Great weekend in West Virginia

On Friday we loaded up the car and motored down to Beckley in West Virginia. It's a 4-hr drive and normally very scenic but by the time we'd stopped for tea and some essentials (i.e. breakfast food & beer) it was dark when we got to the New River Scenic rafting place. Putting up our mammoth tent in the dark is not fun, especially when you're wrestling a baby boy already two hours late for bedtime. Anyway, we got settled and had a couple of beers with Matt & Gina and Craig's friend Tomaz then we hit the hay.

Early Saturday morning, everyone's had coffee and bacon butties and ready to run the UPPER GAULEY. I love this picture. The helmets make them look very special indeed.

The Gauley River is number 2 for white water in the USA, behind the Colorado river. It has class 3 to 5 rapids and it's only open for a few weeks in the fall when they release the Summersville Dam. I didn't join my brave husband and friends for 2 very good reasons: I was taking care of Jack, and I'm too scared! I ran the New River with our friends from England 7 years ago and that was fantastic but one time is more than enough for me.

Craig gives pyjama boy a cuddle before getting on the old school bus.

So, just what DID I do for my solo 8 hours? My plan was to leave Cody in the tent with his food/water and to take Jack into Beckley for the childrens festival. Arrr, I hadn't planned on 95 degree heat & 90% humidity. Couldn't leave Cody. So plan B was to put hot baby (see above) and panting dog in the car and drive with the AC set as high as possible. We went on a meandering trip to the New River Gorge Bridge and walked for a bit and then I went on a new trail one of the rafting guides had told me about that took me down to the river bed, where I took this picture of the amazing bridge. This is where they host Bridge Day each October.

The rest of my day was spent at the campsite feeding and watering Jack & Cody or in the car with them driving around scenic West Virgina to places like Gauley Bridge and Fayetteville - it is just GORGEOUS. One place I drove by that I really wanted to go in was The Mystery Hole but it said I had to leave my pet in the car. That's the kind of place though that I need Craig with me, to enjoy the moment!

Craig & gang got back about 5pm, exhausted and sunburnt. They didn't get flipped out of the boat once and were actually a bit disappointed about that. They now want "more". Their guide was telling them about crazy rapids on the Zambezi in Africa, jokingly I hope, but no doubt Craig will be "YouTubing" it now on his computer. By the way, it seems like "Google it" has become a verb and now maybe "YouTube" will too.

Tonight we are home, tired out (Jack's been up since 6am) and got a house full of dusty grass-covered camping gear but we had a GREAT weekend. I'm so pleased we are taking Jack camping as I want him to love the outdoors.

On a side-note, it was also a good score for the Buckeyes beating Akron 20-2 yesterday, even if they did apparantly have a mediocre performance. Michigan lost again. BIG TIME. I know I should be supporting the Big 10 and not sniggering at their loss but I am. Sorry. Can't help it.