Feb
21
my first quake
Filed under California, vacation at 8:56 pm | 3 Comments
Thank you for all the notes of concern. I want to assure you we are fine. We survived my first earthquake here in CA.
OK, no one really checked in to see how we were doing, and I doubt it made the news anywhere but here. (It was only a 5.0, and barely warranted a few paragraphs on the back page of the paper.)
My major disappointment is that I didn’t notice the earthquake. Rachel and I were enjoying Micah’s nap time by catching up on some TV, and didn’t even notice. Rachel’s parents had to mention they heard the quake. Alas …
May
13
Last weekend we spent 3 days/2 nights at the beautiful Massanutten Resort
. It’s a huge resort (8,000 rooms) in the Shenandoah Valley. We really enjoyed our time there, and would love to go back.
To get the “free” stay we had to make a $75 deposit, and sit through a time share sales pitch. We knew this going in, and we escaped without purchasing anything. It wasn’t too bad, though they certainly had the process perfected. A dedicated sales person was assigned to tell us about the resort, give us a tour of the place, and give us the sales 
pitch. Once we said “no,” she got her manager to cut the prices in half. (I’m sure they don’t do that for just anyone.) After saying “no” to that, they shuffled us through a few other people that each verified some info, at which point we got our $75 deposit back as well as a $100 Visa card. Well worth it.
We stayed in one of the hotels on the resort (they also have condos for all the time share holders). It was a very nice hotel, with impressive staff and a lovely view of the mountains and the valley. The goal of the resort is to keep you on the resort, so they had plenty to do (horse riding, tubing, canoing, golfing, water park, pools, arcades). We went to one of the indoor pools, 
where Micah had his first swimming experience. He seemed to enjoy it.
It was nice seeing that portion of Virginia, and it was beautiful driving through the mountains. (We even crossed the Apalachian Trial, albeit in our car.) On the way there we hit up the Luray Caverns. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen caverns like that. They were impressive. The weekend was a good combination of adventure and relaxation.