Always Ends in Wow // Richmond, VA & Devil’s Backbone

Phew…..

Wow.

I feel like I start every meeting with that nowadays. Not in a bad way, just wow.

time to take a breath.

This past month has been absolutely WILD, I don’t even know where to begin from where we left off in Lake Anna. O…M…G…

I guess we’ll just pick up from where we left off and I’ll tune in ya as to where I’ve been? I’m gonna be honest., I have absolutely no memory 🙂 so i’m building this timeline off my pictures I have taken and the memories that spark. bear with me. better yet,

come along.

From Lake Anna, ready for a shower at 11:26:50 AM, according to my timestamps, we drove the 26 miles to my aunt Linda and uncle Bruce’s house and store Champion Saddlery; our next stop on this GRAND ADVENTURE, so they say.

As we walked around their fields and looked for a place to park our camper, Linda and our family friend, Cathette, were secretly pulling some strings for us to stay at the Kings Dominion KOA. Linda and Cathette, we cannot thank you enough for you what you did!!

Once we got everything set up in our secluded wood getaway

we

decided to getaway

and meander the Bass Pro Shops, Green Top and McGeorge’s RV right off of 95.

wild places, gonna be honest haha.

but then made a stop at Center of the Universe Brewing Co. to split a flight.

WARNING: Habanero beer? big no from us.

otherwise, it all blends together for me.

Bruce, Linda, and Cathette came by the campground that evening. We had a great time relaxing and cooking dinner with ~phenomenal~ company 🙂

As the night rolled along, Devon and I decided we were going to spend the next day at King’s Dominion. The King’s Dominion Bundle included parking, an all day drink and the ticket for $47. For whatever reason, you could also buy parking for $17, a daily regular ticket for $45 and an all day drink cup for $13.

Ticket prices are important to know from now on. SO i’ll just say,

$47 is not bad.

So we went to bed early, and made our way to Kings Dominion. We had looked at the weather and thought it wouldn’t be too bad. Turns out, it was, in fact, very hot. We spent the morning at the water park and quickly dried off walking between rides that afternoon. It also didn’t take much for us to NOT want to ride rides. Because as I learned on Rebel Yell…and the scrambler thing…and the upside down boat…..AND THE SOARING EAGLES SWINGS

I, APPARENTLY, can no longer enjoyably ride roller coasters.

THIS is a tragedy. BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO AMUSEMENT PARKS. SO MANY I’VE NEVER BEEN TO. AND NOW I CAN’T EVEN ENJOY THE RIDES.

growing up is absolutely

unbelievable

also, just so you all know,

VOLCANO is GONE,

and neither of us knew.

it was devastating.

ANYWAYS, it was hot, the rides were not treating me well, and this little kid under the big bucket in the waterpark, I’m not even joking, walked past me, turned around and said do you want to be friends and then kept following me around and asking if and when we could hang out after outside of this.  and why we couldn’t.

No, really, that happened. for easily 10 minutes.

I digress.

The next day, we spent the early afternoon at Champion Saddlery’s Tent Sale and had a delicious provided lunch from Suzanne’s (Homemades by Suzanne in Ashland is a must stop!) with some of my family friends.

After lunch, we took the mini trek to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. What a place to be. If you’re looking for a peaceful place, wow, that’s a place to be. I’m apologizing now for all of these pictures, there was just so much to see.

 

One of our favorite parts was finding the different Nature Connects: Art with LEGOs pieces throughout the gardens.

Yes! Those really are all built from legos!

The second coolest part, was going in the butterfly atrium. Hundreds of butterflies (and moths) flying all around you.

We made our way back to camp that evening to get ready to go out with one of my college roommates, Molly, and her boyfriend, Brooks. ❤

Now, the plan was to meet them at The Veil Brewing Co.

I say it like that because there’s a story coming…

Devon and I got there a little early to hang out, and have a beer ourselves before meeting up with Molly and Brooks. While also trying to make plans with my friends Hunter, he had mentioned to me that it was supposed to storm. I was told that, literally, as we were pulling away from the site.

I said, Devon, let’s go back and put things up just in case.

Sure enough, it stormed. big time.

Molly and Brooks, thank you two so incredibly much for powering through that storm to come out. We had such a great time with y’all and hope to get together again when we get home! Again, thank you, immensely.

Here comes that story:

We came home. We got inside.

Only to discover…

We left the fan cover open on the ceiling :’)

And the comforter was soaked :”””)

Lesson 2: Close the fan cover.

Needless to say, it was a chilly and damp night.

Thankfully, we were leaving the next day.

The next morning after packing everything up,

We found the nearest laundromat with the best online appeal. At $4.50/load, another important expense from now on, we were in and out of the laundromat within an hour or so.

From there, we drove to Roseland,VA, the next destination in our book.

Home of Devil’s Backbone Brewing Co. (Yes, that is, count them, THREE breweries in this ONE post).

For you beer fans, Devil’s Backbone has a campground! The campground sits a little off of the brewery, so access back and forth is easy for those tough nights 😉 also! If your company needs a retreat…

…You’ve got a pretty sweet place to stay.

As we pulled in, we quickly noticed the abundance of rv’s in the electric sites…and us being the one of three campers all weekend, in nonelectric. So to say we stood out, is an understatement haha

That’s us, the orange speck, on the left.

Thats every other camper in the campground there on the right. Now imagine you took the picture… if you turned around, there was the bathhouse… my point is, you couldn’t miss us.

To round out the evening, we traveled the few miles to Bold Rock Cidery and Taproom.

Keeping it simple, we split the Flagship Flight and watched the sunset.

The next day, where are we?, July 13th? sheesh…The next day, we were up early and on the road to hike Humpback Rock.

again, wow….

Humpback Rock.

It says 0.8 miles.

It says that.

THAT SHOULDN’T BE THAT BAD

but alas,

I had to stop and stop and stop.

that incline…

it’ll getcha.

Elevation: 2360.

View: incredibly gratifying.

We quickly rewarded ourselves with a beer at the Brewpub back at Devil’s Backbone, taking advantage of the good weather and wifi when we made it back down.

Before we left the next morning, we decided to try the brunch at the restaurant at Basecamp.

We split smoked deviled eggs (YUM), and a breakfast sandwich served on focaccia bread (DOUBLE YUM). Silvia, if you’re reading this- Italian focaccia is still better, hands down😉

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.

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King’s Dominion three nights, Devil’s Backbone two nights. One Week Covered.

Was that too much? Could you handle more stories? Should I continue? I never know how much is too much.

We’ll leave it here-ish for now. Next time I’ll tell you about our experience in Shenandoah, visiting my mom <3, and our last leg up to Pennsylvania.

Please keep reading!! Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me to do this so far and has asked about where we are and what we’re up to.

I promise I haven’t been not writing on purpose; the situation has not been as easy as I would have thought.

Before we left last month, Devon’s computer charger stopped working.

At some point after my last post, my computer charger stopped working.

Which brings me full circle to

wow.

That’s what all of this feels like honestly…

Honestly.

Every day is a guessing game.

It’s hard to make plans.

It’s hard to not be able to write.

I don’t know what it is about a computer.

The fluidity of thoughts and typing…the synchronization.

Beats a phone or tablet any day.

Anyways,

Every day happens

and every day we lay down

and say

wow.

again, HONESTLY,

It can get frustrating at times, but

apparently,

that’s life.

Another day in the books.

Another day of what are we doing today?

It’s all the “same”;

they always end in

wow.

.

.

.

Promise to be back again this week.

promise.

j&d