This morning we got off to a late start. I blame the super comfy beds. Tavis and I slept in until after 8:00 and we waited until 9:00 to get the kids out of bed. We all had raspberry filled donuts. Tavis had a coffee and I made myself a tea. Then we discussed which hikes we planned to do. In the end, Addison and Tavis came up with a plan, and Ayva helped make sandwiches for lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 10:45, we finally left the house. We took a drive outside the national park and entered at a halfway point. Then we carried on down the drive that was in the dark lastnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our first stop was Doyle Upper and Lower Falls. We arrived at the parking lot just after 12:30. Everyone ate their sandwich before we began the hike down. We met a family with a tiny dog that was even smaller than echo and he was full grown. It was a large family hiking down. We continued at a much faster pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trail was actually quite steep. We reached the lower waterfalls after about 35 minutes of hiking. It was cool by the water so we hung around for over 10 minutes. The falls were quite underwhelming but we took photos and headed toward the car. The boys stopped at the upper falls but it didn\u2019t look all that impressive and it was super hot and humid. Ayva and I carried on to get a 5-10 minute head start on the climb toward the car. Along the way we passed the family with the tiny dog. We also passed 2 other groups. About 20 minutes later Addison caught up and passed us. We saw a deer on the path who seemed quite tame so we took a break and admired him. About 5 minutes before the parking lot Tavis and Ari caught up to us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we got back to the car we were dripping wet and exhausted. It was under an hour and a half including our stops. The sign indicated it was over a 2 hour hike but our pace was a bit faster than average. We were so happy to be in the air conditioned car. We were not as happy 5 minutes later when Addison announced we were at the next hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At 2:15 we got out and were surprised at how much cooler it was. It could have been because we hadn\u2019t started hiking yet. The hike itself was about 10 minutes each way but we spent over 30 minutes climbing on the black boulders and taking in the scenery. The kids enjoyed the photo opp. We left Addison and Ayva on the rocks to finish photos as we started back to the car. It was getting g very hot in the open sun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We passed some locals on the way. Apparently they saw the kids who asked about wildlife in the area. They said that the copperhead snakes and poisonous spiders live in the rocks and it isn\u2019t a good idea to climb on them. That would have been much more helpful about 40 minutes earlier \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2640\ufe0f. It a good thing we didn\u2019t think to ask anyone before. Luckily none of us were bitten but we will be sticking to the trails for the remainder of our time in Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our next stop was back to Walmart for groceries. We bought chicken, spices, potatoes, and a watermelon for dinner. We also got sandwich meat, cheese, 24 buns, a pineapple, and some twizzlers for lunch tomorrow. We spent under $45 which was much more budget friendly than fast food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there we went to Shell to get more water because it was so cold and tasted so good. While the kids were in the store filling up all the water bottles, Tavis topped up the car for our drive tomorrow but it only took $10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We arrived back at the house just after 5:15pm. Tavis and Addison prepared dinner while I cut up the watermelon. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and got a bit of reset before venturing out to our hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We left the house around 6:30pm and made our way to to Humpback rocks. We arrived to the parking lot at 7:00. We were happy that it was much cooler. There were two girls who were starting the same time but within minutes they were gone and Addison was on their heels. The rest of us took our time climbing the steep, windy, rocky trail. it was a really fun hike but the steepest one we\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
35 minutes later we arrived at the summit. It was breathtaking. We came out onto a huge rocky bluff that dropped straight down. The sun was still above the clouds and we thought we\u2019d miss the sunset because of the rainstorm sweeping in below the sun. It was crazy to watch the storm move across the sky. As the sun set, the clouds were just perfect for an amazing show. We chatted with a couple and their dog who were on a date night without the kids. They took our photo for us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon the thunder and lightening began. The sun hadn\u2019t quite set but we knew it would get dark and storm was getting close. It took us 35 minutes to hike up and 25 minutes to get down. Addison took off ahead of us but we caught him 10 minutes later. He had taken a wrong turn and luckily realized it and found the right one just as we were approaching. We didn\u2019t see him again until we got down to the car. By the time we reached the bottom, it was raining and quite dark but the sun was still putting on a nice deep pink show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We stopped at a lookout about 7 minutes toward home so Ayva could take some photos but we just rolled down the window. The rain had stopped so we are pretty sure it had just skirted us. As we headed home it was now pitch black and there was lightening in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tavis missed our turn, but Google rerouted us and it only added 10 minutes. We thought it would be a good idea to go a different route. What we didn\u2019t realize is that it rerouted us onto a tiny little road that had no lines and was wide enough for only 1 car. It was lined with trees and super windy. It reminded me of the road to Hanna in Maui, but it was dark and we had no idea what was around us. All 5 of us were on high alert just taking it all in and watching g the lightening. At one point there was almost a 360 degree turn! It was amazing from the backseat, but I\u2019m sure Tavis was quite a bit more stressed than we were. He did say it kept him alert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We got home around 9:10. I finished cutting up the watermelon, washed the remaining I g dishes, then started working on my blog while the kids and Tavis showered. We all had an amazing day and decided we need to come back to the area and finish driving the Blue Ridge parkway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We decided to have an early night because our plan is to leave the house by 7:00am tomorrow as we make our way back to the coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This morning we got off to a late start. I blame the super comfy beds. Tavis and I slept in until after 8:00 and we waited until 9:00 to get the kids out of bed. We all had raspberry filled donuts. Tavis had a coffee and I made myself a tea. Then we discussed which … <\/p>\n