My Trip to Ohio

Two weeks ago I went to Ohio to meet my friend Pam and on the way home Mike and I stopped at every antique mall that we could find. Last fall I had found this relish tray and I wanted to find another one.

It looked so cute at Halloween last year when I took it to a party that my daughter-in-law had at her grandparents farm.

Well, I have looked high and low and finally found one in Parkersburg, WV at The Antique Mall. I loved looking through this store. It was very hot in their store but their prices are very good and it was worth the time to rummage through all of the many booths.

We went further down the street to another antique store and I found these beauties. This was a tray that used to hold glasses and I thought it would be very cute to put decorated cupcakes on or low carb muffins for a brunch.

I also found this pretty green dish. It is very heavy and has 3 sections in it. It goes well with the relish tray above.

While in Marietta, Ohio we found a flea market that is both inside and outside. It is called RinkyDink Flea Market. We loved this place and plan to visit it again. I found this green dish at one of the vendors that were set up outside.

While I was with Pam on Saturday I found a small store with beautiful items for the kitchen. I bought this dip container. It has a place to keep ice in the bottom to keep the dip cold while serving and has a lid to keep it from drying out. I loved this color of red.

 

I read on a blog recently that you tend to use your pretty dishes more if you have them on display and that they don’t really gather dust as you would assume that they do. I will let you know how that works. Around here we have to dust almost daily. I am not sure exactly why but it is unbearable. I told Mike my theory is that it is because we live on a gravel road.  I can’t wait until we get on the farm and away from this gravel road. Of course we will have gravel there but we will be the only ones driving on it so it should cut down on it some.

Haunted Ghost Tour in VA

I know many of you will be shouting HOORAY. This is my last post about our vacation in VA in October.  On Saturday night while we were there we went on a Haunted Ghost Tour in Lexington VA. This was a blast. Be prepared to walk 2.5 hours througout the city at night. It was a bit cool but with the walking being at a fast speed you will be fine. They only offer the tours from May until October and since Halloween is in October it was the perfect time to go.

We booked our tours through Lexington Ghost Tours.  This tour company is owned by the same couple that own HalloScream and Foamhenge. This was very well handled and our tour guide Heidi was amazing.  We loved her. She told the stories very well and with just the right amount of humor to keep our interest.

We began at the Lexington Visitor Center and our first stop was in an alley behind a building that many years ago housed a restaurant.  The story is that the cook at the restaurant was a very mean man that killed a mother cat and her kittens by throwing them alive inside the wood burning stove. The story is that at night you can see the cats walking across the roof of the building.

For some reason the picture that I took in this alley turned out like this. I am sure that it was the photographer and not some ghostly haunting messing with my camera. I do not take very good pictures in the dark.

Our wonderful guide was in civil war period costume and carried a lantern to lead us throughout the city.

We went to the Robert E Lee Church where he had been the night of his death. It is located just down the block from his home where it is reported that the ghost of his horse still walks the neighborhood.

This is a picture of Robert E. Lee’s house. We didn’t see a horse that night but the story is quite the story to hear from the guide.

At one point we ended up in front of a building that years ago used to be a fraternity house. The story is that a man committed suicide in this house and since then if anyone closes the window in the attic of the house the glass will crack out of it or the window will open on its own. You can’t see from the photos but the window is open that they spoke of.

There were many other homes and locations that we went to and heard the most amazing stories. I highly recommend this ghost tour. We ended the ghost tour in the cemetery where Stonewall Jackson is buried. We all experienced something in this cemetery but I won’t tell you what it was. You will have to go for yourselves. bwahahaha

Lexington Safari Trip 2

When we were on vacation in October we went to the Lexington Safari again. We went the first time a couple of years ago and we LOVED it. You can purchase buckets of food for the animals and feed them through the windows of your car as you drive through. The people in front of us piled in the back of a truck to get closer to the animals. I am not that brave.

When we first got there we went through the area that you walk through. We met Stanley. He is a 4 month old camel that loves to chew on your fingers. It doesn’t hurt because he only has his bottom teeth now. Isn’t he sweet?

The kangaroo area is wonderful. You can actually walk right next to them. They lay everywhere and appear to be harmless although I didn’t see anyone petting them.

The turtle area was a nice size and they had several species to enjoy.  They were very photogenic and you didn’t have to worry about them running away while trying to get a good pic. haha

The tigers are kept in a caged area and you can photograph them through a plexiglass area. Both times that we have been there they have been sleeping.

Mike and I both posed in the cut outs. We decided since we couldn’t claim that we were there with our children that we needed to act like big kids ourselves.

The giraffes are always our favorite part of the safari. They are so beautiful. I can’t get enough of taking their pictures.

