More Easter weekend camping at Staunton River

Easter morning, Emma & I were up and out walking around 6:30 am. I had my camera along in case we saw any deer. We headed back down towards the pool. I did not see any deer at first, I guess they all were attending the Sunrise Easter Service, but as we were walking I spotted a deer at the edge of the woods...we kept walking and a couple deer popped out of the woods..seemed like they were following us. So, I stood very still for a while. Tried to get some pictures. I wanted to go to my church, St. John's Episcopal in Halifax for the Easter service, so headed back to camper to get dressed. Garland was still asleep when I left at 7:30 am.. Church was full with families, I surprised my sister, Carol as she did not think I would make it back into town for church. After church, I headed back down to Scottsburg to the park. It was another beautiful day! Garland was walking Emma out on one of the many trails when I returned. The day before Josh told us about a new Geocache that was set at the park, so Garland & I decided to give it a go..Ryan & Brent did not want to join us, so we headed out on our own. It was a multi coordinant hunt. You get clues for the final coordinate at each of the many caches. so we headed out...At the 2nd stop, on the trail Garland reminded me to watch for snakes and WHAT do you think I found when looking for the cache? A BLACK SNAKE!!! (see photo). I am not as ruffled by these creatures like my husband is. Emma got hot and needed to cool off at one of the coordinate locations. Well, after 2 1/2 hours and 5 caches later we found the final cache. What a great trek..Garland, Emma & I really enjoy these adventures..we work well together in locating the cache..What is nice about these Geocache is that you do not have to be an expert hiker..and only equipment required is a GPS. And what was really fun was that we were rewarded with a cool Staunton River State Park softsided cooler for completing the entire hunt. When we got back to the camper we had lots of visitors waiting for us. Our friends Kevin & Mary Owen rode up in Mary's convertable sports car for a visit. They would have loved the geocache, we will have to take them along next time we go on one. Keith, Christy, Christian & Lukas had also arrived for the afternoon. There was an Easter Egg hunt over behind the visitor center that Pam & Harold had put togethr for the children. As you can see everyone had fun. Here are photos of the girls & guys that had camped out for the weekend.

Staunton River state Park April 1-5, 2010

Staunton River State Park, Scottsburg VA April 1 – 5, 2010 Camping Adventure #2 for 2010 Our camping saga continues with our 2nd annual Easter retreat to Staunton River State Park in Scottsburg, Va. Located just about 30 miles from my front door. The weather for this weekend could not be better! 80 degree temperatures and not a rain cloud in the sky. I counted 8 families/campers in our group this weekend. Plan to take picturs of every family group for blog. Garland and his sister Sandy arrived Thursday April 1 to get their campers set up. The second thing Garland did after getting the camper secure was to hook up his TV…heaven forbid he can’t watch SOMETHING! There isn’t any quality TV reception here, so he rented about 100 movies! Garland came back into work on Friday while Sandy stayed at the camp ground awaiting the rest of us Friday afternoon/evening. Oh, Pam & Harold also came in Thursday to set up. I arrived later than planned Friday evening, had a hectic day at work…boy do I need this weekend! The campground was full when I arrived with families eating meals or playing games. Total opposite of our first trip this season when Garland & I were the ONLY campers at the Twin Lakes Park. Sandy had made spaghetti for her bunch. Garland & I ate their leftovers… Brent has a little portable movie projection device that we hooked up to the Xbox and showed a movie, Wolverine on the outside of Sandy’s camper. We must have gotten bored because shadow animals were showing up on the camper as well! The stars were bright and the air temp was just right for a light jacket. Garland & I, plus Emma (can’t forget her!) called it a night around 9:00 pm. I think Garland secretly wanted to watch Sherlock Holmes. I was tired and did not watch much of it..maybe another day. Saturday April 3 – Emma & I were up early for a walk around 6:30 am.. walked down towards the visitor center, and saw 15 or so deer back near the pool. They are so beautiful. We stayed still for a while just watching them.. Tomorrow morning I want to take camera and try to get closer for some nice nature photos. Saturday afternoon, 4:30 pm drinking a glass of cheap Chardonnay from WalMart, Oak Leaf, $ 2.97/bottle. Not bad! And working on the camping blog…good life! Garland, Ryan, Brent, myself & Emma had a 2 hour+ hike in the woods searching for a geocache earlier today. Met some horsefolk.. Garland & Ryan took out across the woods while Brent & I followed the marked trail…We found the cache, (last Thanksgiving Garland, Sean & I had been here and did the same geocache hunt). Garland said we cheated. Anyway, we all really enjoyed our time together away from computers, X-box games and the other modern diversions that keep us from spending quality time together. Had some lunch when we returned. Garland had roast beef with baby swiss cheese on healthy white bread, mayo & horseradish, side pickles & Sunchips from the compost able bag.. I’ll have to see if it really composts in my garden this year! I had red pepper hummus with shredded carrots on a whole grain sandwich round with same chips. After lunch we rode our bicycles over to the park office to buy a t-shirt. Josh, one of the Park Rangers told Garland about a new geocache that was just implemented today. Takes 5 coordinates to locate. We will attempt tomorrow. I found some cute banners for the camper, marked $1.99, I told the cashier that I thought it was priced wrong, I thought it was more $ and she told me yes it was incorrectly marked, should be $.99!!!! Couldn’t believe it, so I brought one for me & Sandy! Wow, am I a BIG spender! Played some cards for a while outside Sandy’s camper with Ruby, Brent, Sandy, Garland, James & Lisa… Before dinner, Garland & I took Emma across to the open field so she could chase a tennis ball. 9:00 pm and we are calling it a night. Had a nice dinner with the family, I fixed grilled boneless chicken breast in marinate of Italian dressing and Margarita mix (didn’t have enough of the salad dressing). Don’t worry, no Tequila was added! Grilled asparagus, YUMMY! Ryan loves it. Burnt garlic toast, didn’t know how to use the gas oven, it was edible and Caesar salad. Sandy had pork ribs, cole slaw, French fries and Monster cookies for desert from Windmill Bakery. I walked Emma back over to the open field after dinner for one last potty walk and we saw some 30 deer at the edge of the woods. We just stood still as long as we could until they got sight and smell of us and they all ran into the woods.

And of course, our usual breakfast consists of eggs, bacon & hash browns..don't forget the coffee!!! Ireally enjoy cooking outside in the electric fry pan.