On a hot summer day a little over a year ago, I was doing what I always do during times of stress: thinking about traveling. And of course my thoughts turned to Ocracoke, that perfect vacation happy place. And when Mike got home that night, I told him I had found a dog-friendly rental house in the same area we stayed in before. I expected him to smile indulgently, as he always does when I wistfully present him with a vacation idea (believe me, if we actually took all the vacations I've planned and researched, we would never have time for work!), but instead, he asked me to show him the house I found, and he sat down at my computer, studied all the pictures, then turned to me and said, "OK, let's do this." Further astonishing me, he then immediately picked up the phone, called the rental office, and reserved the second week of June 2018. He must have been under some kind of spell, but I wasn't about to stop him, question him, or voice any objection whatsoever.
Fast-forward a year, and here we are, two weeks in our new house and heading out on a nice long drive, this time with boys who take up a lot more space, plus a dog who likes to lounge wherever he damned well pleases. To break up the trip, we decided to stop at Shenandoah National Park for a couple of nights on the way down. If you listen to me and to Mike, it was pretty great: lots of sights, lots of bears and deer and even a rattlesnake (!!), and far away from work obligations. If you listen to the boys, it was only OK because the lodge (IN THE FREAKING NATIONAL PARK) lacked wifi. Ugh, wifi. The blessing and curse of modern life.
Anyway, two nights in Shenandoah. The first night we didn't do much other than get settled in (though we did have a nice trip down part of Skyline Drive to get to the lodge), but then the next day we took a hike down to a waterfall. Along the way, we stopped at some of the overlooks, and at one of them, I was trying to take a decent picture with all three boys looking (which didn't work out) when Mike called my name. I looked up just in time to see a bear crossing the road just behind the van. Good thing we didn't leave the room like a minute later or we would have had an uncomfortably close encounter with it!
The South River Falls trail was billed as moderate, but apparently I will never, ever, ever learn that "moderate" means "easy for Captain America, but for you? get ready to be in pain." Yeah, it was steep going down and steep coming back up. And we had to cross streams and scramble in some places. And I was in pain. BUT we got to add another national parks hike and another waterfall (full disclosure: the waterfall was not stunning, nor is it really that visible in pictures, oh well) to our list, so we win! On the way back up, I spotted a big rock and asked the boys to pose for a picture. They went to comply but soon noticed a lizard in a crevice in the rock, so excitement was high. It got even higher when one of them looked off to the side and spotted a rattlesnake only a few feet away. Not to worry, the snake was on a ledge that was down from where we were, so we were never in any danger. And eventually we made it back up the trail and back to the car and to the room, where I took a shower and a long nap to recover.
We had dinner at the lodge, which was a mixed experience because they were curiously out of everything we wanted to order (Out of pasta? Really, Shenandoah?). However, I did manage to have a cup of she crab soup that was amazing. I should have just ordered a vat of that instead of falafel (the falafel turned out to be a mistake, which is saying a lot because I like falafel!). We did some more exploring along Skyline Drive, and then it was time to turn in for the night, get some sleep, and strike out early in the morning for Ocracoke.
We actually made really good time getting here, and for the first time didn't get stuck in a single traffic jam ... unless you count the one in the Food Lion because everybody on the entire Outer Banks was stocking up with groceries for the week. Anyway, we're here and checked in, and we're ready to enjoy a whole week of the island life. Ahhhhh Ocracoke!
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