We had done so much in so little time! It was amazing to think that our vacation was already half way over! We had a wonderful week in Chippokes Plantation and exploring southern Virginia. We were thankful that God had blessed my husband with a job that provides ample time off! Having 2 weeks of uninterrupted time to spend together is a precious gift that we are very blessed by.
Since it was our last day in Chippokes, we made it a rest day again. This gave us time to pack up and have a relaxing day further exploring Chippokes.
We started our day by hiking the nature trails in the park. We wanted to do that early in the day, before it got too hot to be enjoyable.
We had tons of fun walking the trail. Everything is so different in Virginia compared to upstate New York. There were so many new trees, birds and animals to see! The trail was pretty empty too, so as long as we walked quietly, we saw tons of wildlife!!
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| Strangest root system we've ever seen - a Cyprus "Knee" |
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| Tiny crabs under the bridge |
The trail at one point opens up so you can walk along the James River
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| Wading in the James River |
We stopped at the Overseers House for a look around, but it was unfortunately closed to tours when we stopped by.
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| Chippokes Plantation Plaque |
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| Overseers House |
We continued along until we made it to the gift shop and the farming museum. The gift shop was very cute, offering many old fashioned games and candy. We picked up some penny candy for the kids and headed off to check out the farming museum. The farming museum was interesting since we had recently learned about Cyrus McCormick, and many of the farming equipment we had learned about was there.
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| Nathaniel on a McCormick tractor |
Ken walked back to the cabin to get our van when we realized how far we'd come, and that more than likely the kids wouldn't make it back to the cabin if we kept walking forward. So while Ken went for the van, the kids and I continued on our way down the trail and eventually found some wildlife that Virginia and New York do have in common: Turtles!
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| Examining a turtle |
We eventually made it over to the Chippokes Mansion where we met up with Ken and our van. Ken took a tour of the mansion while I took a tour of the gift shop with the children! This gift shop was different than the other gift shop. The other gift shop had old fashioned games and candy, like an old fashioned general store that you might find in Little House on the Prairie. This gift store was filled with all sorts of dollar gifts that the kids could buy like slinkies, bubbles and paddle ball, and TONS of BEAUTIFUL knick knacks for Mamas to buy! The man who gave the tours of the mansions, and the woman who ran the gift shop were husband and wife, and a wonderfully friendly couple. She treated my children to some bubbles and we chatted while the children had fun blowing bubbles. Before long we felt the drip, drip, drops of little May showers, so we headed inside, where she showed us the car that Chippokes was restoring.
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| Cute little Felix in the car Chippokes is restoring |
Ken and her husband soon showed up and we chatted for a bit until they got a call to let them know a major storm was headed our way. So we all said our thank you's and goodbyes and headed home!!
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| View of the storm rolling in from the kitchen window. |
While we had fun watching the crazy thunder and lightning, the kids were disappointed that the rainstorm ruined our plans of swimming in the James River.
We reminded them that we were headed to Lake Anna, and then to a Baltimore hotel with a pool, so while swimming in the James River was out, swimming would still be happening this vacation!
We spent the evening watching the storm, watching some more Wild America, and packing up the house. Tomorrow morning we would be on our way to Lake Anna!
Up next: Skyline Drive, Lurray Caverns, the Lurray Singing Tower, and a Garden Maze
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