Hartley Adventures: Smith Mountain Lake

On June 4th, we were so blessed to be invited to the wedding of Scott and Sheri Beale at Smith Mountain Lake. What an adventure it was! We left early Saturday morning so that we could squeeze in as much time as we could. We forgot how beautiful this area was!

Our first stop, Homestead Creamery in Wirtz, VA. Landree's half birthday fell on Saturday, so we knew we had to make it special. If you haven't been there before, it's a must stop. Their milkshakes are out of this world! I also found a little piece of home. My beloved Troyer's products... and in particular, their Cajun bacon. Flipping ridiculous deliciousness. Find it. Buy it. Chow it.

Get in my belly!!!

Our big two and a half year old... loving every minute of her chocolate ice cream

Spending some time with the goats before we head on

From there, we headed straight to our Air B & B rental. This is the first time we have used this service, although we had used others like VRBO. When we pulled in, my stomach dropped. The pictures showed lake front and here we are looking at a grassy yard. Did I really screw up that badly? Erick got out of the car and checked out our apartment for the night. We got a thumbs up so out we went.  The pictures below show our mini home. Beverly's rental was absolutely perfect!!! It's exactly as described on the site. There isn't a full kitchen, but there was a grill and we brought our griddle. Perfection. We captured some pictures of the unit Nature's Retreat, but truly, it doesn't do it justice. If you have a small family, it's really all you need. The point is to be in the water!

Mini kitchen. There isn't a stove, but we made do just fine!

Bathroom 

We dropped our things and headed for the lake. It was closer then we thought! Down a little path and there it was!! And even better, we met the owner, Beverly. She was sweet as sweet can be and very welcoming to our family. We decided it was time to grill some burgers and head back to swim.

A view right off our own dock!

Landree took a minute to warm up but then loved the water!! She definitely is our little fish. Thunder started booming, so it was time to head back to the rental.

We were relaxing and what appeared out our window? My nemesis, the deer. The owner fed them (and some duckie friends) and they came within 15 feet of us. Erick snapped pictures, Landree had conversations with them, it was peaceful and amazing!!

To the wedding we went... it was HOT and sweaty... understatement of the century. BUT, it was beautiful. They couldn't ask for a better setting. The huge thunderstorm held off till after the ceremony thankfully!

We couldn't ask for a more perfect mini getaway! I highly recommend it to anyone!