Colonial Beach, Virginia

Harborview Campground

This campground was one of the best Thousand Trails we have stayed in on our journey. It has lots of trees and plenty of space between sites. They offered mini golf, a children’s playground, and a good-sized pool. Mitch was able to get in a few laps during this stay. The campground was well maintained and super clean.

Kayaking on the nearby Mattox Creek was relaxing. We saw several small wooden huts in the water and surmised it was most likely where boats pulled up and patiently waited for the ducks to fly across their line of sight. Easily camouflaged by the wood, ducks would never see the gun pointed at them as they flew by. (Poor ducks) We concluded it must not be duck season as each hut was vacant.

We took a two-hour drive to experience Shenandoah National Park. While there, we decided to go for a hike. Mary’s Rock was a hike off of the Appalachian Trail. This hike was a rough one for me. It continued to climb upward with no reprieve with flat areas or downward dips. It seemed it would go on forever. Up and up we went. At last, we made it to the crest overlooking the valley. It was beautiful, and not a soul was around. We enjoyed the serenity until some other hikers made it up and interrupted the quietness. As we descended, we passed a frail older woman with a hiking pole. Behind her was her grandson. We let them know they were almost there. Two thoughts then came into my head. The first was admiration for her tackling this hike, and I told Mitch, “I want to be like her when I get to that age.”  The second thought was embarrassment. I was complaining about how steep this climb was, and this woman, maybe twenty years my senior, was making her way to the top. One enormous advantage of an all-uphill climb – it’s downhill until you reach the bottom. Yea!

Fredericksburg was a quaint town with lots of shops and restaurants. Lots of history of civil war battles for those interested in checking out sites where soldiers fought throughout Fredericksburg. Cannons are seen spotted on some of the roads we traveled. We enjoyed our time here even though we aren’t much of a civil war history buff.

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