Wouldn't You Like to Get Away...

Hi all,

Rebecca and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary on May 2, therefore, it was time for our annual anniversary "get away". We alternate the planning--I get the odd years and Rebecca gets the even. This year Rebecca planned a cool trip to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I must say the trip was awesome (except for the smoke poisioning--more on that later). I thought I would share the trip with everyone in song---just kidding. What about a photo album? Since I am not hearing anyone complaining, let's start. "Honey, get out the slide projector..."

After a very ease drive, we arrived in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley



I must say that I was very happy to be here (the last few weeks were long!)



Rebecca reserved a very cool cabin. It was pretty sweet--comfy beds, shower, toilet, no TV, no phone and very clean. Take a look at the little place



Our plan for the weekend was to relax, hike, do nothing, rest, relax, hike, and do nothing. We pretty much followed that to a tee. On our first full day, we hiked a couple of spots. We ended up doing a total of around 9-10 miles for the trip. Not bad for pregnant lady. All kidding aside, Rebecca was awesome. I think I was more tired than her at some spots. However, there were some rough stretches for Rebecca--even at the start:



I guess that part of the backpack doesn't fit so well right now.....ok, moving along. We saw some cool sites...I won't bore you with a ton of pictures (who does that anyway?), but I will show you a pretty sweet scene that we saw. Check out this waterfall:



Anyway, after a day of hiking, its time for--yep you guess it, food...and not just any type of food, but camping food. Yep, we cooked all meals over a fire. Before I go into the specifics of how good the camping food was, its instruction time. Yep, even though I had never been camping before, I'm going to illustrate how to make a sweet fire (yep, that Ph.D. in combustion is paying off!)

Step 1: Start with empty fire pit (if you have a pit with a fire already in it, please go to step 8)



Step 2: Set up some kindling. I used a small central tee-pee with some leaves in the middle. My thought was that the leaves will burn easily, then the kindling will burn, and then the main logs would eventually heat up and burn.



Step 3: Get a small central fire burning (my initial thoughts in Step 2 are put to the test)



Step 4: Watch this kindling fire grow (hopefully it will heat up a central core and then ignite the bigger logs)



Step 5: As the fire grows, add some more kindling wood and maybe even a new log. The fire is really starting to grow now:



Step 6: Wait for the fire to get pretty big and enjoy the sights. I must say I love this picture!!!



Step 7: Wait for the fire to evenly spread to the main cooking logs. You are now ready to cook (note the really hot central core--this is great for cooking hotdogs, hobo pies, and s'mores)



Step 8: Cook the food!



Yep, that's Rebecca cooking a hotdog---and you know what else?



...that's Rebecca eating a hotdog. I guess those pregnancy cravings finally win. The food was great and I loved making it over the fire. The only problem is it turns out that I am pretty sensitive to the smoke--who knew? My eyes were all watery and I was coughing up some serious phlegm--that's pretty good dinner talk, isn't it? Well, after a long first day, it was time to sleep...and then wake up. Little know fact - I sleep with my head covered.



On our last day we did a little more hiking. We hiked up to this peak with an amazing view.



This was also a good place to get a picture of Rebecca and our daughter on her first hiking trip. Aren't they both so cute!



Well, we had a fun trip. We were tired, but it was a good time. This is the happy couple signing off....