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Happy Friday! I'm a big supporter of celebrating birthday *months* rather than just one day, so today I'm recapping my birthday weekENDS, plural!
It started out with a concert in Charleston, West Virginia! I had gotten Kenny tickets to see Jason Aldean for Christmas, and the show was supposed to be back in January but got postponed due to an ice storm, and I'm grateful it was because it was WAY more fun in the summertime than it would've been in the snow and ice!
Neither of us had been to Charleston before, and the drive there was absolutely beautiful. Many parts of West Virginia feel very desolate and sad, but the drive to Charleston is not that way. It's crazy how much taller the mountains feel there then in Virginia, even though they're all the Appalachians!
This was the view from our hotel - it is bordered on two sides by a river.
Shoney's is alive and well in West Virginia and there was one right across from the hotel we stayed at. I snapped this silly pic to show my friend my outfit, and I liked that you could see Shoney's in the background. 😂
Kenny has been on a big chicken wing kick, so we went to dinner before the show at Adelphia. It was poppin in there, and we could tell that most of the guests were also going to the concert. I love the energy around a concert, adn I love seeing everyone's outfits! Kenny got wings, and I got a Greek quesadilla wich was delicious.
I'm a big Jason Aldean fan, but probably an even bigger Lil Wayne fan. 😂 Had to get a pic with da boys.
We had great seats for the show, but when we got there we realized we had a straight shot to the pit... We walked right in and had great spots for the whole show! I wouldn't have tried to push to the front since we technically weren't supposed to be there (and I don't do that anyway!) but even being in the "back" was a great spot!
The stage converted into a big green tractor!
The next day, Kenny had mapped out a couple of stops in the New River Gorge National Park that he wanted to hit as we slowly made our way back to Virginia. We stopped first at Grandview, which is a fantastic overlook over a riverbend. If you're lucky, you might catch a train going down the tracks along the river!
Our next stop was the Endless Wall trail trail. It's a fairly easy hike to an incredible overlook. See the "endless wall" toward the left?? It's crazy to think that the New River carved the gorge over millions of... It's estimated to be older than the Appalachian Mountains themselves, potentially dating back to Pangaea!
There were several rafting groups floating by way down below, it looked fun!
Next, we stopped at the Canyon Rim boardwalk which offers one of the closest views of the New River Gorge Bridge. It's the tallest bridge in the United States! It is SO huge in real life, but oddly driving over it isn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be - you really can't tell how high up you are when you're on it. You can get tickets to walk across the underside of it (harnessed in!) which Kenny wanted to do, but luckily they were sold out... I don't think I could've done that, even strapped in!
Kenny got a pepperoni roll made by one of the rangers' wives. I learned after this trip that pepperoni rolls are the state sandwich of West Virginia, and they were invented as a convenient lunch for coal miners to pack with them.
There were pollinator gardens outside the visitor center and I kept looking for monarch caterpillars on the milkweed. I didn't see one, but as we were leaving I spotted a chrysalis!
We're always on the lookout for cats roaming around - we spotted this SWEETIE when we stopped in Fayetteville for dinner!
We saw a couple of recommendations for Pies and Pints so we stopped there before heading home. It was SO good! Kenny continued his wing kick with the grilled wings, which were delicious.
We got a pizza with half chicken gouda, half steak and mushroom. The chicken gouda was our favorite by far!
We got home late, and my mom had dropped me off the most incredible bouquet that she picked and arranged herself, and a pirate card she colored and laminated. 😭 She could not be cuter! It was the best surprise!
The next day was Sunday and the day before my birthday, so we lived it up. My brother came over for a while, and then we went to his house and picked a bunch of tomatoes from his garden.
We decided fairly last-minute to ride up to the Shenandoah National Park for a sunset hike at Bear Fence. We were alone for sunset and it was so cool! We also encountered a crazy buck walking along the trail with us on the way up, which was such a cool experience. He couldn't have cared less that we were there!
Nice hiking outfit, huh? 😂 I told you it was last minute! I've worn this set on repeat this summer. All pieces of it have been featured in favorites posts at some point!
The next day was my birthday!! I had taken off work and spent the whole day outside. I brought my flowers outside so I could see them from my deck chair. 😍
I had my two favorite foods - for lunch, open-face tomato sandwiches with mayo, salt, and pepper!
Roxy and I sat outside all afternoon. 😍 My chair was wet from rain the night before, hence the towel. A wet chair couldn't keep us inside!
Kenny brought me more flowers when he came home. 😍 Dahlias are my favorite!!
We ended the evening my favorite way - watching the sunset, and eating pad see ew from Taste of Thai. My other favorite food!
Roxy and I spent some time on the deck. 😍
My sweet stray cat friend came for dinner! Her name is Lady Liberty. 😍 She looks a lot like Roxy and Roxy hates her but I think she's coming around...
That night we went downtown for the Dogwood Tales album release show at Pale Fire. They're a local band that we like and Kenny's friends with them. It was so much fun and such a beautiful night, there was a full moon !
On Saturday, my parents hosted us for a belated birthday dinner! I had gotten a bottle of the Septenary summer kitchen rosé and we enjoyed it on the deck. Septenary is one of my favorite Virginia wineries, I highly recommend visiting! And check out Chiswell just down the road while you're at it. 😉
My mom makes the best flower arrangements! I wish I had a better picture of this one, it was so beautiful!
Carmen brough me flowers from her garden. 😍 I had them in my office all week and they still look beautiful!
These are Japenese anenomes from my mom's yard, they're one of my favorites!
My mom always has a small arrangement in the bathroom too, she matched her flowers to her soap!
My granddad used to make homemade ice cream for all of our birthdays. The Oreo was the BEST! I got so excited when I saw my dad break out the ice cream maker!
Carmen uses the Huji app for disposable camera-esque photos and she always gets cute shots!
The girls!
A bad shot of the BEST dinner! We had grilled salmon and shrimp, local green beans and corn, macaroni salad, and sauteed squash and tomatoes with garlic and basil. The BEST summer dinner!
All 32 candles!
My mom also made pound cake with glazed berries. 😍
On Sunday, we went to a couple wineries! Our first stop was Bluestone Vineyard.
Next we went to Marceline and had the best time with their CATS!
It was the best birthday MONTH, thanks for coming along with me!
xoxx, Laura
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