After work on Friday, I drove down to Shockoe and transferred my gear to Mike's truck. I parked in my office lot and we carpooled down to the Sos house. Mike and Lauren had just a little bit of packing left to do, but we eventually got the truck loaded up and ready to go. After a quick bite for dinner (new sandwich selects at McD's are really good), we got on Rt. 60 towards Natural Bridge. We arrived at Mike's grandparent's house around 11:30 and caught up with them until about 12:30. We were so tired that we all passed out on the couch. I set my alarm for 8am and finally went to bed.
When I got up and ready, Mike and I dropped the truck's contents off at the campsite, then drove to Walmart/Lowe's. Lauren went shopping while Mike and I perused the aisles of Lowe's looking for picnic table materials to buy. We were secretly hoping there would be a kit, since his grandfather assured us (with several choice words) that there'd be no way on Earth we could make two tables from scratch in 4 hours out there. Fortunately, we did find some kits and hauled them out to the truck.
We set up our own tents on the site and then got working on getting the rest of the area ready. People started arriving as we did this. I started on expanding the fire pit, first by deepening the pit by a foot or so, and then by spreading it out creating a shallow extension for cooking. Paul and Mike got started on assembling the picnic tables, which (minus a few injuries on my part) came up rather smoothly. The tables looked great under the huge tarp, and really came in handy.
Once more people started arriving, Lauren got to work on a hotdog lunch. Once the work was done around the site, we all just...chilled out. It was terrific. Everyone had a folding chair, circling the fire pit, and we just sat down and enjoyed some peace and quiet. For dinner that night, Mike fired up the brick oven to start his marinated chicken going. Karen and Olivia worked on the side dishes and when we were done, we had a feast. It was awesome.
That next morning, my alarm got me up at 8am. The campsite looked pretty peaceful, and the sounds of a rooster off on another nearby farm brought a smile to my face. I took out my camera and shot a pic of my tent. I love that old thing. It's been through some really rough weather, and has lasted the test of time. I've beaten it up and patched it, duct taped it, and have made so many minor repairs to that tent that it has almost become something I look forward to seeing again after a long break without camping.
Mike was already up, and had gotten the fire started. I fired up the double-burner stove and made some eggs for the biscuits. Lauren got some sausage going, and we had a great breakfast in the dining area.
After breakfast, I walked up to the cabin. The pool area was covered in leaves, and since I figured we'd be swimming later, I got started skimming the bottom and getting the poolside ready. There were plenty of unwanted visitors, including this leaf-sized spider that broke all size records I'd ever seen. This guy was huge, lemme tell ya. Anyhow, the area got tidied up a bit and I headed back down to the site to get ready to swim.
We all hitched a ride to the pool in trucks and took a dip. Lauren had pulled pork cooking in the slow cooker, and it made for some tasty sandwiches. We played some volleyball in the pool and gathered around for a group photo before a few people had to leave for the evening. Good times.
For dinner, we had roasted turkey (which was out of this world yummy) and crescent rolls and baked potatoes. For dessert, Mike made a pineapple upside-down cake, which turned out pretty well! The rain started around 10:30 that night, and it didn't stop.
ever.
Taking down the site was harder in the rain, but we eventually got it done sometime late monday morning. We said farewell to everyone and drove up to clean up the cabin. When that was done, we rode over to shower and hang out with the grandparents a bit longer. After a very filling lasagne dinner, we made our way home. By 9:30 I was home, working on yet another paper for class.
What a great weekend.