This beautiful beast slobbered all over my hand. I held the bucket of food out of the window. As I felt his lips going over my fingers to grab the bucket I let go and he stole the entire thing. I think that was his plan from the very beginning.

There is a sign by the adult camels that says, “We will steal and chew on the buckets. Feed us anyway please.”  They were true to their sign. They don’t even pretend to be eating out of the bucket. They automatically steal from the beginning. haha

Mike loved all of the many species of deer that they had. This one came up to his window.

The zebras are very friendly and they love to stick their entire head inside your car to see if you are hiding extra buckets of food. Don’t try to pet them though because they don’t like it.

Here are a couple of random pictures that I love.

Natural Bridge Wax Museum

I kn0w. I know. You are wondering when will this vacation ever end.  I doubt it will. We had such an amazing time in Virginia. With the cost of admission to the Natural Bridge, Natural Bridge Taverns and the Indian Village and Trail we also had the opportunity to go to the Natural Bridge Wax Museum. We had put it off until the end of the day because we both felt it would be boring but we couldn’t have been more wrong.

This place was amazing and one of the biggest highlights of the trip. I could have easily went through it twice because there was so much to see. The wax figures were so lifelike and they each told their own story. The people who created this did an awesome job.

We went through one area that had many presidents who had spent the night at the Natural Bridge Hotel and they were all on the front porch of a make believe house in the display. I took pictures of all but 2 of the presidents. I couldnt’ make myself take their pictures. I know it was shallow but I couldn’t do it. I was in awe of the lifelike  figures. You really have to see this.

Can you guess who the people are above? I bet you can . What about these two historical figures?

The tour ends with a presentation that brings you to tears. They tell a story of the life of Christ. No one in the room said a word through this. It was very moving.

When you leave the tour you can go to the basement area and see where they make the wax figures. Down there we found a few more figures that I had to take pictures of.

 

The cost of the admission to the Natural Bridge Wax Museum, caverns, Natural Bridge, Indian Village, Trail to the waterfall and the Toy Museum was $26 per person. Not bad for that many attractions. It is very easy to spend the entire day seeing everything and you get the opportunity to learn quite a bit about the history of Virginia.

Natural Bridge Caverns

This is another trip down memory lane for me of our vacation trip. On Thursday after we had lunch we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. That morning we had already walked up and down 11 flights of stairs and 2 miles on the trail. Now we were at the Natural Bridge Caverns. We quickly learned that we would be walking down many stairs and walking the half mile to get to the lowest level of the cavern.

My pictures that I took in the cavern turned out horrible. Luckily Mike’s camera was able to capture some perfect photos. At one point the guide was telling us about how many miners from many years ago had thought that they had heard a woman screaming but couldn’t find her and they fled the mine thinking it was haunted. In this exact area this was the photo that Mike captured. What do you think?

I really hated that my pictures didn’t turn out. I really want to take a photography course and also purchase a better camera. I love photography but feel as if I am missing so much by not knowing how to use the one that I have better. Mike’s pictures turned out beautifully.

We had a wonderful time on the cavern tour and can’t wait to go to more caverns now. I want to spelunk actually and investigate unexplored caves. That would be exciting. I found one cave years ago that I wanted to go to but they had a weight limit and I couldn’t meet their requirements. I can now and I can’t wait to experience these things. I honestly think Diabetes was probably the best thing to ever happen to me.

Halloscream in Lexington Virginia

While on vacation we went to the Halloscream Haunted House and Trail. This was a lot of fun. Mike and I were the only adults there without children and it made us feel like big kids again. We arrived after dark and stood in line with all of the teenagers. We were a bit worried that we would be in the same group as the giggling girls in front of us but luck was on our side and we were moved up in the line because they needed two to fill a group.

The event began in the haunted house and we were led from room to room with people jumping out at us from various directions. We were led in the group of 7 and screamed and laughed our heads off. Then once we exited the haunted house we were divided into smaller groups that had to walk through the dark path of dinosaur statues to reach the bottom of the hill. Mike and I were able to walk alone down the trail. People were jumping out at us from various places along the way. A haunted house/trail isn’t complete without someone in a mask wielding a chain saw of course.

This is the Halloscream’s last year which made us a bit sad. The event is hosted by Sherry and Mark Cline. They are very involved in many of the attractions surrounding the Natural Bridge area in Virginia. You can attend their Professor Cline’s Haunted Monster Museum and Dinosaur Kingdom throughout the year. Tickets are available at the Natural Bridge gift shop.

If you have a child who may not be quite ready for a scare you can ask for a non-scare haunted trip. They are more than happy to accommodate you.

They also have an event there called Hunt for Big Foot with a Redneck. This is a picture of their flier for the event.

