Our family roots are deep in Pennsylvania, where Jeff grew up, and Virginia, where we met and went to college. We took our kids back east on a family trip during the first week of summer break. It was so much fun showing our kids our beloved Southern Virginia University! And the rich rolling greenery of central Pennsylvania! We wore ourselves out running, driving, hiking, and exploring this cherished pocket of the country.
We were away for 9 days: Wednesday, June 17th to Thursday, June 25th. Our trip had several distinct parts:
- We had 2 full-on 12+ hour airport travel days
- First, we spent 3.5 days in Buena Vista, VA
- Next, we stayed 2.5 days in Central PA: State College, Tyrone, etc.
- Last, we did 1 day in Washington, D.C. (actually one afternoon and one morning)
- We did 3 official college tours and 3 unofficial self-guided campus explorations.
- We rented a minivan and drove over 20 hours during this trip!
Hopefully I will manage to do my usual more detailed posts about this trip, but for now, here are some highlight pictures from our adventure:
When we were pulling out of the garage to drive to the airport at 4:55am on June 17th, we noticed that the wind had blown our newly rigged drip line off course in our front flowerbed. The wind had also yanked another portion of the black landscaping cover up. Jeff and I went to fix all of it before heading to the airport. Without the drip line, our newly planted flowers and veggie garden would perish during our absence! 4:55am was the earliest we've ever done yardwork, haha.
Our first run in Buena Vista, Virginia, Jeff and I started out together and ran past SVU's Main Hall. We were a little giddy to be back at SVU together for the first time in nearly 19 years.
I ran through Glen Maury Park to the view of Buena Vista (BV) up top.
This Sasquatch silhouette was strategically placed just off the road in the trees. I ran past it, then stopped and went back to see if my peripheral vision was correct.
We went on an official campus tour of SVU!! All 3 kids liked it a lot, especially Amber. partway through the tour, she whispered to me "I really like this school! I might want to go to this college!"
Jeff and I ihad to take a picture in front of our very first apartment--Jeff was Resident Director of Robey Hall and we lived rent free in the 200 square foot "apartment" in the front of Robey Hall for our last two semesters at SVU. We called this apartment "the pad". It is the two windows behind me on the left of this picture.
Lodgings in the town of Buena Vista, VA (population 3,000) were limited. We ended up renting this one room in a boarding house/hostel style Airbnb. The air conditioning unit smelled icky, and the floor was tilted so I kept rolling into Jeff on our full size bed, since I was uphill from him. Sleep was a mixed bag crammed into this little room, but we made it work!
View of BV from the Blue Ridge Parkway!
Another run: I braved the classic hilly hilly Long Hollow and Middle Road loop that we used to do back in college. The hills here were a shock to the system, but they were so fun. I forgot how much more interesting, dynamic, and effective running is when I'm forced to run up and down hills.
Waffle House for breakfast! Quintessential southern experience. Jeff and I enjoyed going out to eat more in our one week visit than we did the whole time we were in college! Haha.
Another joyful Virginia run: this one was on the Chessie Trail--a nice flat respite from the hills.
We did our favorite hike: Devil's Marbleyard. Amber was in absolute heaven: giant rocks that she could climb for an hour? It was an Amber paradise! Rose's knee was bugging her during this trip due to some inflammation from downhill running prior to the trip, so she didn't get to run as much on this trip. But she bravely climbed up Devil's Marbleyard!
Father's Day was our last day in Virginia. On our way to church, we stopped at SVU so Jeff could do his annual kid-lift in front of Main Hall. He managed to hold all three of his kids--barely! Jeff is such a good dad.
We took a few family pictures with my phone propped on a tree branch. With a little cropping, it turned out ok.
On our way to State College, PA, we stopped in Gettysburg to walk around the battlefields a little bit.
It poured all day long on our first day in Pennsylvania. We got drenched while running!
We took a campus tour of Bucknell University, where Jeff went for his freshman year of college on an athletic scholarship that disappeared while he was on his mission. Even though coming home to no scholarship was so unfair and disappointing for him at the time, I'm not sad that he ended up at SVU because of it!
We went running in Jeff's hometown of Tyrone, PA. I love the high school track there. The setting is so tucked away and pretty.
We hiked Mt. Nittany on the White Trail, which was created by Jeff's Grandpa White over 60 years ago. ROOTS!
Lots of beautiful drives around central PA.
Jeff's Uncle Hubie took us out to dinner one night.
I dragged Amber out on a 2 mile trail run on our last morning in PA. Our Airbnb was near Penn State's Arboretum, which had these springy bark trails winding through it.
After Amber and I ran 2 miles, Rose and I ran 2 miles. Rose took a bit to get ready--that's why the three of us didn't all run together. I enjoyed running in the beautiful green shade with my daughters.
We stopped by the Washington DC temple visitor's center. By this point, my family was being very uncooperative with picture taking. I was little peeved at them.
The last night of our trip was at a hotel in downtown Washington, DC. We enjoyed running around the National Mall before heading to the airport. Most of the National Mall was fenced off while undergoing preparations for the USA's 250th birthday celebration, so I stuck to the area near the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. I ran two laps around the reflecting pool. Each lap was a whole mile!
I ran on my own first, then went back to the hotel to get my daughters.
Rose, Amber, and I ran to the Washington Monument before heading back to the hotel right before they closed the breakfast room doors.
Amber's wavy hair found its natural habitat: HUMIDITY. This is what it looked like when she let it air dry after her shower (no gel or spray or anything). This was also after a 5.5 hour plane ride. My hair was just ridiculously wispy and frizzy in the humidity. I laughed that Amber's usually unruly locks were quite obedient in a place where my own hair went wild!
We got home at 1am on Friday, June 26th. It was a long tiring trip that was bursting with beautiful scenery and full of fun family memories!
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