Yes, Veeks and I went on a 3-day trip to the exotic confines of central Virginia, spending our first night in Charlottesville with friends (whose cats Veeka endlessly pursued), then moving onto the ski resort of Wintergreen 50 miles SW of Charlottesville. Very overpriced (lift tickets $69; daycare a whopping $100) and small compared to anything west of the Mississippi but there's not much else available for us East Coasties within a 3-hour drive.
Then onto Lynchburg, where we stayed 2 nights with more friends. One highlight was visiting Jerry Falwell's grave site at Liberty University - what a huge contraption with an "eternal flame" a la JFK burning out of a cross at the grave. Lots and lots of money invested in that school although Liberty U has a weird location in the middle of town with a campus bi-sected by a freeway. Not the most scenic of spots.
The morning we left, it was snowing, so it was with some trepidation that I headed toward Skyline Drive to go home that way. The day turned sunny and we had the loveliest drive on good roads but the terrain was snowy. THEN I hauled Veeka out of the car at one point and made her walk 1.3 miles (round trip) with me up a hill to a cool viewpoint. She screeched and complained the entire way, claiming she was exhausted, cold, etc. (She was bundled up in a cozy snow suit). So, while the snowy forest was lovely to walk through, the sound effects from The Child were not. Any foxes or deer within earshot surely fled fast.
And - wouldn't you know it, she still did not fall asleep for a nap when we arrived back at the nice warm car. She really liked gazing out the windows at the pretty blue ridged mountains on either side and chomping on Valentine candy I'd brought along to keep her quiet.
The photo is of she and I watching TV at the Lynchburg home of Philip Weeks, a friend from way back.
3 comments:
Hi Julia. Your daughter is beautiful. My wife and I recently completed our own adoption of a 2 year old girl from Pavlodar Kazakhstan. Our little Katie is wonderful, and so were the people of Kazakhstan. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.
I wish you every happiness in raising your little girl. It's quite clear that both of you are quite blessed in having been brought together. Take care.
Sounds like you and Veeka had a lovely get-away, which in and of itself sounds lovely to me this winter, as it isn't happening for us this year. Your screeching Veeka on the 1.3 mile walk reminds me of a trip we took driving west in 1991 with Jonathan, who was 1 years old then. We stopped to sightsee at Yellowstone and if you have been there in recent years, you know you have to walk quite a distance from the carpark to see the hot pools. It was warm sunny day and we walked on the boardwalk to Morning Glory Pool, and on the way back, you'd have though Jonathan was dying. "I'm hot. I'm tired. How far?" Repeat! Finally we hastened our pace and walked on ahead of him and pretended we didn't know this complaining child, so he'd hurry to catch up to be sure we could hear his complaints! Thus-ly did we make it back to the car. In time, it becomes an amusing family memory.
Faith
Correction...Jonathan was 10 (ten) years old, not 1 year old. Faith
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