Flashback Friday: Return to Hungry Mother

It's 2015 and I am behind on blog posts. I hope to backtrack some in the coming weeks to catch up. I will start with our Labor Day weekend camping trip to Hungry Mother State Park.

HM has become a family favorite and we especially enjoy camping there with other families. Here are some highlights from the trip:

Plans are in the works to return yet again in 2015, at least once! I am already looking forward it it!

Natural Tunnel State Park

JJ always has the week of the 4th off and this year we planned a family camping trip.  Our kids are used to camping with other families and were disappointed that we were going solo.  However, we managed to have several other children from the campground at our site.

We went to Natural Tunnel State Park in southwest Virginia.  William Jennings Bryan called it "the eighth wonder of the world."  It was indeed a beautiful park that showed the beauty of God's creation.

We had adventures in tunnels, creeks, canoes, and caves.  (I think I'm getting too old for such adventures.) The campground was filled with berries ripe for the picking.   We had a frequent visitor, a skunk, that we affectionately called Sprayden.  Thankfully, he didn't spray. 

It rained a little every day but we've camped in worse conditions.  Overall, it was a great and memorable camping trip.

Here are more pics and a little less narrative:

Ok, I must confess that getting on the 

chairlift freaked me out a bit.  I never made in past the bunny slopes in either of my skiing attempts so the chairlift was a first for me.

I survived it as well as the hikes into the tunnel and cavern that required crossing creeks and stepping on, over, and around slippery or jagged rocks.

The kids liked cooling off in the pool and especially liked the water slides and diving boards.  There were rain showers every afternoon so our pool visits were cut short.

Drake and JJ went on a canoe trip.  I don't have a pic of the boys in the canoe but here's one of Drake when they stopped for a snack break.

The wild cave tour was my idea and I was probably the most petrified.  It was dark, steep, rocky and muddy. I only took a few pics inside the cave. The guide took our family photos.  One cut Corinna out and in the other my eyes are closed. 

When we got home I made a cobbler with the fresh berries. We finished off our adventures with a trip to the drive-in on Saturday night, arriving home at 2 in the morning. 

I am thankful for our time as a family

and for a fantastic husband even if he doesn't like his picture taken! We are looking forward to many more camping trips together, especially to our group trip to Hungry Mother over Labor Day! 

King of the Hill ( and Chill! )

I am late to post of our camping/soccer tournament adventure from last weekend. This week has just been that jam packed of activity, which is nothing new.

This time last week we were relaxing at a campground in Boone and hoping that the forecasters and weather radars were wrong. But they were right. The temperature was dropping and the rain was coming. Hard rain. Cold rain. The kind of rain that makes you want to cuddle up and nap, not stand outside and watch soccer. Or play soccer. Fortunately for us (or not), the fields were turf and The King of the Hill tournament went on as scheduled.

We still had fun moments and were glad that other soccer families invited us to their cabins for food, shelter from the rain, and even a dip in a hot tub.

As for the campground, we liked it and hope to return in fairer weather. We were thankful that the rain stopped just long enough on Sunday for us to get packed up. Drake's team endured and came in second place.

Tis true that you never know what kind of weather you'll encounter while in Boone!