{"id":986,"date":"2016-05-09T21:49:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T01:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/?p=986"},"modified":"2016-05-09T21:49:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T01:49:10","slug":"bear-creek-lake-state-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/?p=986","title":{"rendered":"Bear Creek Lake State Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a couple of rainy weeks with\u00a0gray, dreary skies, the weekend of May 7-8, 2016 was warm and beautiful in Virginia! \u00a0On Saturday we made more progress on the travel trailer we’re renovating, and\u00a0on Sunday we decided we were long overdue for a day trip adventure.<\/p>\n

We decided to go to\u00a0Bear Creek State Park<\/a>. \u00a0There are several ways to get there, and we opted to travel east on I-64, then south on VA Rt. 15. \u00a0The drive took approximately an hour and a half.<\/p>\n

After paying the $4 entrance fee, we drove through\u00a0the campgrounds, looking for sites that appealed to us. \u00a0We really liked sites #1 and #3 in Acorn Loop. \u00a0Both are pull-thru\u00a0sites, close to the bathhouse, with water and electric hook-ups.<\/p>\n

\"011-Campsite-1-Anon\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"012-Campsite-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our next stop was the lake. \u00a0A few people were out in canoes\u00a0and paddle boats (which can be rented near the beach), but we enjoyed simply relaxing\u00a0by the water for an hour or so.<\/p>\n

\"002-Wayne-BCLSP\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"010-BearCreekLake\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"005-Geese\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"004-Turtles-Lake\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"006-Heron\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"008-BearCreekLake\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was so nice to just sit<\/em> for a while!<\/p>\n

While we plan on camping<\/em> at Bear Creek Lake, we decided to drive around\u00a0to the other side of the lake to check out the cabins. \u00a0Very impressive! \u00a0Some, like this one (#4) have water views. \u00a0Yes, I could see myself in one of those rocking chairs, looking out over the water!<\/p>\n

\"013-Cabin4\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"014-Cabin-4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"015-Cabin-4-View\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we left the park, we took a variety of back roads,\u00a0and we were delighted to see several fields full of buttercups!<\/p>\n

\"020-Buttercups\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"021-Buttercups\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were\u00a0wonders everywhere!<\/p>\n

\"032-Goose-Field\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"023-Spiderweb\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our route home took us through the historic town of Scottsville on the James River. \u00a0We enjoyed a late picnic lunch beside the river, while\u00a0watching the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies “puddling” in the mud near the river bank.<\/p>\n

\"027-JamesRiver-Scottsville\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"026-Butterflies\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We detoured to stop by two cemeteries where I paid my respects to my mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and a great-great grandmother. \u00a0It seemed like an appropriate close to a beautiful, relaxing Mother’s Day.<\/p>\n

\"056-Witt-Cemetery\"<\/a> \u00a0\"065-Sky-Mountain-Hebron\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Things\u00a0took an unexpected twist, however, shortly after\u00a0we got home. \u00a0I walked out on my\u00a0porch around 9:00\u00a0pm, and I was stunned to see a large BEAR in my back yard, tearing down my thistle feeders!!\u00a0\u00a0When it heard me, it ran across our small garden area, easily scaled the 4-foot fence, and disappeared into the woods. \u00a0Whoa!!<\/p>\n

After making a few phone calls to alert my neighbors (I live in a suburban neighborhood, <\/em>not out in the middle of nowhere!), I was surprised when my security light came\u00a0on again<\/em>\u00a0because the bear was dragging a bag out of my trash can! \u00a0WAY too bold!<\/p>\n

After chasing it off a second time,\u00a0we went out the basement door, armed with two pots that we banged together to make a lot of noise. \u00a0We retrieved the trash bag, and brought the trash can into the basement.<\/p>\n

I’ve lived here since 2001, and this is a first…. \u00a0I frequently have deer in the yard (along with raccoons), but a BEAR<\/em>?! Uh, no….<\/p>\n

Some time later,\u00a0I realized that the Universe must be having\u00a0a belly laugh at our expense: Yep, our Mother’s Day adventure was to Bear Creek Lake State Park!\u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a couple of rainy weeks with\u00a0gray, dreary skies, the weekend of May 7-8, 2016 was warm and beautiful in Virginia! \u00a0On Saturday we made more progress on the travel trailer we’re renovating, and\u00a0on Sunday we decided we were long … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-animals-wildlife"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=986"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1016,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986\/revisions\/1016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/art-rageous.net\/artrageousblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}