A weekend at James River State Park (where we stayed)



James River State Park



Almost smack dab in the center of Virginia, in Buckingham County, is James River State Park.  With about three miles of the park right along the James River and 1,500 acres of land I thought this would be a great place to spend a weekend with Mark, the kids and my parents.  And guess what....I was RIGHT!  Friday afternoon Mark and myself loaded up and made our way to the park.  It was a short two hour drive from Dinwiddie County so just the right amount of time to feel like you are "getting away" without driving forever. 



Yep...all packed up.

Some people like to camp in the cold and out of season.  We are NOT those people.  So when we go to a park in the winter you can be assured we will not be staying in a tent.  The park has 18 cabins, 2 lodges and a bunkhouse.  The cabins are between 2 and 3 bedrooms and the lodges have 6 bedrooms.  Not positive on the number of bedrooms for the bunkhouse but the park website indicates it sleeps 14.  We stayed in a two bedroom cabin and had plenty of room for everyone. 



Lucky cabin #7.



The front of the cabin.



BIG porch that wraps around the side.

I have stayed in at least one other state park cabin so it was exactly what I expected.  Very clean with basic furniture, enough linen for everyone in the house and a kitchen with all that you need to cook a meal.  Their website spells out what you need or don't need to bring along. 



I love me a fire!



The kitchen.




The living area.



Bedroom #1




Bedroom #2



Bedroom #3...........just kidding!



My parents and the kids complained that the beds were hard.  I couldn't tell because I feel asleep so fast I don't think I even got to feel the bed :)  Guess chasing Emma all day, a glass of wine and a warm fire can do that to a girl. 



This is a shot of one of the lodges.

The cabins are all together on one road that forms a circle.  The park website indicated that none were river view but in the winter three of them looked like they had a pretty good view (even if from a good distance) of the river.  In the summer that might be a different story with the leaves on the trees.  Cabin #13-#15 are the cabins with the views of the river.  But even without a view of the river we enjoyed a sit on the front porch listening for birds and animals in the woods. 



Our view from the front porch.

We really enjoyed the stay at the park.  The kids even said they had a good time (and my kids are quite the critics now days).  The fact they stayed so busy was part of the reason they enjoyed it so much...I'll post tomorrow more on what we did while at the park.