Into the Wild

School is out for the summer and we here at the Vendetti-Pelletier house have decided to brave the wilderness in our Coleman 6 person tent. After our second local dinner on Saturday June 23 (I am dating this only because I have been very neglectful in keeping up with the blog and am writing this post on July 15 on a word doc due to the severe lack of internet at grammie’s and poppi’s house) we packed our bags Sunday morning and headed west on I-64. We arrived at Sherando Lake just after nap time and began the process of erecting what would become our primary domicile for the next 3-4 nights, depending of course on food reserves and black bear sightings. Emerson explored the creek behind our campsite and Lisette wore a whole in her pants scooting around checking things out. Once our tent was up we discovered a playground and the gorgeous fishing lake, which was located a short walk from our site.

Emerson or Thoreau?

Kevin connects with his inner child....

Walking Up to the Fishing Pond

Well Worth the Walk

Awww...

Ahhh!!!!

Following that excursion Kevin utilized his manly prowess to build a fire and cook a fantastic dinner of chicken, veggies, and potatoes. And because we were camping we had smores for dessert. Kevin and I were exhausted but the kids were raring to go and didn’t fall asleep until well after dark. Luckily the kids were asleep when the Black Bear came sniffing around the tent. Needless to say not Kevin and I did not sleep too soundly after that.

Mmm...

Weee...

The following day we headed down to the lake and while baby girls slept away the morning, Emerson played in the water and cheered on his dad as he caught a minnow in a net. That afternoon, as a way to encourage napping (unsuccessfully I might add), we headed to the Blue Ridge parkway to an altitude high enough to provoke a nasty case of Vertigo, which reared its ugly spinning head in the middle of the night. Sleeping in a tent is a challenge in and of itself but make said tent spin around and around and it becomes impossible. We also discovered that day that a nasty storm had hit Richmond and a giant limb off one of the trees in our backyard had fallen into out next door neighbor’s yard. Oh well, nothing hotdogs and smores can’t fix!

Good Morning Sunshine!

New Trick: Climb In, Climb Out, Repeat

Catching Minnows with Dad

Catching Zzzzzs with Mom

Went for a hike but turned back on account of all the bear poo

Top of the Blue Ridge

Vertigo Inspiring Heights!

Blog Worthy Smores

Smores... reason enough to go camping.

On Tuesday we headed into the Charlottesville to meet up with Rach and Avery and go for a hike. First things first, we carb loaded up on Bodo’s bagels. Emerson and Avery had a blast tossing rocks in the water and marveling at the local wildlife (2 frogs, a turtle, and a snake).

 

Wednesday morning we decided we had had enough of the wild (though Emerson was thoroughly disappointed and declared “I want to live here for ever!”) and headed back home.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and most likely the beginning of a yearly tradition (hopefully minus the tree destruction and Vertigo!)

~klv