Pandemic Week 75: A Rainy Week at Lake Anna

 The August tour continued with a quick trip to Lake Anna, Virginia.  The lake is about 1 1/2 hours away from home and a frequent getaway for many Northern Virginia locals.  The Fagella family only visited once for a quick trip to a neighbor's lake house, so it has been a while.  In trying to find pandemic friendly vacations, this seemed like a good option.  Storm got to join the family trip as well.  As always, he is the most excited to go anywhere and was ready to hop in the car as soon as we started packing.

The hot humid weather and constant parade of thunderstorms that we left behind at home continued at Lake Anna, making outdoor activities challenging.  Fortunately Lake Anna is in a great location for other things to do and we spent the first day on a visit to James Madison's home, Montpelier.  We made another trip to Lake Anna State Park.  In order to really enjoy the lake, you need a boat which is something we did not arrange in advance.  Theresa brought the paddleboard, which would have worked well if we had brought the air pump along to actually inflate it. Joe and Anna decided to take it to a watersports place to get it inflated so we could use it for one day.  Theresa & Anna also tried out the inflatable kayaks at the rental house.  This involved dragging the board down a hill (the house was on top of the hill) to get it into the lake.  They quickly concluded that regular kayaks are much easier to maneuver than inflatable ones both in and out of the water.  Further, a two-person inflatable kayak is an even bigger challenge (it is amazing that neither Theresa nor Anna suffered a concussion while trying to coordinate their paddling efforts).  After finishing a brief kayaking ride, they proceeded to drag the kayak back up the hill.  That was the end of kayaking.  Joe smartly decided to go fishing at another location rather than get involved in the kayaking efforts.

In between dodging the rain and trying to figure out what else to do, everyone retreated to their corners to do what they do at home.  By Thursday it was apparent that everyone had spent enough time together and it was time to go home.  Other highlights from the week:
James Madison's Montpelier

  • Anna got a dramatic new haircut before the trip.
  • We returned Thursday in time for open house at the high school.  Anna got her schedule for the year and was able to check out her class locations.  She is very excited to have a number of her friends in class.  
  • Anna & Theresa enjoyed some back to school shopping on Friday.
  • Enjoyed a stroll through Meadowlark Botanical gardens on Sunday

Summer is over (not calendar summer but kid summer) as Monday is the first day of school.  Anna is ready to mask up for Monday and head back.  Fingers crossed there are no outbreaks and the students can stay in school!

Korean bell tower at Meadowlark Gardents
Paddle boarding on Lake Anna


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