spend an extra day at Ohiopyle and will camp in West Virginia tonight.  

Campground: Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania

Highlights: Natural Water Slides, Biking a small section of the GAP trail.

Days on the Road: 14-18