I may be an Eastern Kentucky girl who loves living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but Southwest Virginia will always have a big piece of my heart. Those mountains call to me, and I don't get to answer in the affirmative nearly often enough. When an opportunity to travel to SWVA this past month came up, I was thrilled! Alex was honored to win an award presented by his college, and we were invited to come to town so that he could accept in person!
I like to keep it real around here, so I have to tell you that I really wanted to go a little farther Southwest to my own alma mater, but weather delayed our flights for more than 24 hours and totally nixed that plan, which was a real shame. Nevertheless, we were very relieved to finally arrive at our cabin by the river (where all four of Afton's grandparents had already been hanging out for a whole day and night without us!). It was a beautiful place to explore!
It was the perfect setting for relaxed family fun! As relaxed as you can be with a toddler around, anyway. ;)
I already told you about the reversible dress and coordinating bag made by grandma Miller, but here's the other side--even more colorful! Afton was happy to get dressed up for a family evening out.
We headed to Mountain Lake, where none of us except Alex had been before. It was so fun to see the place where Dirty Dancing was filmed!
We ate a nice dinner at the Harvest restaurant. Don't worry, we didn't put Baby in a corner. (Sorry, had to. ;))
We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful drive back to the cabin and even stopped at a scenic overlook.
The next day, Afton, my parents, and I went for a pleasant stroll along the Huckleberry Trail. It was so pretty!
After that, we checked into The Inn at Virginia Tech and got ready for the main event!
Alex's parents and I got to be there to see Alex accept his Outstanding Recent Alumnus award from The College of Natural Resources and Environment. So proud of my favorite Hokie!
It really was a wonderful trip, full of sweet family memories. And I miss Southwest Virginia again already.