With the Blue Ridge mountains calling us from all sides we decided to explore trails for biking at the Patricia Byron Forest Preserve. The "Things To Do" section of the local brochure stated the Preserve was a 600 acre park for hiking, running, biking and even horse back riding, and we gallantly strode off, unaware that 600 acres doesn't necessarily mean width. The Rock 'N Roller coaster at Disneyland explodes like a canon, accelerating straight up into the air from 0-57mph in 2.8 seconds as Steven Tyler's scream fills your ears. How lucky for us, this was the natural equivalent in trail ascent however our feeble WI legs propelled us at Jurassic period warp speed, and the wail reverberated through my leg muscles instead of ears as we headed straight up the mountain. Despite this refrain of trail, we kept thinking it would get better. As soon as we'd turn a corner the trail would get steeper and filled with larger looser rocks, barely passable on foot without seriously twisting an ankle. We struggled to half bike, half carry our bikes and decided (after about 45 minutes since Doug is forever the trail optimist) these were pathways best suited for a 1000 pound animal with hooves, not a 24 pound contraption with wheels. So in the end, I really just took my bike for a walk, and I sure hope my bike enjoyed it because I didn't. As we roll/hobbled our way back to the bottom we met up with a group of horse riders who seemed to be enjoying themselves, the horses at least. But on the bright side of this day we were outside, it was a lovely day, and the 20 minute drive to get to the Forest Preserve was magnificent, winding through the mountains past wineries and gorgeous horse farms. Real estate photo recognition:
I was very happy to clean up after our bike ride and have dinner with my old buddy Tara at Dr. Ho's Humble Pie for cheeseburger pizza and brew...FFB, and caught up on twenty years of life that had passed!
I was very happy to clean up after our bike ride and have dinner with my old buddy Tara at Dr. Ho's Humble Pie for cheeseburger pizza and brew...FFB, and caught up on twenty years of life that had passed!
Next on the list was a visit to Staunton (pronounced like Stanton), another on Smithsonian's list of "Best Small Town in America" (listed 10th in 2012). We started at the Woodrow Wilson birthplace and Museum. Moving along the timeline of history, going from Revolutionary War to Civil War, and now Woodrow Wilson, our 28th president who's two terms spanned just before and after WWI which lasted from 1914-18. (So if we're going to keep up our march through history it's gonna be a long drive to Hawaii's Pearl Harbor to catch the WWII segment.)
The guide for the Woodrow Wilson Museum told us this summer a mama bear and her cub climbed this tree and camped out all day in August. Maybe the bears were just being tourists or more likely, spying the other tourists like a bakery case of sweet treats with cream filling!
Learning about Wilson was an interesting segment of history since I really knew nothing about his presidency. He began with a degree in law but eventually developed a distaste for law and decided to dabble in the field of politics, becoming Governor of New Jersey from 1911-13. Eventually, as some fear might happen with our current "Guvna" in WI, Wilson's career lead to becoming our 28th President for two terms. Of course he instituted and supported several acts, the Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Farm Loan, curtailing child labor hours, and the usual what not that comes with this job, but the interesting bit to me was his desire to form a "League of Nations" to promote global democracy which was never ratified by congress before his death. However, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his sponsorship of the "League" (1919) and Wilson is consistently ranked as one of the top ten presidents of all time. I didn't know that...but how ironic that today I did note that the current WI Governor was recently ranked by CREW (Citizen's for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) as the worst Governor of the year.
Prudent words by Wilson on War:
"I come from the South and I know what war is, for I have seen its wreckage and ruin. It is easy for me as President to declare war. I do not have to fight...It is some poor farmer's boy, or the son of some poor widow who will have to do the fighting and dying."
Interesting plea for support of the Third Liberty Loan bonds to help cover the war expenses--these bonds (not redeemable until 1928) were primarily sold by the Boy and Girls Scouts (the scouts sold 2.3 million bonds). Imagine proposing this effort today? From war bonds to cookies, and wrapping paper, and popcorn....
Maybe Walker just needs a hit song, something that can generate royalties for his campaign, or be featured on "The Voice". The great campaign song hit of 1912: "Sit Down and Rock it Out With Me"
The Museum was small but informative with just enough artifacts and text to entertain but not overwhelm. The museum also included his favorite car, a Pierce-Arrow limousine, pretty snazzy.
There was in interesting display of WWI weapons especially a trench warfare dagger/brass knuckles for multiple fighting benefits!
The guide for the Woodrow Wilson Museum told us this summer a mama bear and her cub climbed this tree and camped out all day in August. Maybe the bears were just being tourists or more likely, spying the other tourists like a bakery case of sweet treats with cream filling!
Woodrow Wilson's birthplace below.
Prudent words by Wilson on War:
"I come from the South and I know what war is, for I have seen its wreckage and ruin. It is easy for me as President to declare war. I do not have to fight...It is some poor farmer's boy, or the son of some poor widow who will have to do the fighting and dying."
