After church on July 29 we headed up to Roanoke, Virginia, for an exciting vacation! We lived in Roanoke before moving down to Georgia 10 years ago. Last year we began our annual family trip of canoeing, hiking, and visiting in Roanoke, and were eagerly looking forward to this year! Luke found a Majesty Music conference about three hours away from Roanoke, so we planned our trip around that (a post on the music conference will come later).
The weather was beautiful for driving, and the sunset on the mountains was amazing to see. God is truly, the greatest artist! On one portion of the highway, we get to the top of a mountain where there is a gorgeous outlook called Fancy Gap. We never get tired of seeing it!
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| Fancy Gap |
Monday we spent our day visiting friends and going to Peaks of Otter- a favorite place of ours to visit. It has a large lake with a background of one of the tallest peaks in VA, called Sharp Top. It was a rather misty day so the peak was hidden by a cloud.
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| Friends |
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| Sharp Top |
Tuesday we headed to the James River to canoe/kayak nine miles. It was another cloudy day calling for rain, but it cleared up towards noon. The river was also very clear, so we could see all the way down to the bottom, which was typically 6 - 8 feet deep! Isaac and Luke were in kayaks and Mom, Morgan, Joseph, Dad, Benjamin, and I (Erin), were in two separate canoes.
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| Isaac |
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| Morgan, Joseph, & Mom |
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| Luke |
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| Dad, Benjamin, & I |
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| The pebbly river bottom is one of the prettiest parts! |
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| A favorite place to stop |
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| The two pictures above were taken at water level! |
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| Some of us love to float/swim a couple of miles on the river! |
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| A small bass Isaac caught |
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| An overloaded canoe! Benjamin & I went in Mom's canoe to catch up with Dad. |
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| A swinging bridge that hangs over the James River in Buchanan, VA. |
On Wednesday we hiked and then headed up to Northern Virginia for the music conference. We were trying to find a trail we had looked up online, but we ended up not being able to find it. We then decided to hike whatever we found on the way, and Sulphur Springs Trail was perfect as a 2.5 mile hike one way.
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| Isaac, Luke, & Benjamin |
The outlooks are amazing along the trail when there is a break in the trees.
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| The summit! Notice the rain falling in the distance. |
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| The view made it a perfect place to take pictures |
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| The continuing rain |
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| About to head back |
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| And yes, we were caught in the rain! |
We were so thankful for the time spent together in God's creation! Majesty Music Conference post coming next!
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither;
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
(Psalms 1:3)
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