luray blog!!!

hey everyone

first of all thanks to all the troops that fight to protect our freedom!!!!!!


ok well as many of you know i go to luray, va every memorial day weekend. last year was robbies first trip up there with me. and he loved it so much, he agreed to go back. well that and i think hank and wileys cooking helped alot!

we headed up there on saturday morning. we started from the begining of skyline drive in front royal. what was great! we spend the morning into early afternoon driving up skyline and stoping taking pictures of the beautilful mountains!!! i love them so much. then we headed down at the luray exit to check into pine hill b&b. it was like coming home when i saw hank and wiley! i was so excited to see them and learn that another repeat guests were there also! we checked in and changed clothes and headed to luray caverns for the rest of the afternoon. it was way over crowed. i found out from the boyz that they now have an auto tour instead of a tour guid. thinking that this will be ok we went. robbie droped me off at the door to get the tickets while he went on the hunt for a parking space. after standing in line for about 35mins we were handed the head set and headed down the stairs. i thought they would only let a certain number of people down at the time, but that wasnt the case. we slowly made out desent down and it just got worse. when we finally got to the bottom it was packed and was so hot. so we started listening to the tour on our head phones. which didnt go really well. you couldnt hear it over the noise of people and moving to keep up what was going on in your ear wasnt happening. with all the people down there, they werent moving that fast. after we got through the first refecting pool it did open up. however i remember being on the tour before and nobody touching anything. yea that doenst happen anymore. people touch everything down there now! which pissed me off even more bc i want my children to see it. we finally did get to see a "ranger" person at the catherderal part of the caverns. she said that people complained that they couldnt hear the tour guide, or the tour moved to fast, or it moved to slow. so the owners came up with this idea. i told her it was stupid and people touching stuff. and she agreed. she said that i could write a letter to the managers to complain. that works for me. after we left there we headed into dowtown luray to have dinner at one of the best mexican places in va!

sunday we woke up to the smells of a wonderful breakfast by hank and wiley! it was great to catch up with them and the other repeat couple ive stayed with there. we told the boyz that we would be doing the short version of white oak canyon falls. we headed to the starting point deciding to hike from the bottom up. get the hard part over with. so we stoped at the ranger station and told the wanna be park ranger (theres a reason i call him this) that we wanted to do the short way up to the falls. he told us go down the path and at the first maker make a left. ok great. so we start heading up. and see some smaller falls and everything. awsome! i cant wait to see the big one in about an hour (or more with my slow ass). we cross a river and keep walking. after over an hour we stoped and looked at the map and talked to another couple coming towards us. they told us the were heading down from the falls and then back up. they were doing the 8.6mile hike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOUVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. WE WERE ON THAT WAY TOO! JUST OPPOSITE WAY OF THEM! at this point its to late really to turn around walk down, to walk back up on the other side to get to the falls. so onward we push. not knowing how much longer its going to be. great! at this point im not mad at robbie at all. since we both did what the wanna be ranger told us to do. so we get to the half way point. no idea what time it is. and ive been watching the sky through the trees. one to make sure it doesnt get dark on us and two the rain clouds that are hovering. as we walk down the mountain, it starts pouring down rain!!!! i have the back pack with the cameras in it and robbie has our back pack with our water bottles. and now we dont have any rain gear with us! im in a tang top and work out pants with socks and hiking boots. robbie is in a tee shirt and hiking shorts and his boots and socks. great! wet people!!!! so we continue figuring it will keep us warm (mind you we are up on a mountain on skyline drive!). so as we are walking, out of the corner of my eye i see something black. well there were plenty of people who bring their dogs up to go hiking. but this is bigger then a black lab. then i see a brown face. you got it: A BEAR! ok great. 7yrs going to luray and this is the second bear i see in 24hrs! i grab robbie and tell him. the bear is now about 50yards away staring at us. we start to walk slowly making noise and he starts to head down back in the woods. we walked a few more feet when robbie grabed me this time. the bear came back! GREAT! he kept watching us and we kept walking and making noise. finally he did leave with out coming out of the woods. we finally got to the falls after that. it was still raining but i was determined to get pictures! which i did. we didnt get back to the b&b till 8:45pm! we had left them at 10am that morning. the boyz were getting worried and we had yet to eat dinner. robbie showered and went to get us burgerking. i was so sore!

the next morning we told the other guests about our hike. bc they also were starting to get worried that we hadnt returned earlier the day before along with the boyz. they were all shocked. not only about the bear but the fact that i did an 8.6mile hike! we left the b&b that day and headed back to skyline drive. we decided that we would finish it and then head to middleburg to check on robbies grandfather. it did end up raining again while on the drive down to the other side. which was ok. we were just relaxing and had no intentions of getting out of the car and walking on any trails. mind you our legs arent doing that well.

so that was our trip to luray. i have next year already booked along with the other two repeat couples i usually stay with! i posted pictures on facebook and will be posting them on snapfish.com.

loves and hugs!

a mother's day posting

hey everyone!

well first of all HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO EVERY MOM OUT THERE! for my mom today ill be taking her out to brunch since she has plans tonight with her friends. with money tight for both of us thats all she wants she said. esp with me saving for a house.

house hunting is going ok. we have a house that we both like however its a fore-closure. which means it can take 60days to get a decision. well at least 60days. which kind of sucks. its a town house end unit which is nice. and looks great in it. there are people still living in it and it has been kept very well. its very weird going into houses while people are still living in them. for one its just seems rude to me. esp if they are being forced out. two you cant really picture your stuff in that house with all their stuff still there. esp if it isnt kept up and has four families living in it. which is something robbie and i have encountered a few times. we did see a single family home with a huge back yard for chase however the rooms arent that great. they are way to small and the master wouldnt hold even our queen size bed. so that means getting rid of the king i just bought. which isnt an option. so we continue. hopefully robbie can look a few houses before he leaves on thursday for louisville for his buddy's wedding.

then once he getts back that sunday we head to great falls va to say good bye to his sister for the summer. she leaves memorial day weekend for her trip across the USA! im so excited for her and cant wait to read updates and see pictures when she getts back.

the following weekend we head to luray to see my friends who own the b&b up there. we need to get away and luray will help us. we wont be talking about houses or money or jobs. we plan to hike for 7hrs to see some water falls up there and maybe head to a cavern for an afternoon. anything we do, it will be a relaxful weekend.

ok have to go get ready for mothers day brunch. hugs!!!