Natural Bridge

Our campsite at Cave Mountain Lake was near Natural Bridge so we spent part of the day hiking there, visiting the butterfly house, and touring the caverns. We also paid a visit to Foamhenge, a full-size replica of Stonehenge made entirely out of styrofoam. We attempted a visit last time we were here, but it was closed due to wind damage.

 

Waiting to tour the caverns.

escaping irene.

We had a perfect camping trip over the weekend. We headed about 3 hours southwest to Natural Bridge, Virginia. Apparently a hurricane-turned-tropical storm named Irene hit our area while we were gone. We came home to a LOT of branches in our yard, and some large ones in our driveway (we might have saved our car from some scratches). Our neighbor said we lost power for about 12 hours. We headed just far enough away to experience great weather on our camping trip. We had a few drops of rain Saturday and that was it.

We camped at Cave Mountain Lake four years ago and have wanted to go back ever since. It's a beautiful, secluded spot with a little lake. Our campsite was great. We had our own little bridge over a small stream that the kids could play in and our site backed up against the mountain. On our second night, everyone around us had left and it was so quiet and peaceful.

We had a secret path in our campsite that went up the hill and into the woods.

I'm kind of a s'mores purist, but using these cookies might be a new favorite.

 

Fresh air pancakes. Bringing Oliver's high chair turned out to be a brilliant idea.

Elsa loved hanging out in her chair and enjoying the view.

Amelia spent a lot of time constructing this fairy house.

Theme Week #5: Nature, effects of

Nature week has pretty much been a fail thus far. Amelia and Elsa both became sick at the beginning of the week. Some kind of stomach bug. Amelia was down and out for much longer and finally felt better today. No more moans and groans and sounding like she was in labor.

Quotes from sick Amelia, said in a very sad, pathetic way:
"It must be hard for you when I'm sick because I'm your helper. Now you and dad have to do all the work."
"Mom, can I tell you something? I don't think I'm going to survive."
"I can't do this. I feel like I'm going to die."
Amelia is just a tad dramatic when she's sick.

So we spent almost the entire week inside. Barely any contact with nature. Except for that whole earthquake thing. I was in the living room with all the kids when we felt the house start shaking and rumbling, then swaying. A few things on shelves tipped over and we had one picture frame fall and break. Definitely a crazy feeling. (After the earthquake we could see where our foundation had shifted away from the dirt.) Ben was in Baltimore and I had a hard time reaching him. All the phone lines were jammed. He didn't feel it but everyone around him started yelling and he thought there was a gunman. He left right after it happened and got stuck in awful traffic. My mom was in Philadelphia for work, on the 26th floor of a building which started to sway. She had to walk down all 26 flights. It was a 5.8 magnitude earthquake and the epicenter was about 80 miles from here. An aftershock woke me up last night.

We'll make up for our week indoors with a weekend of camping in the great outdoors. Hopefully traveling west will keep us from getting too wet from hurricane Irene. Ahhhh, nature.