Redneck Heaven....... without the mullet

And we’re off…. Again.

But this time it’s for an excellent reason. This week we’re away on a much-needed vacation at the Woodstone resort at Massanutten. For those of you who are not from Virginia, Massanutten is a ski area in the Shenandoah Valley (2 hours drive, north-west of Richmond). It’s a really great resort with LOTS of stuff to do. If you are looking for a place to get away that is close to Richmond, this should be on your list. We have had some incredible experiences that I’ll tell you all about when we get back. The reason I’m waiting until we get back is that while Woodstone is all that and a bag of chips, they charge $10 per day for internet access (the only flaw that I can find so far). So while I would love to give you a play-by-play of our trip, it’s just too expensive….

But I did want to tell you about our little excursion last Sunday.

I drove back from where I was working in New York in the early hours of Sunday morning and got back to Powhatan at 10:30AM. This was just in time to unpack my stuff and load up the car to go to Massanutten for the week. Notice, I did not include “taking a nap”. Then we took off for our little pre-vacation stopoff.

Last weekend was an annual Richmond area event called “Field Day of the Past”. This is our second year attending and it is now a definite on our calendar. The Field Day is basically a big farming/heavy equipment show and living history event. In other words….. it is redneck heaven. (Don’t worry, I am NOT growing a mullet and country music still makes my ears hurt.) They have everything though, including tractor pulls, a steam powered sawmill, a steam cotton gin, a bulldozing/excavating demonstration, a rodeo, farm animals, antique cars, basically everything my 2-year old loves more than life itself. It’s like a mini State Fair without all the creepiness. Both this year and last, Colin has spent our hours at the show basically beside himself with excitement. He loves watching the tractors running around and being able to climb around on all the heavy equipment. This year, we spent some time at the section where James River Equipment displays their stuff. They let Colin sit in the cab of a giant excavator and on a bulldozer. After that, he got to climb in the excavator bucket and then this nice girl gave him a balloon. For a little boy, it doesn’t get any better than that. Then we went back over to the tractor pulls for a while and later, he went for a pony ride. After his ride, he learned how to milk a cow and played in a giant tank of dried corn. It has been three days since the event and Colin is still all smiles. The whole thing really is like heaven for young boys.

Of course, we didn’t go alone. My folks and sister’s family went. Also our friends Josh and Laura and Rob and Wendy came along with their kids. Everyone seemed to have a great time. It wasn’t too hot out on Sunday, but the sun was particularly intense and I got a nice, minor sunburn that made me look like a raccoon due to my sunglasses.

When I got home from my trip to NY, I was out of it from working and then driving all night. But watching Colin have so much fun gave me a second wind and I forgot about being tired. (I thought I was going to sleep on our way to Massanutten, but I ended up driving us here.) His enthusiasm was definitely infectious and to me, that was the best part of the whole day.

The Field Day of the Past is usually in September and is located off Broad Street just west of Short Pump. It runs over an entire weekend and admission for one day is $10, which in my opinion, is a real bargain compared to what it costs to go to a movie these days. You can take your own chairs, a canopy, coolers (no alcohol), etc. A lot of people bring their wagons to carry in all their stuff and their children. Last year, over 36,000 people attended and I’ll bet there were more than that this year. If you like a safe, fun day for your kids and a nice day of laid-back southern style fun for yourself, check out their website, put it on your calendar, and we’ll see you there.