Summer Vacation- Part 1 - Shenandoah Crossing Wilderness Resort

Wow! Our summer was so busy. We were on the go, much more than usual! I can't believe I haven't taken the time to post much! I guess now that we're back in school and settled back into a routine, it's time to play catch up again :).

We'll start with our trip to Virginia and Washington DC, right after school was out for summer vacation. Let me just start by saying this was my dream vacation! I have wanted to visit DC for quite some time now, considering I am such a history buff!
The hubs has been before, but this was my first trip there (and the kids too). The only thing that could have made it better is if our oldest son (who is in college) had been able to make the trip with us. Unfortunately, he had signed up for summer classes during Term A (which is the last half of May and all of June). Actually, that's not the only thing that could've made this trip better, but I'll get to that later.

So we packed up and headed out on a road trip, traveling from south Georgia through South Carolina, North Carolina, into Virginia ~

~ to a place called Shenandoah Crossing Wilderness Resort near the town of Gordonsville. The resort was located on a 60-plus acre lake, with lots of cabins dotted around the lake. The grounds were stunning, with lovely, rolling green hills in all directions.

 

 

it was so peaceful here

 

We stayed in a small, rustic, two bedroom cabin. Unfortunately, our cabin was not directly on the lake.

Even more unfortunate, this place was in the process of remodeling all the cabins, and not knowing that ahead of time, I booked one of the cabins that hadn't yet been remodeled. It was not terrible, but when you see a photo of the accommodations on a website and then when you check in and your accommodations don't look anything like what you saw on the website... well, you can't help but be a little disappointed.

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this is how the newly remodeled cabins look

 

this is how our cabin (the old, un-remodeled ones) looked

 

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the inside of the new ones

 

the inside of ours

 

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new ones

 

ours

 

Ok, so it wasn't terrible, terrible... I know. But our cabin was 50+ years old, with some old, musty odors and carpet and furniture that had seen probably close to that many years. It's just not what we were expecting. *stepping down off my soapbox now*

 

That is not to say that we didn't have a wonderful time here. The resort offered many activities for the guests, including fishing, which my husband took full advantage of... I might have mentioned before that fishing is one of his favorite hobbies.

 

 

the hubs, fishing at the end of the dock

 

 

 

There were also boats, kayaks, canoes, and paddle boats, which we enjoyed.

 

father and daughter

 



mother and son

 

sister and brother

 

There was an equestrian center with guided trail rides, which daughter begged to participate in. So, while father and son spent an afternoon fishing on the lake in a boat (while I was unavailable to take pictures), mother and daughter had an adventure of their own.

 

 

 

my girl child, the one with a love for all things horses, ready for the trail ride

 

 

 

There were also things like tennis, horse shoes, and our favorite -- miniature golf -- which we played almost every night :)

 

 

 

 

 

There were several nature trails to hike, which I personally enjoyed very much. I'm a big fan of nature study. I love seeing how God created the most perfect masterpieces, seeing how each aspect of creation points to Him, showcasing His glory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

well... that's the thing about nature walks... you just never know what you'll stumble across

and didn't God make it all, the beautiful as well as the ugly

and I'm learning that He uses both to bring glory to His name

 

 

Here's the main lodge on the property. It houses guest services, an activity center which hosts various activities for all ages, a game room with arcade games, various video gaming systems, pool tables, ping pong tables, and snack bar, a workout facility, indoor and outdoor swimming pools and hot tubs,  and a restaurant.

 

 

 

 Here's a shot of the main lodge at night. Isn't it lovely?

 

And of course there were several swimming pools scattered throughout the resort. With so much to do here, we had planned to spend several days just hanging out at the resort.

  

pools and hot tubs, dotted throughout the resort

 

the perfect place to spend lazy afternoons

 

like father, like son

 

I know with so much to do here, there was no need to try to do anything outside of this resort. But... our family doesn't like to do things the easy way :). So stay tuned... more to follow later on what else we did while on vacation.

 

Update: Here's a link to the next post in this series: Summer Vacation part 2