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Creatures of the forest…it is Easter Monday, and Easter Monday it is.

I woke up this morning on the right side of bed! Life seemed about as cheery as it could be; have you ever had that feeling? I also slept in…so that helped.

I got ready, took a slow, steamy shower, and went outside onto the porch. A cool breeze hit me. The view was beautiful!

Since the other family arrives today (cousins, aunt, and grandfather), I blew up a new aero-bed and moved my suitcase upstairs to a nice living room cove; I’ve attached a picture below. I hopped into some khaki pants and a bright green polo and jogged about 3 blocks to the church on the college campus.

Walking in was majestic…especially considering it was a college chapel! It could have the title “cathedral”; the cross architecture, ornate stained glass, and a beautiful organ. Mass was excellent; the priest gave a brief sermon on the importance of accepting what God has called you to do.

Afterwards, we got into the minivan and drove to the amazing, perfectly-named city of…Berryville! And it definitely fit the name. As we drove through, it felt worn and old, but warm and cozy. We ate at an organic burger-and-shake place called “Homespun”. I got cookie butter ice cream. It was exceedingly delectable!

With heavy stomachs and light hearts, we drove home, dropped my sister off at the dorm, changed, and met her back at the campus.

She took us on a chilly walk down to a dock on the Shenandoah river! It was so fun; we hung out, prayed, and just had a good chat. My sister showed us all the bluebells, which are in full bloom right now.

After the walk, we headed back to the AirBNB.

By the way, AirBNB stands for “Air Bed-N-Breakfast”...I thought you should know…just in case you didn’t. Sorry…back to the story!

After about 30 minutes, the cousins arrived! Finishing a 9 hour drive feels better when you can hug your family, and that’s what we did. We played ping-pong, talked, and looked at baseball cards. Then we all said goodnight…a southern goodnight…and headed up to bed! (;
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The glorious cove room!

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Creatures of the forest…today was a very special day. I saw new things and met new people!

I woke up in my cove…FREEZING! It was such a cold night. Glad that one is over.
The sun was just peeking out of the hills, so I watched it for a few minutes. However, it quickly went from watching the sun rise to feeling my eyes burn.

I got dressed and ready. The family bustle about this three story house reminds me of some movie vacation where the whole family is there, and it's crazy, but so fun.

I went on a 2-mile run with my sister along the outer path of the college, which was absolutely beautiful! As we came over a hill, my eyes were met with a vast green wave sweeping over the plane to the cathedral.

We took a short drive to Skyline Caverns. And they were beautiful! The picture I’ve enclosed shows the general feel of the place, but there were certain rock features that I couldn’t take my eyes off of! Skyline Caverns is home to an extremely rare formation known as Anthodites, or, ”Orchids of the Mineral Kingdom”, which have only been discovered in 3 other places. They discovered them in a vacuum under the surface, so scientists can’t learn much about them; it’s almost impossible to observe them in their natural habitat (a vacuum).

Caverns are neat because they’re mysterious. How did such a thing come to be? It makes you think about how much of a mastermind God must be. Wow!

We filed into the van and took a hectic and fun trip to the grocery store. We got all the ingredients for the “cattle, crunch, and cob night”; cheese, cilantro, salsa, guacamole, and a whopping 7 pounds of beef!

I took a quick trip down to the Shenandoah with my cousins, and headed back up to sautee the onions and brown the beef.

Everyone began to arrive; it was so fun! We had so many laughs and funny stories.

Dessert was excellent; Klondike bars. You must try a Klondike before you die!

They left around 7:30, and our family hung out and talked until we slowly all retreated to our night. What a great day!
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Crazy caverns