Since my son believes in Big Foot and is a red neck himself, I would love for him to go to this. Someone dresses up as Big Foot and you go through the woods with a staff member and “hunt” him. The image of seeing Stephen do this is hysterical.

Mark Cline also has an attraction in the Natural Bridge area called Foamhenge. This is a replica of the exact size and dimensions of Stonehenge but it is made entirely of foam. Each block of foam weighs more than 400 pounds. Of course on Friday we had to visit this to get pictures. This event is free and you can walk around at your leisure and take pictures.

One gentleman was very kind and took our pictures with our camera for us.

They have a statue of Merlin on the top of the hill. One myth is that Merlin magically brought Stonehenge to Virginia. What do you think?

Each day we walked several miles and by evening we were exhausted and happy. I can honestly say that I loved this trip more than our trip to Cozumel a couple of years ago. Mike prefers the beach but hiking and being outdoors and in the woods is something that I enjoy. Luckily we take turns planning our vacations. Next time is his turn.

Natural Bridge in Lexington Virginia

After we went horseback riding while on vacation, Mike and I drove another 2 hours to Lexington, Virginia and spent 3 nights there. It is amazing what all we were able to cram into 2 full days. We stayed at the Natural Bridge Hotel. The hotel was ok but we won’t be staying there again as we didn’t have cell phone service while we were inside the hotel. We actually had to be a block away from it before our cell phones would work.

The hotel also messed up our bill and they froze the amount of the bill in my bank account TWICE. I called them twice asking for them to release a pre-auth payment of almost $400 and Calvin said it would come off that night at midnight. Well, it didn’t. I called them back and Calvin at the hotel didn’t return my call.  I had to get my bank to go in and manually release it. They had it tied up in my bank account for more than 3 days. I can honestly say that the service at the hotel was the only dark spot on the entire vacation.

Across from the hotel are the local attractions that the hotel also own. You can pay to see the Natural Bridge which is very pretty. You have to walk down a large number of stairs to get to the trail that leads to the Natural Bridge, Monocan Indian Village and waterfall. We guessed the stairs to be equivalent to 11 flights of stairs. Remember that what you go down you must go up. LOL

Near the beginning of the trial you will find the Natural Bridge. George Washington actually carved his initials into the side of the rock. This is quite beautiful and majestic.

 

To see where George Washington carved his initials into the bridge you must use your zoom lens on your camera. It is very high. It made me wonder how he could have gotten that high to do it.

If you take the trail under the bridge you can get to the Monoccan Indian Village. It is very quaint and there was a Native American woman there to tell you things about the village. The day that we were there she was patiently working with a large group of 3rd graders so we left her to her task and walked through the village by ourselves. There are signs that tell you the story of what you are looking at.

If you continue on the trail past the village you will come to a salt peter mine. There really isn’t much that you can see here because there is a rope keeping you away from it. This is all that you can see really.

After the mine you can continue on the trail until you come to the Lace Waterfall. From the top of the stairs that led down to the trail until you reach the waterfall is a one mile hike. The scenery was beautiful and the morning air was cool and crisp. We enjoyed our hike because we naturally love to hike but others were loudly complaining because they expected the waterfall to be larger. Mike and I just loved being with each other and being in the natural surroundings.

After we hiked back out of the woods for the mile and up the 11 flights of stairs we well aware of our muscles. After doing the ziplines on Monday and the horseback riding on Thursday we were still quite sore.

We left the woods and went to lunch followed by going to the Natural Bridge Caverns and a few other attractions.  I will share that with you next week.

My Birthday Gifts

My birthday was the week before I went on vacation and my mother gave me $50 to spend on my vacation. Mike and I love to hit antique shops and Lexington, Virginia has a lot of them. When we were planning our vacation we put half of a day in our itinerary so that we could look for an armless rocker.

 

We went to several malls before we found this one. I love it. It is smaller than most rockers but it will be perfect in Caleb’s room for me to sit in while I babysit him on Saturdays. I am dreaming of him sitting in my lap while I read to him. This chair is perfect. We plan to redo it a bit and I will share that in a few weeks when it is done. I will be refinishing the wood and replacing the fabric on the seat.

The chair only cost $20 so I kept on shopping. At one antique store I found a round butter dish that I fell in love with. I was not about to spend $28 on that dish. About an hour later Mike and I were driving down a road and we saw a woman having a yard sale and we stopped mainly to ask directions. Well, guess what she had in her yard sale for $2? Yep you guessed it. The exact same butter dish.

At another antique mall I found this beautiful deviled egg/relish tray. It was $10 and I was so excited to find this one. I want a second one just like it. I have already used it twice since we got home.

