Camping in VA

For our family vacation this year we chose to camp for a week in the mountains of Virginia. (Warning, this post is very long and picture heavy!) Specifically, about 10 miles from the Natural Bridge. We drove on Skyline drive through the Shenandoah Mountains:

Our campground was smack dab in the mountains. It was in Jefferson National Forest, about 1 mile off the Appalachian Trail. We had to drive down a long winding road that followed a creek into the campground. And because we went midweek, there was hardly anyone else there. It was quiet, secluded and wonderful.
While there we pretty much had our entire section of camp sites to ourselves. A couple of nights there were some Appalachian Trail backpackers that stayed in our area. It was great to talk to them and hear their different stories. One guy was hiking for just two days, some for a month and three months. A few were doing the entire trail from Georgia to Maine. And one person Mike talked to was doing much more than the trail - he started hiking in January in Key West and was planning on finishing in October in Canada. Wow.

Anyhow, our first day we went to the Natural Bridge:

Also there they had a replica of an indian village, a butterfly walk-through habitat, a toy museum. Nearby was an interesting place with a dinosaur kingdom, in the woods was a whole bunch of dinosaurs attacking civil war soldiers. The boys loved seeing the dinosaurs:
Also there was a giant slug that the kids could crawl through, this was Miles favorite part of the entire week. As he put it, being digested and thrown up by a slug.

And the main reason we went there was for a haunted house. Miles begged us to go, was all he could think about, talk about and ask about. We did know they did no-scare tours with the lights on, so we let him go. In fact all four of us went. Miles was beaming with pride that he went through a real haunted house and didn't get scared.

Day 2 was another busy day of sightseeing. First order of the day, Mike got to see what was on the top of his sightseeing list for our trip. Foamhenge. Yep, you read it right, a complete replica of Stonehenge made out of foam:Our life is now complete, really, what else do you need to see after this?!

Then we proceeded to a wonderful safari type zoo. It was a drive through park where most of the animals roamed around and you could feed and pet them. It was amazing. They had a wagon ride available as well, so we chose to do that for feeding the animals. We did drive through first on our own, and many of the animals were clearly upset that we did not have food for them.

Here is a momma Emu with a bunch of babies:
On the wagon ride, feeding camels:
And elk, close enough to pet and feel their antlers:

Another highlight was the bison (buffalo), which happens to be Miles favorite animal. They eat a lot.

A highlight for me was the lorakeet cage. We got to go in and feed them. The boys chose not to hold the food. So Mike and I got the fun:
Next up for the day was seeing a cavern:
And then it rained. hard. So we went out for dinner.

And this has become very long, so I will continue this post tomorrow...