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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

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Creatures of the forest…physically and breathtaking-ly speaking, today was the best!

Unlike yesterday, I woke up in a perfectly cool, affable state.

The whole fam hung out at the oak table eating a scrumptious breakfast of eggs, sausage, smoothie, and corn mix from last night. Then we swept up all our things and rushed out the door…to head to…

Shenandoah National Park!

Nora, my cousin, is in the 4th grade. All 4th graders can get into National Parks for free…so the whole car got in without a fee!

Our first stop, about 10 miles into the park, was Fort Windham; an easy 0.8 mile round trip hike. But the deeply split, massive boulders created by ancient lava were magnificent. We scaled, jumped, and explored around them for probably 40 minutes! I even hoisted myself 20 feet up between a crack! It was so much fun!

As we drove through the park, there were numerous spots where we could look out at the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Our next stop took us along 1 mile of gradual slope to a pleasant waterfall! The location where we arrived was the very top of the falls, but Nora and I managed to slide down lower and get a straight on look at it. This waterfall in particular was very picturesque because it had little green moss and other leafy foliage growing calmly around it.

We headed back, took a few minutes at the house, and picked up my sister to drive to…

Melting Pot Pizza! What felt like a dine-in restaurant from the 1980s, Melting Pot Pizza is located in the outskirts of Front Royal Virginia. I got sausage pizza with their iconic pizzazz sauce. Twas’ a spectacular dinner!

We headed to a lookout in the park to watch the sun set. Once we—hang on—GUYS THERE’S A BEAR! That’s right. We saw a black bear about 20 feet away from the road! It crossed the street as we were watching it. HOW. COOL. Oh my gosh wow.

We watched the sun set over the blue, hazy mountains. It was gorgeous.

My sister once told me that admiring beauty is like admiring God, because…well…He made all of it! This was how I felt sitting on the mossy stone wall, looking out at the vibrant orange, blue, and pink going down over the hazy blue mountains. Think about how vast the world must be; the solar system; the universe. How vast must God be? Wow.
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We literally saw a BEAR!Two things in this image: goofy and beauty

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Creatures of the forest…welcome to the final day here in Virginia! I can’t believe it’s almost over.

I woke up this morning to some quiet stirring downstairs…
Simon: *Whispering* Nash and Nora?
Nora: *Whispering* Yahh?
Simon: You can come upstairs…
Nash: Okayy!!

They came up to the cove and hung out quietly while I sent day 4 of this series!

Once everyone woke up and got ready, we hopped in the minivan and went to Cordial Coffee in Berryville for breakfast! I got a waffle with whipped cream and orange zest; it was scrumptious.

Now filled to the brim with…well…sugar, we kept driving to Harpers Ferry; a highly historic town known for its strategic placement along the river. It was a part of the Civil War; the site of abolitionist John Brown's 1859 raid on a federal armory.

We visited all the museums, films, and sites that we could. It was action-packed! We took a picture at “The Point”, the place where Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland meet. We also met a man with an enormous telescope-like camera; he pointed out two bald eagles in the distance, then showed us some of the photos he had taken on his phone. He was awesome!

We visited a shoe-making house and saw materials like cotton rope, leather, and paper from Industrial Revolution factories.

I also purchased the Journals of Lewis & Clark at the bookstore. Nash and I decided that once I finish reading it, I’ll send it to him to read, then we’ll talk about it.

Everyone’s stomach was grumbling on the way home, so we stopped at Homespun burgers and shakes for grass-fed burgers! I got a burger with truffle fries, and lemon sorbet. Yummm!

It was about 7 by the time we got home, so we invited Clare over to talk and say goodbye to the cousins. It was a great time; we hung out and laughed a lot!
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