I collect thimbles and while we were at the Natural Bridge I found this one to add to my collection for $6.98. Thimbles are getting harder to find and this was the only one that I found while on my trip.

So what do you think? I love all of my purchases and am looking forward to using my new dishes over the holidays at dinners and parties. Thanks Mom. I wouldn’t have gotten these without you.

Horseback Riding

While on vacation a couple of weeks ago Mike and I went horseback riding at the New River Gorge in WV. We had a wonderful time. I hadn’t ridden a horse in many years. Mainly because I thought it was cruel to put that much weight on a horse. Now that I have lost all of the weight I am getting out more and experiencing more things.

Our tour guide told us that riding a horse burns 400 calories an hour and uses every muscle in your body. We rode for two and a half hours so we burned 1000 calories. My stomach muscles were still a bit sore from doing the ziplines a couple of days before but I really enjoyed it.

We went to Ace Adventure Resort at the New River Gorge in WV to do our riding.

When we got to the town it was freezing. Luckily we got there early and had time to run to Walmart because we had to buy thermal underwear, gloves and I bought a thick fleece lined jacket. I wore thermal underwear, a long sleeve tshirt, sweater, thin jacket and the thick fleece lined jacket. I also wore the thermal underwear under my jeans.

When we got to the resort we learned that we were the only people riding that day so we got our own private ride with our tour guide. This was wonderful. This is my favorite time of year. The air is crisp and the foliage is amazing. West Virginia is a beautiful state and we really enjoyed riding through the woods on our horses.

About half way through the ride our guide had us stop and we got off of the horses to let them rest. We walked across a field and saw the beautiful scenery above. She took a picture of us while we were on the top of the cliff.

This was our guide, “Bo”. Her name isn’t really Bo but that is what her 2-year-old niece calls her so it kind of stuck through out the ride. She was very nice. I hope that when we go back again that she is our tour guide. I will try to pick a chilly day too so that we are the only ones riding again. That was awesome.  I also hope that I get to ride Freckles again. He was such a sweetheart. I would have brought him home with me but I doubt that he would have fit in my Subaru.

Tree Tops Canopy Tour in WV

Last Monday, Mike and I took Kristin (daugher-in-law) to do the ziplines at the New River Gorge in WV. I had prescheduled for Mike and I to go and Kristin thought it looked like fun so we took her too for her birthday which was earlier this month. We had a wonderful time. Kristin’s mother babysat Caleb and she was able to have a grown-up day out. Well sort of grown-up since we were there too. hahaha

Mike and I researched the zipline companies and after watching all of their videos chose Tree Tops Canopy Tours.

We were told to arrive at 12:30 and since we had to drive more than 2 hours to get there we ended up getting there at 12:00 instead. We were told that they had a computer glitch and that we were not showing on their roster for the day but were able to find us in the computer and knew that we had paid more than a week ago. Because of their computer glitch we would have to wait another half hour for a guide to return because they had not planned for us.

We patiently waited. Well, those that know me know I am never patient but we waited and instead of getting into the woods at 1:00 we made it into the woods at 1:35. We had a small group of 5 doing the zip and 2 tour guides. Our guides were very nice and knowledgeable. As you zip along through the woods you stop periodically while they tell you about the nature and interesting facts about the forest. Lindsey and Zach worked very well together and made us all feel at ease.

One dollar of what we paid to do the ziplines goes towards treating the hemlocks that are in the forest to prevent them from dying. I felt good about that. When they created the ziplines they did not bring in any heavy machinery and the forest is very rustic and you barely notice the ziplines and platforms in the trees.

Kristin never stopped smiling through the entire trip and even the other visitors doing the ziplines commented on how sweet and happy she was. Kristin is always that way. Even when she was in labor with Caleb she was smiling.

Our tour guides told the worst jokes throughout the day but even that was very endearing. The ziplines were very fun and Mike and Kristin would have stayed all day. I was coming down with a stomach bug so by the end of the day I was glad to be home but very happy that I went. Hopefully when we go next time I will be feeling better but I still had a wonderful time with my family.

My only regret is that I was unable to take my camera on the ziplines. Unless you have a very small flat camera I don’t see how it is possible to take one with you. You can purchase pictures that they take on the platform of the last zipline but Mike and I didn’t like ours. I did buy one of Kristin’s and she looks absolutely beautiful as always.

All in all the ziplines were an incredible 2 thumbs up despite having to wait the extra time to go in the woods.  Over the next few weeks I plan to bore everyone by showing pictures of our vacation last week. I will do it on Thursdays so you will have fair warning that you can ignore me on that day. haha

When you do the ziplines you really don’t feel as if you are getting any exercise but the next day you really feel it in your arms and your abdomen. I felt so invigorated. Exercise can be fun.