Matt and I are back in town after a wonderful weekend away to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary!
For Christmas last year, Matt’s parents gifted us a 2 night stay at a bed and breakfast near our favorite spot, Shenandoah National Park, and included an offer to babysit Riese while we were there as well. So nice of them! We decided back in winter that our anniversary weekend would be the perfect time to use the gift certificate.
Matt’s parents arrived on Friday late afternoon, and we all hung out, had an early dinner together, and got Riese to bed before we left so we could show them the current routine and get everyone comfortable. We arrived at our bed and breakfast, Once Upon a Mountain, near Luray, VA, late and went right to bed. Saturday morning, we awoke to a beautiful mountain view!
We stayed at this bed and breakfast once before, for Valentine’s Day weekend in 2016. It’s really cozy and is tucked wayyyyy up a windy gravel road at the top of the mountain. There are just 3 rooms, and you have breakfast with the others in the morning so I didn’t get any breakfast pictures, but we had an egg casserole and croissants on Saturday and an apple bake with sausage on Sunday. Both were delish!
After breakfast on Saturday, Matt and I hit the hot tub! It’s right outside one of the other rooms, but it’s for everyone, and it has lovely views of the mountains. I wish all days started like this! 🙂
We took our time and headed out for the adventure of the day just before lunchtime, so we stopped in town for a bite before heading to the National Park for hiking. There’s a new cafe in Luray that wasn’t there last time called West Main Market; our B&B host said it had really good sandwiches. She was right! I had a turkey, cheese, avocado, and mango salsa sandwich plus a cup of their sweet and sour soup, which was a yummy veggie-packed vinegar-y soup. It tasted like pickled veggies – kind of spicy and tart. Really good! Plus some Honest Tea. 🙂
After we fueled up, it was time to hike! Last time we were in Shenandoah National Park was for our babymoon weekend back in September 2017 when I was 7 months pregnant. It was fun to be back! Hiking felt a little easier this time. 😉
We decided to do a hike called Rose River Loop – it was about 4 or so miles roundtrip and included lots of stream and waterfall views. Since it was pretty cloudy we figured a wooded hike made more sense than a scenic one! It was chilly when we started – we were glad we threw in jackets last minute! I don’t even remember how to dress for cold weather it has been so long!
After hiking for a bit on a fire road, we started getting some nice stream views. So peaceful! There were others on the trail (October is always more crowded in the park), but it didn’t feel crowded at all – we passed people occasionally but weren’t on top of them.
Hiking in cold weather felt sooooo amazing.
The last part of the hike was in the woods away from the stream, and the sun came out!
By the time we finished our hike it was officially a gorgeous day. Check out this view from the overlook off Skyline Drive where we parked!
Since the weather was so lovely, rather than heading right back to our B&B we decided to stop by a winery that we went to last time we were in this area – Wisteria Farm and Vineyard. This place is so cute!
We did a quick wine tasting and then bought a bottle of our fave – the Carmine – to enjoy along with some cheese, crackers, and sausage.
After we were done eating, we took our wine and strolled around the property, checking out the animals. They also have a pretty walk you can do down through the vineyards and to a creek!
A crisp but sunny day + wine + beautiful views + Matt = basically the best afternoon ever.
The winery closed at 6, so we corked the rest of our wine and headed out. We weren’t hungry at all thanks to mass quantities of cheese, crackers, and sausage, so instead we decided spur of the moment to go to a haunted house! We saw a flyer for Darkwood Manor Haunted House while we were eating lunch, and after some research discovered it’s the top-rated haunted house in all of Virginia! You guys know Matt and I love haunted houses/haunted forests (we usually go to Markoff’s Haunted Forest in MD near DC), so we figured it would be fun to check this one out! No photos were allowed in the haunted house, but I got this one while waiting in line beforehand. 😉 It was so a great haunted house – really well done! If you’re ever in the area, check it out. 🙂
The rest of the night was spent relaxing! On Sunday, we had breakfast at the b&b and then hit the road so we had time for one last hike on our way back to DC. We grabbed sandwiches from West Main Market again to eat on the road – I had half around 11 on our drive to the park, and half after our hike on our drive back to DC. This time I got the club with chicken, cheese, bacon, tomato, mayo, and spinach and it was LEGIT. Massive, too – a double decker!
For our hike, we drove to the northernmost point of Shenandoah National Park and entered up there (rather than entering in the middle near Luray and driving all of Skyline Drive, which takes forever). We parked at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center and did a hike from there called the Snead Farm Loop. It was almost 4 miles and more flat than the hike the day before, so by walking quickly and not dawdling we were able to do it in 1.5 hours. It felt nice to get some fresh air, even though it was cloudier and a bit wet (it was rainy in the morning, but had stopped by the time we made it in the park).
There was a small scenic overlook near the top of the trail which was a nice treat – we weren’t expecting it!
We were back in DC and reunited with our little one by around 3! We missed her. <3
What a nice treat this weekend was – a huge thank you again to Matt’s parents for the B&B stay gift and for babysitting while we were away! It sounds like Riese had a great weekend, too. 🙂
Have a great day guys!
