Canaan Valley, WV

West Virginia.  Who knew it's beautiful?  Apparently our friends did, because they planned a trip there for Columbus Day weekend.  And they invited us to come along.  Friends like that are awesome.



Altogether we had three Air Force families: 6 adults, 8 kids.  Two of those kids were two year-olds.  The oldest kids were 6 years old.  Are we brave or what?  We headed out to the middle of nowhere in the mountains of West Virginia to a "cabin" on the slopes of the Canaan Valley ski resort.  And when I say "cabin" I actually mean "super-cool mountain ski resort home that is approximately three times the size of our house".


It's not currently ski season there; it's fall-foliage season.  It was beautiful.  Did I mention that already?  Our house was maybe a 50 foot walk from one of the ski slopes, which made for really nice hiking.  We rode a ski lift to the top of the mountain and then back down (well, OK -- I stayed home with a napping Colin for that adventure, but the others went!).


We drove to the nearby Blackwater Falls State Park and saw more pretty scenery.


The kids played nicely -- all weekend long.


The gentlemen cooked dinner.  Breakfast, too.  Turns out they all like to cook, but none of them have time anymore.  We ladies were not upset to hand over the duties for the weekend!


We enjoyed the beautiful foliage and even spotted a few deer.  We drank wine and/or beer and escaped the stresses that are a natural part of life in the DC area.


It was so wonderful, in fact, that I almost threw the only temper tantrum of the vacation when it was time to leave.  I really didn't feel like coming home and leaving behind that awesome house and beautiful scenery.  We may have to go back again next year!


PS - With three families snapping pictures, we ended up with lots of neat ones.  Click here to see more cute kids and pretty views!