Airplanes, Virgin Mojitos, & Obsessive Game Playing

Wow, it's already Thursday!  This week is flying by and I have no complaints about that.  Just wanted to pop in to share some pictures from our visit to Lee & Jess's (bro & sis-in-law) in Maryland last weekend.  We made it a three day weekend and had a blast!

On Friday, while Lee & Jess were working, Brett and I visited the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum.  This museum is out in Virginia near the Washington, DC airport.  This one is muuuch bigger than the Air and Space Museum in downtown DC and super cool!  It has an observatory tower that you can go up and watch planes coming into the airport next door.  It also is home to the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is gigantic and awesome!  We had a great time exploring this museum!

(25 weeks!  Starting to feel huge... haha)

After spending some time at the museum, we stopped at Lost Rhino Brewing Company for some beverages.  While I wish I could have been drinking beer, their house made root beer was pretty delicious!  We also ate some tasty nachos before heading back to Lee & Jess's for a fun game night!

On Saturday, the four of us made our way down to downtown DC for some exploring!  We checked out one museum, including a cool installment all about the American flag, and wandered around the National Mall a bit.  It was pretty chilly but at least the sun was shining!

And then we headed over to Chinatown for a deliiiicious Thai lunch,
including mojitos (virgin for me...)!

Saturday night consisted of more games!  We kind of became obsessed with a few games throughout the course of the weekend: Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Mario Party on Wii.  We are nerds, but had so much fun! Haha

And on Sunday, we said our goodbyes and made our way home.
Thanks for having us, Lee and Jess!
(Can't wait to see you guys at Thanksgiving!)

What a great little mini getaway!*

Scenes from the Weekend

Camping at Deep Creek Lake!

Relaxing on the beach (before the rain started!)

Lakeside drinks, snacks, and live music at the Boardwalk!

Mountain State Brewing Co. for dinner

Photo bomb by the husband :)

Rainy night = arcade playing!  This is becoming a "thing" and I don't hate it :)

Look at all the awesome prizes we won! ;)

Sunday afternoon hike at Coopers Rock while Brett mountain biked

Relaxing at Cheat Lake before dinner at Pies and Pints and heading hooome

I heart summer weekends!*

Blackwater Falls

Just a few more photos from our trip to Blackwater Falls...

I took so many pictures, I couldn't help sharing a few more!

Ah, how I'd rather be out in that gorgeous weather instead of stuck inside this office all day...

PS -- A separate post on our Dolly Sods hike is on its way, too :)

Scenes from the Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend Edition!

On Friday after work, Brett and I hit the road to head down to West Virginia for a nice 3 day weekend of camping, hiking, and enjoying the great outdoors.  And it was perfect!

Friday:

We arrived right as the sun was setting - perfect timing!

We lucked out in getting one of the last campsites right down the road from Blackwater Falls.

Once our little home for the weekend was all set up, we headed into town for some burritos,

then returned to our campsite for some s'mores and relaxing by the fire! 

Saturday:

Stepped out of our tent in the morning to be greeted by glorious weather

Brett picked me a pretty flower on our way out of the campground :)

After Brett did a little mountain biking in the morning,

we headed into Blackwater Falls State Park to check out some awesome views

 The Blackwater River from high above

Headed into a nearby town for dinner at the Purple Fiddle

Glorious weather for beers and food (the cute pig was our "table number") on their patio

We saw an accurate depiction of our future family via some bear statues...

Me with ice cream, Brett with beer, and 2 little kiddies - perfect! ;)

And of course we had to hit up the local brewery: Mountain State Brewing Co

where we danced the night away to a live band - fun times!

Sunday:

We did a huge hike at Dolly Sods and it was so awesome!

We had the most glorious weather all weekend long - perfect hiking weather!

This area was so cool and different than most terrain on the east coast

After our hike, we had dinner at a local pizza place in town that had cool signs all over the walls

And made it back to our campsite just as the sun was setting over the hills

And then it was time for more s'mores! :)

Monday:

I did some light reading/note taking while Brett went on a short mountain biking ride in the morning

Then we packed up our campsite and hit the road to head home, 

but not without a visit to Deep Creek Lake along the way...

We stopped for lunch at another location of Mountain State Brewing Co

and had great views while we dined on patio

We headed down to the lake and stumbled upon an awesome bar with really cheap drinks!

...Where we proceed to spend the next 4 hours just relaxing, drinking, and taking in the lake views

And then eventually we had to head home...

What a perfect little getaway!

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend our nice long 3 day weekend!*

The One Where I Fall in Love with a Sunflower Field

Something amazing happened last Friday.

Brett and I were driving through Maryland, on our way to Blackwater Falls for a camping trip with Lee & Jess.  Brett was driving and I was in the passenger seat.  I was mindlessly staring out the window at the scenery passing by as we drove down route 219, heading towards the state park.  Next thing I knew, I caught a glimpse of one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

A sunflower field.

I'm not kidding when I say I literally started geeking out.  I looked over to Brett wide-eyed and before I even knew it, he was turning the car around and pulling into a little pebble lane that ran along side of the sunflowers.  We drove down this little lane and I was completely in awe at how gigantic this sunflower field was.  About half way down, we parked the car, jumped out, and I literally raced over to the sunflowers.  I had the biggest, geekiest smile on my face for the entire time we were there.  We had to have taken over 100 photos.  The sun was starting to set, providing the most perfect lighting for this moment.  I'm pretty sure the exact words "this is God's anniversary gift to us!" came out of my mouth on more than one occasion.

It may seem trivial to you, but I have been dreaming of coming across a sunflower field for years.  I've even gone as far as googling locations of potential sunflower fields nearby, but never came up with any results.  Taking a photo in front of a sunflower field has been on my "life list" for a long time.  And last Friday, I finally got to cross that goal off my list.

It was seriously one of the best days ever!*