My Trips North and South

My Trip South

We went on a little mini-trip to the Shenandoah River just outside of Luray, VA. Friday night is always a settling in night, but we're on the river all day Saturday. It was gorgeous!

I was all packed up and ready to go.


I saw this view most of the way - the back of *B*.


And here's the front of him!


Here is one of our little turtle friends jumping off a log.

There were tons of cows having a good time in the river. The downside to the cows in the river was abundant. There is algae covered excrement all down the river.


These rapids. Oh, these rapids. I have a story about them.

They don't look very big, do they? Oh, but they are. Two years ago, *B* and I went tubing down the river. He convinced me that it was okay to float without a life vest on. That was mistake number one. I forgot to put the vest back on before Compton's rapids. I went first down the rapids. Because I couldn't steer an inner-tube, I went into the most dangerous part. The rapids flipped me backward, and I hit my head on a large rock. In my dazed confusion, I decided to stay right where I was until *B* got there. So I wrapped my legs around a snail-encrusted rock until he got there.

Long story short, he got me to one shore (the right side in the picture above) and got me some food (it was past lunch). I thought I was okay, and then I got really dizzy and almost passed out. It turns out I had cut my legs to ribbons and I was losing a lot of blood. *B* heroically ripped the sleeves off his shirt and tied my legs off. It turns out that a group of boy scouts were on the rapids with a local church group. He called them over, and they decided that I needed emergency care. I was treated for shock and ferried across the very fast moving river. The ambulance came, and *B* and I had our first ambulance ride. I had gashes four inches up each of my legs and a contusion on my head. I made it out alive, but I was leery to go back. I will never tube that river again :o) I did it though, and made it through on kayak. I'm glad I did, because this is what the other side looks like:


My Trip North
I am so glad that I was able to make the trip to Landmark College in Vermont this year. Aside from the classes being fascinating, I have never been so in awe of an area of the country. The weather was gorgeous, as was the inn where we stayed.

This is their lobby. Check out the gorgeous ceiling:

This fireplace is just to the right of the above picture:

My room was absolutely lovely:


This is one of the views from my room overlooking the rest of the inn:

Out of my other window, I saw the pond in the front. There were wildflowers, cattails, and bullfrogs:

I had to go on a romp around the grounds. This is the view in their backyard. Isn't it amazing???

This is their laundry house. I would LOVE to live in their laundry house :o)


I cannot wait to take *B* up there. The inn, specifically the Chesterfield Inn, was right over the New Hampshire-Vermont border on the NH side. I'm not sure which I like more, Vermont or New Hampshire, but they're both absolutely wonderful. With any luck (and a fair amount of saving), *B* and I will be there again next year.