Shenandoah National Park

We drove to the northern part of Shenandoah National Park, visited the visitor's center there and then went on a shortish hike to an old cemetary.  We saw some interesting insects and two deer as we got back to the road.  When we first arrived at the vistor's center, a ranger showed us on his digital camera a film he'd gotten at about 6:30 that morning of a mama bear and her two cubs walking along Skyline Dr.

Birthday Hike

Some of the National Parks and Battlefields were free this week so we thought Buddy would enjoy going for a little hike for his birthday.  Except Saturday's forecast looked rainy, so we went on Friday and made it also into a mini-field trip learning about the Second Battle of Manassas (which we just learned about in our Civil War studies).

Little Guy took a lot of these pictures (flowers, me, etc.).

Hiking in Shenandoah

3/23

Princess Sparkley had a Girl Scout campout near Shenandoah, but didn't want to spend the night.  She drove down with her troop and a few hours later we headed in the same direction and hiked with the boys in Shenandoah NF (Doyles Falls and ___ hikes). 


The first part of the hike is a very steep decline, during which we were drizzled on the entire way.  And we didn't really dress for rain, or cool weather.  Oh well, we survived.

Scenic shots. 

We sent B across the stream to get the pretty

purple flowers with the waterfall in the background.

We did a loop that was two trails together.  B and I did the first hike, Doyles Falls, last May when we went camping on our own.  Roundtrip, this hike was 8.5 miles.  Little Guy and I gave up (he's four after all, and I'm 20 weeks pregnant) at 5.5 miles and waited in a parking lot 3 miles down the road from our car while B and Buddy high-tailed it 3 miles on the Appalachian Trail to the parking lot where our car was.  Little Guy and I sat in the parking lot, swatting bugs away, watching the sun slowly get ready to set crossing our fingers that they were going to be quick.  And I thought they only had 2 miles to go.  They did it in just about an hour.  We were all worn out. 

Then we headed to Taco Bell for dinner (so I could try the Doritos Taco).  Except the steamer for Cheese Roll-ups wasn't working and our boys had been excited about Cheese Roll-ups for the entire hike!  So we drove to a different Taco Bell, ate, and then drove around in a thunderstorm on dark back roads until we found the Girl Scout camp and Princess Sparkley. 

Little Guy was long asleep by then.  When we parked at our home about two hours later, Little Guy woke up, said, "What about... Oh."  He was wondering where PS was since he was asleep when we picked her up.  Then he saw her sitting next to him.

Marine Corps Museum and a Hike

The Richmond cousins had a day off school (3/19) and wanted to meet us for some fun halfway.  Except, it turns out that there isn't a whole lot to do halfway between them and us, so we tricked them into coming a little further and we took them to Buddy's favorite museum, the Marine Corps Museum.  Then we took them hiking and played at a park in Prince William Forest Park.

In the gift shop, there is a Lego version of the Iwo Jima Memorial.

L->R: PS, S, Buddy and Pickles

Then we played frisbee and volleyball at a park (we picked up a couple of stragglers).

Then we went on a little hike and ended up at a stream we played in.

Then we followed them to IKEA to help load bookshelves, etc. 

St. Paddy's Day Hike

On St. Patrick's Day, we headed over to Manassas Battlefield and hiked the Old Stone Bridge.  The kids had been sick during the week, which we'd taken as our Spring Break so we decided to get out of the house and be active on Saturday. 

When we hike and we come across a bridge, the kids take turns (at each new bridge) being a troll and asking each of us a question before we can pass. 

August 11: Cascade Falls

In the morning we took a hike to Cascade Falls.

Zion NP

Towards Grandma's cabin near that grassy part of the mountain in the center.

Princess Sparkley's new pet chipmunk Buddy got her for her birthday.

Indian Paintbrush

Bridge crossing arm.

Teeny waterfall

August 9: Bryce Canyon NP

We listened to a geology talk from a park ranger (so the kids could earn their junior ranger badges) and learned that Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon.  Someday it will be a canyon, but right now, it's the eroding edge of a plateau.  Princess Sparkley liked that and has been calling it Bryce Eroding Edge of a Plateau since then.

Little Guy was too young for the ranger program so his nice daddy bought him a Junior Ranger hat.

We hiked down into the "canyon."

These sort of pillars of rock are called hoodoos.  A few days later, Little Guy saw the red rocks near Grandma's cabin and said, "I see Bryce Canyon and the tutus."  :)

This was supposed to be a family picture (with B holding the camera).

At the bottom we stopped to rest and saw a woman pet a super fat chipmunk.

This is the hike we actually wanted to do, between to walls of rock, but it was closed due to what appears to be a rock slide.

At the bottom, heading back up.

Almost to the top.  B was trying to rest his back (35 extra pounds of Little Guy saying "I'm not tired!")  I thought it was funny when I came across Buddy resting the same way.