A Week of Camping

We just returned from a week of camping at Natural Bridge, VA. This was a very pretty area in the VA mountains, near Lexington and Buena Vista, about 25 miles from Lynchburg.



We pulled into the KOA on Sunday afternoon, set up our pop-up trailer, and spent the next 5 days lounging around, playing games, reading, going swimming, eating S'mores, and shooing away the squirrels who wanted to share our camp food. Eric didn't come with us this time, staying home to work. But Sarah's friend Amy came with us, so the girls had the advantage this week.



One popular addition to our campsite this year was "the hammock"! Apparently this is the big thing out on the college campus in Boone, so we brought Eric's, and Amy (another ASU student) brought hers too.


Playing games is part of our camping tradition, so the week was full of ping pong & pool ( at the campground game room ),Yahtzee, Uno, Scattergories, Catch Phrase, frisbee and wiffle ball.


Free WiFi at the campground kept us connected... maybe too much...


The weather was perfect for camping- 70's during the day, 50's at night. It was raining when we arrived on Sunday, but clear the rest of the week. The campground was pretty quiet during the week, but starting filling up toward the weekend. It was a well-run campground - friendly staff, clean, well-maintained, with a nice variety of activities - ping pong, pool tables, a few arcade games, swimming pool, giant checkers, basketball court, grassy field, playground, pavillion where they showed movies on the weekend. If you are looking for a campground in the Lexington,VA area, I would recommend the Natural Bridge KOA.

Interestingly, we never did go to see the Natural Bridge... the scenic and historic landmark for which the town / campground is named. We intended to, but when we drove there and found that the admission price was fairly steep ( $18 for adults, $10 for kids - and five of us were adults ) and included things like admission to the Haunted Monster Mansion, Dino Kingdom, Wax Museum & Wax Factory, and Monocan Indian Village..... well, it seemed like more of a "tourist trap" than a natural wonder. So we opted to spend our limited vacation bucks elsewhere, and drove an hour to Charlottesville to visit Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation. This cost a little bit more ( $20 for adults, $8 for kids ) but I thought it was well worth it! ( I'll put pictures in a separate post )

Our short drive over to the Natural Bridge parking lot wasn't without benefit, as we got to see this treat along the way ->



We went on a few scenic drives, and a walk along the Maury River in Buena Vista - which wasn't as magnificent as the brochure description made it sound.



It was a fun, relaxing week of family bonding and memory making.