Petunia rambles on and on….

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth.

We had a wonderful vacation, and took zillions of pictures, each of us.  Went to Luray Caverns and Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.  I looked at the pictures when we got back to where we were staying, admired them, then shut down the laptop.  Just wanted to chill.  I will get to them, I promise, because between Pop and me, we got some good ones.

Today one of my tasks was to fill up the tank on the car. 

All that walking and hiking and climbing I’ve done in the last week must have really given me some cardio benefit as I didn’t pitch over with a heart attack when I saw the price of gas.  Set an all-time high for me – got a little over 13 gallons and it was pennies under $50!

Must say, though, that my little ’07 Ford Escape 6-cyl did do very well for us through the mountains.  We climbed some good grades within the resort and she handled them well.  Even when we had her fully loaded and Pop can shut up about the stuff I took that I didn’t really need, she still had a “spring in her step” and power to climb.  Very pleased.

Day 2 – Saturday

Here’s a map of the resort area – we are staying in The Summit – Grenoble Woods.

We decide to head over to the other side of the “bowl” to the overlook, Point 26 at the top of the map.  Everyone that knows me knows that I am terrified of heights.  And my idea of “heights” is anything taller than I can reach up to comfortably.  This is very limiting, particularly in the mountains.  The drive up there practically causes me to soil my clothes, and I am equally terrified as a driver or as a passenger!  Damn.  But it’s beautiful up there, and I did what I had to do  – I drove up that damn mountain.   (On this map, the only part that’s on level ground is Points 15-23 – Everything else is up a slope)

The view was worth it.

We’re staying in that housing on the side there, and now are all the way across looking back.

I could have stayed up there for a very long time, just looking out at how beautiful it was.

This is proof to the kids that their terrified mother actually did go up this high!

From the overlook, steps led up to a trail.

We hiked through the woods up there, staying on the summit trail.  We could catch glimpses every now and then of the surrounding area, through breaks in the trees, but mostly it was just a wee trail, comfortable to walk, beautiful to see.

So we get this bright idea – or maybe that should read “I” get this bright idea?  The resort offers trips up to the summit via the ski lifts.  Uh, no way I can handle that, but from there, I can see that our unit is way more than halfway up to the summit.  Hmmm, what are the chances of an old broad climbing the rest of the way? 

Never know until you try, right?              Geez,, I’m not smart!

So we start up the ski slopes and at first, it’s not bad.  We saw deer, and ground hogs. 

Biggest problem was that it was as slippery as goose shit.  Wet grass is like that – then add that incline.  Sheeesh!  

But we laughed, and kept on going up.  Because the higher we climbed, the better the view got.

And we got over to the trail where the ski lifts are and I was quite sure there was no way in hell I’d ever get on one.  Two trails join together up there, and we kept climbing.  It was getting steeper, and more slippery, and I’m not gonna admit to how many times I went down on my ass, and pretended to be admiring, rather closely, something that was growing there.  Or the view below.

And then Paul lets out a shout, looking down at the ground.  I yelled out, What’s wrong? and he said, Come see.   So both Brian and I run over, expecting maybe a snake?  I really don’t know what we were expecting to see – and neither of us had much “run” left in us after walking so long up such a steep hill.  And of course, all three of us have cameras suspended from our necks.  And all three of us bend over and take pictures, like we’ve never before in our lives seen……

A damned snail.

And that is probably the most photographed snail in the whole country, and his wife surely didn’t believe him when he told her what happened to him on his way home from work.  I bet she thinks he stopped off for a few.

We got way the hell up there.

But it got steeper and steeper, and it was harder and harder on our legs (even Bri’s!!) and the angle increased the slip-factor, too.  We had to turn back.

That’s just way too steep for old tired legs, and by that time, we ALL had them!

Please note, again, that there is no sun in Virginia.  Ever.

The trip down was rough.   The whole area is stormy and we went through some of the worst of it.  It never stopped pouring, over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, around the Beltway at Washington, DC, over to Front Royal. Virginia.  Miserable to drive through. 

Got lots of pictures, and many are posted to Flickr, so those of you that have access, I’m Petunia509 over there.  I’ll continue to post as I can.

These will probably be out of the order they were taken, because my brain is overloaded with so much neat stuff to see. These were taken Friday afternoon.  Odd weather.  Storms, rain, and FOG up in the mountains.   The mountain area that we are in is shaped very much like a volcano crater, and we are staying in the bowl!! 

We’re going into that left side!!!  When I saw this formation from a distance, I was pretty sure this was were we would end up!

Here’s where we started, checking in, finding out all that’s offered. 

Here’s the golf course at the part of the resort that’s outside the bowl.  This is here just to make several golfers we know drool down their shirts.

Here’s another!

All the buildings are on the right, and each street is far enough from the others (read that -far enough further up the slope) that view is not impacted.   And make sure you see the ski trails (without any snow) up at the end of the road, going further and further up the point of the mountain.  That is that left-most “peak” that we saw coming in!!

So here’s what we pull up to, beautiful place, and it just got better inside.  We were concerned when we found out that we had an Upper Unit.  Figured we’d be doing a lot of climbing up and down stairs.  Turns out, we come straight across from the road and the Lower Unit has to climb DOWN!!  We’re on THAT MUCH of a slope here!!

On the valley side, we have a screened porch with a great view – when the weather has been clear enough to see it.  We’ve had pouring rain and FOG.  Fog so bad that the other side of the crater disappears!

Here’s a shot taken from the back porch, looking up towards the ski slopes.

And here’s one looking the other way!  What a place to sit with your morning coffee!

Needless to say, we’re not going anywhere without the cameras.

There’s a area way south of here called the Great Smoky Mountains.  I’ve never been there, never seen them.  But when I saw this, I truly understood the name.  As the fog drifts in, it looks like smoke.  I guess it’s normal around here,  but Paul and I just stand there and watch it, like tourists, I guess.  As you stand there watching, the mountain just fades away.

Please note that there is no hint of sunlight or blue sky in any of these pictures.

Late in the afternoon, son Bri got in, delayed slightly by rain and mostly by the DC Beltway and outbound Rt 66.  We went down to the main Woodstone building to eat, and spent the evening together.