Friday, August 29, 2008

Massanutten, For Nothin'



Last week we had a bit of a family adventure together in the Shenandoah Valley. Short story: We lucked out big time in getting a free week-long stay in a really nice condo at a resort in the mountains.



Long story: A few weeks ago, a friend from our ward was visiting her father, who is a mission president in Canada. She met a member up there who had reserved this condo outside of DC (ok, 3 hours outside of DC) for a week, and then couldn't use it. She wanted to know if anyone in our ward could use it. I said "me, me, me", and we got it! Woo hoo!



Anyway, the resort is about 2 1/2 hours from us, and it is a neat place. The condo was huge--2 bedrooms, full kitchen, 2 baths. (And the biggest jet tub I've EVER seen--it seats 4! Really, it was like a small swimming pool in the bathroom. Tessie LOVED it!). Boy, is that the way to vacation! (It's so nice to have a separate, quiet place to baby down to sleep!)



Massanutten is a ski resort during the winter--and we really were out in the Virginia countryside. We frequented many a farmer's market in Mennonite territory (fresh tomatoes and corn--yum!); scoped out the Green Valley Book Fair (think 50,000 books in the middle of a corn field); searched out used bookstores (with some disappointment); hunted (and found!) treasures in antique stores; read a lot; watched some good movies; ate good food; and got to know the town of Harrisonburg, VA intimately.


Ry & Tess cross one more VA campus off their tour list: James Madison University.
We never did get to see Eastern Mennonite University.


Mainly we got to spend lots of time together--Tess hasn't seen this much of her dad since she was born! Ry and I took turns sleeping in and taking naps. Wendy and Keith came up for a couple days, too, so it was a full family affair!


Ry & Keith at the elusive JMU Arboretum. Nope, no trolls under the bridge.

The time-share people were persistent in their efforts to get us stuck on one of their two-hour long tours, but we managed to evade them. About half-way through the week I saw this local news report on vacation scams, and I started to wonder if I'd end up with some $1500 charge on my credit card. But no, it truly seems to be a case of good will! Any ideas of how I can thank the people who let us use the condo?



I wasn't particularly picture-happy this trip. But Tess did make some progress on her army low-crawl this week, which Ry managed to capture on film.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your little steamroller (I heard she rolles everywhere). What a fun vacation. I like your new running shoes, Ry! Do they make you run faster than your old ones?

Ann said...

What a great week! And how fun to gave visitors on your vacation! Vacations are great...but FREE vacations are even better!!!

Maureen said...

Tess makes moving look like so much WORK! She should have her own exercise video. Next time you get a free vacay, invite me along!

Maureen said...

I can tell I'm going to have to put in an official request. Please post pics of:

Tess reading her fabric book.
Your new hair color.
Tess in tights. (It's been ages since we saw a Sunday pic!)