Weekly Mileage #69 and Another Trip to the Beach

sandy trail through the woods to Fossil Beach

Mr M was still on his business trip this past week, so the kids and I took another road trip.

Wednesday we drove out to a campground near Colonial Beach on the Potomac River/Chesapeake Bay. This was another Thousand Trails campground, and while newer than last week’s campground, it was smaller and more tightly packed in. Though part of that was because there were a lot more sites filled, even during the week. A lot of big fifth wheels, long travel trailers and big Class As. The pool was larger, nicer, and warmer and we had a great time splashing around in it every day. The boys are feeling a lot more comfortable in the water, which is good since they’ve got swim lessons this week.

River loved jumping into the deep end of the pool- over and over

I had to unhitch the car and tow dolly in the registration building parking lot and leave the tow dolly there since they don’t allow vehicles towed through the campground. A bit of a pain, but with how tight everything was, I’m glad I wasn’t messing around with the dolly in front of our campsite. 

We went to this specific campground so we could visit George Washington’s birthplace and do some beach combing, which a fellow homeschooling mom had told me about.

as you come out of the woods, you see the water- such a cool view

We hiked to a secluded beach to look for fossilized shark teeth at Westmoreland State Park (no luck), then played in the water a bit. They’ve created some coves with some rock jetties that were shallow and warm. I’d thought about bringing the kayaks on this trip, but decided not to in the end, which is too bad since this was a great spot for kayaking.

Ocean had fun playing in the gravelly sand

hiking at GWB NM, right next to the Potomac river

We also did some hiking and beachcombing at George Washington Birthplace NM. The hike was nice, but the beachcombing didn't turn up anything interesting. We found much more interesting shells at Assateague NS, which is open to the ocean. George Washington Birthplace NM is on the Potomac/Chesapeake Bay, so it’s much more protected from the elements

we went beachcombing in the evening, hoping for favorable tides, but no such luck. we did catch a beautiful sunset though.

Sunshine and River added a new junior ranger badge to add to their collection (from George Washington Birthplace NM).

We thought about going to Stratford Hall, which is the birthplace of Robert E Lee, and just down the road from where we were. But we decided not to since this trip was supposed to be more relaxing and slow paced than our trip to the Eastern Shore. I wanted to do all the things, but the kiddos wanted to play in the pool :)

We spent a morning driving around the town of Colonial Beach, looking for ice cream for Ocean’s birthday, but were sorely disappointed. I’d expected a touristy beach town like the ones we visited last week, but aside from a very short boardwalk, there really wasn’t much touristy at all. It felt more like a bedroom community than anything else. We had to drive to the next town over to find some ice cream at wallyworld. 

if you look closely you can see the rain and puddles

It rained all morning Saturday as I packed everything up and got ready to go home. Loading the car on the dolly when everything was wet and slippery was a bit nerve wracking, but I managed it without any real problems. I drove home in the rain, much like the first trip the kiddos and I took without Mr M. It took only an hour to unload the car and dolly, park the RV, bring our clothes and food in, unload the kids' bikes, move the car seats to the CRV, and jump start the dead battery on the CRV (one of the boys left the interior lights on while we were gone). We’ve got our system down!

That afternoon I spent some time on the treadmill for my long run, and managed to run three miles without stopping. I haven’t done that in forever, and it felt surprisingly good. And after dinner we picked Mr M up from the airport. It’s so nice to have him home again!

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 3.18 miles walked on the treadmill
Tuesday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Wednesday- 1.25 mile walk outside around GW Birthplace NM
Thursday- 1.89 mile hike to and from Fossil Beach
                   1.79 mile hike at GW Birthplace NM
Saturday- 5.00 miles walked and run on the treadmill
    total- 23.11miles

14 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
2.14 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

143.22 foot miles towards #365milechallenge
205.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
350.36 miles total