Summer Break is Here!

Those long awaited days of summer have arrived. Ryder’s first year in grade school is in the books and its time to celebrate. We hit the road a couple days after school let out and headed to Virginia where our first stop would be Powhatan State Park which has been on my list for some time. It certainly didn’t disappoint but unfortunately it rained for the first couple days we were there so we were a little limited in our exploration. The park was wonderfully situated against the James River and offered trails and miles of bike riding opportunities (from what we could see out the windows while it rained). The last day finally dried up and Ryder jumped on his birthday skateboard and explored the smooth asphalt throughout the well sized (about 40 sites) campground.

From there we went west to a Thousand Trails location a little outside of Lynchburg, VA. The campground wasn’t much to speak of but it had a great pool and was pretty quiet. One of the drawbacks to the campground is its distinct lack of road maintenance. The ruts were so bad in one area, I thought I would need to climb a hill in 4WD in order to make it to the top. I worked in the mornings while Kris took the boys to explore the area. The first great attraction was the drive through a safari zoo that gave the boys a close up look at lots of great critters big and small. Next up was a kids museum that kept them busy for nearly the whole day while I struggled to keep the internet slithering into the camper.

Finally the last destination was to Bethpage Resort which frankly I wasn’t looking forward to. Reason being: it was one of those massive RV resorts (700+ sites and a known party atmosphere). The pros were that it boasted its own water park with slides and a couple different pools. Truth be told, I enjoyed our stay there and I would go back in limited quantities. We were pretty close to the pool and we soaked up the sun and water every day during our stay. We also had a huge buddy site with Annapolis friends Ari and Lucas. Our rigs were facing each other in what made a private compound, all the while being towered over by the sky scraperesque rigs surrounding us. When we weren’t at the pool, we played ladder ball, explored the grounds by bike or rode over to the creamery for the necessary afternoon ice cream treat.

We had a wonderful week on the road and we would only be back a week before leaving again for another week long trip to New York.