Mommy's Summer Camp

Each year for the past five years, my friend Stacey's daughter has attended a summer horse camp in Charlottesville for a couple weeks.  When Stacey comes to pick her up, she comes a few days early and has "camp" with me!  We shop, go out to eat, make plans to redecorate rooms in my house and generally catch up.

This week was camp at my house.  We shopped at several different malls for shoes, clothes, and accessories and brunched in Carytown one morning. 

One night, we dined at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's new restaurant called Amuse and then followed dinner with dessert and coffee at The Jefferson Hotel.  A lovely evening out!

For our final jaunt of the week, we went horseback riding. Thinking we were younger (and in better shape) than we are, we signed up for a 1 1/2 hour trail ride.

My horse was named Preacher. He was a sweet boy who loved trotting up hills and was completely docile but always ready to go faster if I nudged him with my heels (which I did several times - nothing like the wind going through your hair while riding through the forest on a beautiful animal!)

Stacey's horse was named MB, which stood for Mary's Baby, after his owner Mary.

 

 It was a hot, hot July day (the temp reached 100).  We enjoyed our trail ride through Pocahontas State Park with our friends at Beaver Hollow Farm, who took good care of us and even offered to extend our ride because they were having such a good time with us. But we were hot and dusty and needed to get back to our real lives.  Definitely a fun adventure and great way to conclude Summer Camp 2012!