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My Week in Paradise - August 2003
We have a great tradition of reading, playing games, tubing in the river, napping, and making up for any healthy eating we may have done the rest of the year.
My 15 year old, Thomas, makes sure all waking moments are occupied in swimming, meals, or games. He does like to read, too - so we do get an occasional break from the family activities.
We bring along a couple of bicycles, and make at least one ride up to Woodstock Tower. (2,000 feet in elevation, about 2.5 miles from the cabin). This time, two of us rode bikes, two jogged, and two walked with the dog. The good news is that I rode one of the bikes, and beat my 17 year old son and cartoonist, Nick, on the other bike. The bad news is that 22 year old daughter Kelly beat us both on foot. It takes about 45 minutes by bike to get up the mountain, and then 15 minutes to come back down. Kelly ran up in under 35 minutes.
I played several games of chess with 20 year old son, Russ. My memory is that we roughly split them, that is the luxury of not keeping accurate records.
The nice thing about the cabin is that it is only 5 miles from a major grocery store, and lots of antique shops and a winery not too much further away. Wife Laurie and daughter Kelly went out shopping a couple of times, leaving the rest of us to do some serious male bonding. It was too early in the season to watch football on TV, so we spent the time napping and tubing.
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The Shenandoah River out back | |
| A view of the cabin from the river |  |
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Nick about to swing off the rope into the river | |
| Another view of the dock |  |
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Obligatory family portrait from last year | |
| Nick, Thomas, Russ, Laurie, and Kelly from this year |  |
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The road leading up to Woodstock tower | |
| We had to stop a couple of times to let Nick rest |  |
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One of many hairpin curves | |
| Woodstock Tower |  |
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The view from Woodstock Tower. You can barely make out a couple of the "7 bends of the Shenandoah River." | |
| Looking down the steps |  |
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Wife Laurie enjoying the view | |
| We didn't mind the occasional rain shower. It was still paradise.. |  |
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