After exams finished, Jeff and I piled into the van with my parents to drive to Kentucky for a 4 day vacation. It was really a belated celebration of my sister's 21st birthday, which was in April. It was about a 6 hour drive, with some car-sickness inducing windy roads at the end. But once we arrived in Meridzo at Shekinah Village, I was relieved (that the drive was over ha) that we were able to spend a few quiet days away in such a beautiful place.
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| Shekinah Village upon arrival |
Once we arrived, we settled into these beautiful cabins along the lake - my parents, Jeff, and myself in one cabin and my two sisters in the other. There were 4 rooms in each - two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a large room that functioned as a dining room/living room/kitchen. I absolutely loved the cabin!! The only downside was that mining operations nearby had messed with the water supply, so while it was safe to drink, it smelled super strongly of sulfur.
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| the family room |
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| our cabin on the lake |
We spent a lot of time doing puzzles, playing cards, reading (for enjoyment! what a concept!) wandering around the grounds, eating various chocolatey things, and enjoying the scenery. The weather was beautiful as well! I learned how to play Spades, so we played Spades a lot, as well as Hearts, Rummy, Gin Rummy, Dutch Blitz (also known as a variation of Nertz), and Sequence - I'll have you know that the women beat the men handily at that!
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| all finished!! |
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| the couples cabin on the right, singles on the left |
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| walking across the flooded creek |
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| they had a llama! |
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| Jeff thoroughly enjoyed feeding the pygmy goats |
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| feeding the foal |
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| the foal and her mama |
We also got to go trail riding, although our ride was cut short because construction on a new road cut through the trails. It was so much fun to be able to ride again! My horse was sweet, definitely excited to get on the trails. It was the first trail ride of the season for the horses, so the staff were a little unsure of how they would behave. My sisters both had horses who apparently kicked and/or bit other horses when they got too close. Dusty, my horse for the day, apparently liked to take off with his rider every once in a while, but he was on his best behavior. My sisters' horses though - definitely not. One of them kicked multiple horses as they passed, the other tried to, albeit unsuccessfully. Cheeky things. Jeff looked oh-so-natural on his horse, I think it's the Texan in him. All he was missing was his cowboy hat :) Overall, I wasn't too sore from riding, except I really should have stuck a pillow on the saddle. Turns out not having much natural padding means bruised bones. I had to sit on pillows for a few days afterwards - it was too painful to sit on wooden chairs. Clearly I need to have more milkshakes to fix that.
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| Crystal (the horse) - super sweet, except when other horses pass her. Then she kicks them. |
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| my man looks good on a horse! clearly being a Texan means there's a hidden cowboy waiting to come out... |
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| hard to see, but those are fresh bear tracks in the mud, and that trail was right behind our cabin! |
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| Dusty - my horse for the day |
My dad, Jeff, and I tried our hand at fishing in the lake, since there are decent sized fish swimming about. We failed to catch anything - the fish apparently didn't like beef meatballs as bait. We could see them swimming up to the bait, or swimming past it, and they never took it. Oh well, we weren't really prepared to deal with the fish if we caught one, so maybe it's better that we didn't. We also had a movie night - we brought a projector with us, taped a sheet onto the wall, and watched 300 (since various family members had never seen it before).
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| fishing by the lakeside (that's not a real animal next to Jeff... there was an archery contest the next day) |
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| setting up the projector |
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| our makeshift theater |
Packing up to leave was a little crazy. My sister had to leave early for work stuff, so we would have an extra person and extra stuff in the van on the drive home. But my mother is a packing genius, and we were able to cram everything into the car, narrowly avoiding strapping a cooler to the roof of the van. I still don't know how she did it...
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| staging the packing - trying to fit Jeff's and my stuff out the outside since we were being dropped off first |
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| it's all in! |
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| jerry-rigging the inside of the car |
All in all, it was a wonderful, relaxing few days off - exactly what I needed. Shekinah Village is such a beautiful place, with amazing staff, and I would love to go back!
