Greenbrier State Park

Neal and I were itching to do something fun on Saturday. I haven't been feeling that great the past few days, but I was going stir crazy, so we went up to Greenbrier State Park in Maryland. It was great! We decided to do a 4 mile hike along the Appalachian Trial to Annapolis Rocks and get a great view of Greenbrier lake. A few miles in, we realized it was 4 miles each way, but we are not wimps, so we just decided to do it, even if I was sniffling and coughing the whole way. All and all, I'm pretty sure it will help me get better faster... RIGHT?

So the hike. I was really excited to hike on the Appalachian Trail (it goes from Georgia to Maine... WHOA, FOLKS!) Imagine my surprise to see that it was a paved trail along the FREEWAY for a time... sheesh!

What the?!?!? I know--disappointing! But don't worry, it was mostly unpaved and wooded.

The view was gorgeous. Not exactly purple mountain majesty, but hey, it's the East. After our long hike, we changed into our swimming suits and headed to the lake. I made the picnic. I'm the best wife in the world for making this:

I know-- it looks like it belongs in a healthy living magazine! Peaches, kiwi, blueberries and raspberries! Lest I sound conceited, it should also be mentioned that I neglected to pack the rest of our picnic. Whatever. Focus on the fruit salad/main course/side/dessert. Gorgeous!

After our "picnic," we got in the cool and refreshing water. Two minutes after we both put our whole bodies in (including faces) there was an announcement over the PA system (which I didn't even realize existed until that very moment) "Attention swimmers. Because of unsanitary conditions, everyone needs exit the water immediately for one hour." Okay, unsanitary WHAT?!? And what about the magic time of one hour sanitizes the conditions again? You can imagine our faces of disgust as we hurdled small children in our rush to exit the water--they looked something like this:

Isn't Neal's face priceless? Love him. So the next thing we knew, a park ranger was jogging toward the empty water with a plastic bag, and very long tongs.... your guess is as good as mine, but I think we can safely YUCK that image. Then he patrolled the beach and made sure no one got back in.

Our hero. If you were wondering, we opted not to get back in at that same spot. Now, I realize that poop in a lake/ocean/pool even is not uncommon-- it's just something about the announcement that made it seem that much worse! All and all, however, it was a very fun day! I love when I get to hang out with this hottie all day!