The kids are finally in school full time this year! Well almost…. Owen is in a 5 day pre K program that runs from 8:30 – 1 PM each day. Anthony is in first grade and in school full time for the first time ever! Covid and half day kindergarden made last year a ton of fun. So I thought we all deserved a vacation away this year, after a year (or was it 2?) of chaos and trying to just keep our heads afloat.
This year our neighbors invited us to join them and another family at a lake house in NC, just outside of VA. I liked this idea because it’s only a 5.5 hour drive from Philadelphia and the kids always have so much fun being near water.
The House
My neighbor choose a house on VRBO, which she uses a lot, so I was happy to let her run with the research and booking process. And she did a fantastic job because the house was amazing and the host did a fantastic job making sure that we had everything we needed from toiletries, to kitchen supplies to lake toys! You can find the listing HERE.
The house also included use of a pontoon boat at and additional charge, which was worth every penny. I highly recommend having a boat on this lake because it really changes the experience. Since there isn’t a ton to do in the surrounding area, we took the boat out daily for lunch, fishing and excursions to the various islands on the lake.
Where We Ate
We mostly cooked at the house, which also included an outdoor pizza oven. Unfortunately we just bought way too much food that we never ended up using the pizza oven. Maybe next time! The last day was gorgeous temperature wise, so we took the boat to the marina and ate at The Pointe. The food was good and the drinks were even better! I had the Blue Lagoon and a salad and will say that the ride home was SUPER relaxing. 🙂 The drinks weren’t too sugary, which usually turns me off from finishing a drink, but these were GOOD!
Hiking
ROANOKE RAPIDS
Since there wasn’t much of an established town near us, we ended up venturing out a few days and going hiking. The first trail was in Roanoke Rapids and while it was nice because we needed to get the kids out, the views were slightly disappointing. We started next to a power plant (near a dam) and followed power lines most of the way. The kids didn’t care though and loves chasing each other through the woods!
BUCKS SPRING CREEK
The second trail, called Bucks Spring Creek, was really serene and a perfect distance for the kids. It also had a playground which the kids loved! I think we did about 2.5 miles and ended up back near Lake Gaston midway through the hike, which was a nice break. I also really enjoyed that the trail was labeled so there was interesting information about the trees and species along the way.
What I Read
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I love to read!! I finished 2 books on this trip and both were page turners that I couldn’t put down! If I had to pick a favorite, it would be The Lost Apothecary. The author did such a fantastic job merging 2 stories between 2 very different time periods.
Island Hopping
The last day of our stay was the best weather day so we decided to go head to Goose Island after lunch. So I don’t know if that’s what it’s really called but there were a ton of geese nests when we arrived so that’s what we decided to call it. There is also a Goat Island, which we didn’t make it to, but it’s a boat destination as well.
The kids spend the entire time building sand castles while the adults drank, fished and just hung out. It was by far my favorite day as there is nothing better than a day out on the lake where the kids aren’t bothering the adults and we could just sit back and relax!
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