Marcia and I decided to take the kids on an adventure on Saturday.  We planned the trip for a few days prior, but we didn’t tell them where we were going.  We kept it a surprise.  We only told them what to prepare: a change of clothes, a sweatshirt or jacket, cameras, shoes/socks and flip flops, a bathing suit and binoculars.  The trip we had planned was a day trip to Shenandoah Valley.  The kids asked fo days, “Are we camping?” and “Are we staying overnight?”.

We got the kids out of bed around 5:30AM on Saturday the 22nd.  We left the house at 7:30.  Our first stop was at Luray Caverns.  None of us had been there before, and we were not disappointed.  We spent about an hour touring the caverns.  Then we spent time in the Garden Maze.  And the kids mined for gems and minerals in the sluice.  We left in time for lunch.

I thought it would be good to picnic at a scenic point in the Shenandoah National Park.  We were planning to drive Skyline Drive and see the sites.  It was so cloudy, we could barely see 10 feet in fron t of the car.  So, we had a picnic in the clouds.  And then we all experienced our first toilet pit along the Appalachian trail.

We took a hike down Dark Hollow Falls Trail.  Luke on my back and Jack strapped to Marcia, we all hiked down to the falls.  It was a beautiful sight.  THe kids played in the falls at the bottom, and then we hiked all the way back up to the top of the trail.

But when we got to the car, our adventures weren’t over.  The car was very low on gas, so we consulted with our maps.  Found the closest gas station, several miles south, and gassed up.  Phew.  We made it.  It was quite an adventure.  And we caught the bug on adventures!