I’ve mentioned before, that we typically go to a small cabin out near Front Royal over New Years with friends from college. The good thing about the cabin was it was free, not too far away, and “rustic” enough that it was okay for everyone to bring their 17 dogs (I exaggerate, a tad). The bad thing was it was small and short on bedrooms. This year, we finally came to terms that we had outgrown our lil getaway, so we didn’t make our annual New Years trek. But I still wanted to have my weekend getaway with my friends, so we began looking for other options. We discovered that some of the Virginia State Parks have rental cabins and after a little digging, we booked a lodge that was big enough to hold our crowd.
Over MLK Weekend, we went to the James River State Park. The have a collection of cabins, most are two or three bedrooms, but they also have two “lodges”, which are six bedrooms. It perfectly suited to our needs. They were “rustic” with mission style furniture, but also new and clean. Dogs were allowed and there was plenty of room for everyone. They didn’t have TVs or phones, which is good for “getting away from it all”, but we did have a plan in place to provide our own entertainment. The Sunday forecast called for rain, pretty much all day. So … one of my friends brought her projector, and the rest of us brought our Wii, video games and movies. We were quite entertained playing games and watching movies.
It was a fun weekend of playing and hanging out, capped off with Adam’s birthday on Sunday. It would be a fun park to come back to in the summertime, as it is on the James River, but I think we will also look for some cabin getaways a little closer to Northern VA (the trek to the James River park was about 4 hours – it is an hour south of Charlottesville).
Here’s the pictures from our weekend:
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The lodge
The kids brought their bikes and had fun riding around the loop the cabins were on.
Stomp Rockets were also fun – we had a nice sized gravel lot right in front of our cabin.
We were definitely in the country – you can barely see the river just beyond the grassy area.
The handicap ramp was a source of fun.
Daddy brought his home-made rings which were good for workouts, and just hanging around.
There was plenty of room for grown-ups, kids, babies, and dogs to relax!
The kids loved the bunk beds.
We don’t need no stinkin TV! With the help of a projector, we were able to watch movies like Star Trek.
The morning crowd wants their breakfast.
Cute lil baby C.
The Wii was also a lot of fun. My hubs can flap like nobirdy’s business.
Flap faster honey!
Sunday rain moved the workout indoors. He’s not the bird man, he’s bat man!
Michelle got active with Wii Active. Shred it girl!
Randy was sorry he agreed to play Sorry! with the kids.
The group shot!
Yay for multiple shots!
Happy birthday to the A-man.
We all chowed Sunday night. Banana pudding and black bottom cupcakes!
The dread pirate Zachary.
Wendy loved playing with the babies. She had fun holding Mazie.
Stack on Jeremy!
Adam is mesmerized by Daddy’s story-telling. Or not.
Monday morning was sunny and cool.
The mist rising off the river was pretty.
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It was a fun weekend getaway!
![The Meanest Momma](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S0-UAwPX6Rk/TwXG1TDRHII/AAAAAAABDeo/WFIw0U8-VRI/IMG_2075.JPG")
Wow! Mike’s workout looks impressive
I remember camping there as a child.