First Family Vacation - Peaks of Otter, VA 2008

We set out on a Tuesday for the Peaks of Otter in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stayed for 2 nights at the Peaks of Otter Lodge overlooking a beautiful lake and woods that sits at the base of the mountains. The first day we hiked to the Natural Bridge (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world). It was majestic! The next day we took a shuttle partway up the Sharp Top Mountain and then hiked the rest of the way. By nightfall, Andrew was upset and moaning...he was running a low temp. We had to get up and leave dinner (which never happens) and in the middle of the night, we had to drive 30 miles into town to get a thermometer/motrin and more Tylonol. He had 102.3 fever by the time we got the thermometer and that was 1 hour after he had already had Tylenol. The fever came down a lot and we drove the next day to the D-Day Memorial where we took a tour with a WWII Vet of the memorial. It was incredible to hear the story through his eyes. We took a picture with him--what an honor to get to spend the afternoon with him. We drove to Lynchburg to stay 2 nights there and to sight see around that area and play in the pool but Andrew was still not himself and none of us slept that night in the hotel so on Friday, we decided to pack it in and head for home to get back to what Andrew is used to and comfortable with so we could ALL rest more comfortably. We got home Friday afternoon--what a GREAT TRIP!!! We had so much fun and Andrew was such a trooper--even with his viral fever. Happy to report it's Saturday night now and Andrew seems back to himself...eating, drinking and taking baths happily. The following pictures are of our trip.