Ivy, VA

Today my family and I took a hike at Ivy Creek Natural Area. Located minutes from downtown Charlottesville, this wondurful area boosts over 6 miles of walking trails.

We took off early with water and "bug spray". This is in the woods and there are bugs!

But there is a lot more than bugs, we saw rabbits and signs of other animals too!

Then we saw a Giant Mushroom!!! No sign of anyone living under it!!!

The trails are well marked and weave near the local reservoir. Trails are marked by color (we did the RED TRAIL) and the hiking perfect for a family quick trip! This trail is the center of all the other trails and is about a mile and a half.

There is a fine creek that runs near the center of the area and a perfect place to take a little break.

I hope you get a chance to visit Ivy Creek Natural Area, it is worth the trip!

I live in an area called Ivy Virginia and around us are large estates and farms. Finding a place to walk or hike is not always obvious when you drive around our area.

Hidden off of Owensville Road, just down the street from Meriwether Lewis School is the Blue Ridge Swim Club. If you live near here, you know the area. You may not know there are trails from the neighboring communities,

Here is a map of the trails:

It is such a beautiful area to take your kids out for a hike!

I hope you enjoy it!

Charles McDonald
Associate BROKER, RE/MAX Assured Properties
Licensed to sell Real Estate in Virginia

"Your Outstanding RE/MAX Agent in Charlottesville Virginia"

My neighbor has been a big infuence on us as far as landscaping. Our flower beds and gardens are no where nearly as nice as theirs but we have caught the landscape bug in Charlottesville.

Here are a couple more photos of my neighbors estate:

Notice how the red covers the other side of the driveway and the dogwood in the distance...

This is a reverse shot of the drivway. Notice the pavillion (for the pool) in the distance. Sitting unter there with a cool drink in the hot summer is fantastic. There is always a slight breeze and if now we just turn on the fan.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour.

When I moved my family to Charlottesville (8 years ago) we knew nobody. This is a tough thing to do, move your family across the United States to an area where you do not know anyone.

Well the first few days we started to meet a lot of people and some now good friends and neighbors have made an impact on us. You see my rear neighbor has an estate with beautiful gardens.

With his permission I am posting a couple of photos. I think you will find them amazing:

How is that for color?

Try this one:

How is that for a colorful driveway?

I hope you enjoyed these wonderful photos of Charlottesville's finest!

My wife is preparing Easter Dinner, my kids are bowling and golfing on the WII. The cats are sleeping in the Sun.

The eggs are colored (see photo) and we had our Easter Egg hunt this morning!

It is another grand day living in Charlottesville! No tours today with clients .... just family.

Life for me and my family could not be much better. We live in a beautiful area, we have each other and we all have our health.

When we moved to Charlottesville (8 years ago) we took on the challenge of a new area where we did not know anyone.

There was something that brought me here and I feel it was to offer a better life for my family.

This included my mother, who lives with us. She is now 85 and tells me that she feels moving to Charlotteville Virginia has prolonged her life.

All I can say is that it is Easter Sunday 2008 and we are happy!