Weekend At Smith Mountain Lake In The Fall

Here’s a recap of our trip to Smith Mountain Lake in the fall – the perfect time of year to enjoy cool mornings and sunny afternoons by the water. 

We spent the weekend with my parents at Smith Mountain Lake! 

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Smith Mountain Lake is the perfect halfway spot between our homes and was an easy drive for us under two hours. 

Smith Mountain Lake In The Fall

Instead of speed boats, tubing, and hours of dock swimming, we enjoyed misty mornings, falling acorns, crunchy leaves, and perfect temps to sip coffee on the porch or snuggle in the hammock.

Our Lake House

This is the house we rented. 

While the bedroom/bathroom layout was a bit odd, the big screened-in porch, spacious dock, and views of Smith Mountain were awesome. 

The house was also well stocked with games, movies, and toys for kids. 

We played Clue and Life, watched Garfield and Ice Age, and played with tinker toys and Kinex. 

There was also a Twister competition! 

Fishin’

Thomas grew up going to the lake with his friend Andrus, who we visited there a few years ago. Thomas and Mazen couldn’t wait to go fishing!

In fact, when we arrived, they headed right out to the dock in the pouring rain to get started. 

(Spoiler alert: the spent HOURS upon HOURS fishing and did not have any luck catching a thing!)

Friday night dinner

After a cheese plate and happy hour on the porch…

Dad made a salad

Thomas grilled burgers; I baked potato wedges.

And mom baked a birthday cake! 

Since didn’t have a birthday to celebrate this weekend, the cake was in general celebration of “Fall Birthdays” – me, Birch and dad all within a week of each other! 

Saturday: Bagels + Fog

Birch loved all the fishing boats on the water when he woke up, and we had high hopes that the clouds would break later in the day.

We brought Bodos bagels from Cville for breakfast, which are always a fan favorite and easy, plus mom’s fruit salad. We took Birch for a walk and waited for the clouds to burn off. 

Would you jump off this dock?

Only one of us was brave enough to test the water! 

(And even he was a bit timid to swim after we saw a giant maroon-colored swimming snake nearby!)

This is the look Birch gave his brother when he jumped in. 

Lunch Sammies

Lunch break for sandwiches and chips!

Naps upon Naps

While Birch took his afternoon nap, Thomas and I both took naps in the hammock.

We have an Eno hammock that you can put on any two trees.

I also read some of my book: Lisa Wingate’s Book of Lost Friends. This is the same author who wrote the book I LOVED this year called Before We Were Yours. I’m loving this one too so far.

Afternoon Sunshine

There was lots more fishing and playing with the tackle box wiggly worms. We saw more fish but still didn’t catch any! (Thomas needed better bait, but the nearby stores didn’t have what he needed.) 

Mazen decided to swim again, and we had happy hour down by the water. 

Easy As (Pizza) Pie

For dinner we picked up pizza and had leftover salad. 

And we sang happy birthday to Birch (a month early!) because he missed dessert the night before. 

Farewell lake life

We packed up and left late morning on Sunday, in time to get home for an afternoon soccer game. We were so lucky that Birch napped most of the drive. 

We loved the lake in the fall 

Just like the beach this time of year, you don’t have to swim to enjoy the peaceful calm of the water. Give me a porch, a book, and a view and I’m happy for hours!