The week of the 4th, after Audrey's show outside of Pittsburgh I headed over to West Virginia for a week to visit with a bunch of my cousins. They were staying at Stonewall Jackson Resort in cabins. The dogs and I stayed at a Corp of Engineer campground a few miles down the road. I got to kayak a few times, the dogs got to take long walks around the campground and then I would head over to visit with the family for a few hours while the dogs held down the rig by themselves.
"Look, I like kayaking now, as long as I don't have to get wet," say Remi.
West Virginia isn't all mountains. The lake in long and not to wide. It makes for nice paddling.
Quiet coves. Good for fishing.
Several areas along the shore have barriers to protect them from...? Maybe the wakes of the boats or high water during spring rains?
You know there are fish here.
"I know you brought me some water to drink but I could use a tree break," explains my passenger.
So we head back towards the campground for today.
Bulltown Campground gets its name from a Civil War battle on the ground next door to us.
A small church near the grounds. Love those longs.
These were where the lower trenches were. The camp was near property that was being farmed so it may have actually been a pasture of cornfield.
Up the trail to the top of the hill you can see what remains of the trenches that ring the hill.
The top of the hill provided space for the buildings for the troops and the horses, etc.
This is the farm house that suddenly had soldiers come in 1861 and tell them that they are taking over the hill next door to protect the toll road. Confederates over run the hill twice but the Union always won it back and was able to keep the supply road open until the end of the war. You read about the big battlefields but Bulltown reminded me that the Civil War had many small outposts that were each important in their own way. In this case they had to keep the supply routes open. If they hadn't been successful who knows what would have happened in other areas of Virginia.
Can you hear the horses coming up to the house?
Another day another chance to paddle. The campground was full of families enjoying their holiday. Lots of boat, bikes and kayaks...also large inflatable swimming docks. I so could have played with one of those in my childhood. But then my childhood was before the world of plastic explored. (Reminds me of the movie, The Graduate.)
Today we head up the other direction and hope that the cloud cover stays to help keep us cool but not drop rain on us.
And then we get to see why momma is watching us so closely. Notice the little head directly to her left?
Really, it isn't even that warm today? Someone must have stayed up to late last night.
Like found poetry, logs wait to be discovered.
Some wait longer than others.
Another thirsty visitor to the shore. When I was cropping the pictures I could see what looks like ticks all over the deer. Made my skin itch just to see them.
Not everyone likes wind chimes anyway, but nobody needs to run out and make me one of these. This might be a West Virginia wind chime.
Here we are on our corner lot. I was amazed that with all the children and large families camping throughout the campground it was never noisy in the evening. The dogs and I just needed to dodge bikes and trucks as we took some of our walks.....
And, hey, I finally took time to wash the Baja saltwater scum from the sides of the kayak. I also left a little Mexican sand in West Virginia.
And there were the afternoons with the cousins.....