Maybe Walker just needs a hit song, something that can generate royalties for his campaign, or be featured on "The Voice". The great campaign song hit of 1912: "Sit Down and Rock it Out With Me"
The Museum was small but informative with just enough artifacts and text to entertain but not overwhelm. The museum also included his favorite car, a Pierce-Arrow limousine, pretty snazzy.
And a simulation of the trenches created in the war.
We decided to carry on and walk downtown. View from the Wilson Presidential Library into Staunton:
We stumbled upon the Blackfriar's Playhouse, the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre. For a small fee we took a tour by an overenthusiastic graduate student at Mary Baldwin College, a women's private college (about 1100 students) in Staunton. The information she presented was informative but she really needed to stop saying how (now read this in double time) "I just love talking about Shakespeare and sometimes I talk too fast and get really excited because I just love talking about the history of Shakespeare and I'm getting two master's degrees in Shakespeare in three years....(no breath)...really I'm just so excited about Shakespeare and can't wait to tell you all of the fabulous things about Shakespeare." OK, I get it--you wish Will was your BFF (if he was alive) but you'll be his cheerleader post-mortem.
The theatre is quite amazing with post and beam construction and Scottish tapestries, and chandeliers with candle like bulbs. The re-creation is supposedly identical in every way to the original theater, according to Will's personal pom pon squad of one, and she said the only modern convenience that has been added to this re-creation was padding on the benches and removable backs for some of the seating on the first level (because too many people complained about the hard seating). It's a very intimate theatre and the lights are kept at candle light level to recreate the original ambiance of the Blackfriar's experience.
We thought about going to a show but it was a bit pricey for our budget (since most of the things we try to do are free or minimal cost) but I've read numerous reviews that the acting is spectacular.
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
After our tour with the overly enthusiastic college student we browsed around town. There were a few interesting shops (lots of antique shops) and restaurants but not much so we headed for the park and this one came with a special prize: swans and geese!
Another day....
We stumbled upon the Blackfriar's Playhouse, the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre. For a small fee we took a tour by an overenthusiastic graduate student at Mary Baldwin College, a women's private college (about 1100 students) in Staunton. The information she presented was informative but she really needed to stop saying how (now read this in double time) "I just love talking about Shakespeare and sometimes I talk too fast and get really excited because I just love talking about the history of Shakespeare and I'm getting two master's degrees in Shakespeare in three years....(no breath)...really I'm just so excited about Shakespeare and can't wait to tell you all of the fabulous things about Shakespeare." OK, I get it--you wish Will was your BFF (if he was alive) but you'll be his cheerleader post-mortem.
The outside of the playhouse:
The basement costume and rehearsal room:
Hat props...lots of crowns (surprise) for Will's plays:
After our tour with the overly enthusiastic college student we browsed around town. There were a few interesting shops (lots of antique shops) and restaurants but not much so we headed for the park and this one came with a special prize: swans and geese!
Another day....
Sunshine and 65 today so it must be a good day for wine...is there a bad day for wine? If there is, then again, it's a good day for wine, problem solved. There are dozens of vineyards in the area, and VA currently ranks fifth in the nation for number of wineries, currently 192 and still counting. Who knew? Many of the vineyards are fairly new, although wine has been made in this region since early colonization in the 17th C.
Our patronage at Wine Guyz in LaCrosse and Con Amici in Baraboo has given me enough knowledge to know that if I go missing I want my photo on wine bottles so my friends will know to look for me (take note Miss Amy). We planned to try to get to six wineries but read on...
According to the tasting room attendant at the King winery, the site was chosen specifically on the basis of the amenable grounds for polo (tax write off anyone?) thus it was situated amongst very green pastures. Top photo stable, tasting room on the left. Five samples and we're on a roll...
On to Pollak Winery. The tasting attendant here said he has several patrons that come once a year to fill their entire trunk with VA wine (and sell it to desperate mom's on the playground--kidding, not true, don't plagiarize any bit of this so I get arrested for wanting to sell wine to vulnerable sources).
Virginia's most notable wine is the Viognier, a white wine with hints of citrus and...well the tasting notes will go on and on about the notes of bee's sweat and sunbeams with a hint of rainbow and unicorn poop..whatever, a good brunch wine. The Viognier is one of the most decorated wines of the Pollak winery. Eight samples later and a purchased bottle of Viognier to take home, like troopers we ambled on.
Mother please may I have another? On to Veritas, with a cozy tasting room and lots of samples...I cun baereley remimber how gud the last 11 sampelz werrrrrrrre.
So only three stops into our tour we had to cry "Uncle" and save more tasting for another day (there's always tomorrow) or I'd be on the floor, the other 189 wineries will have to wait.
At this point I had my fill of wine...yeah, I'm a light weight, and needed to eat so we found an awesome bookstore/sandwich shop in Waynesboro called Stone Soup. Great food (Yummy ham and brie on multigrain roll and kale salad with squash and apple slices and honey mustard dressing with sunflower seeds. I'm only writing about my food here because I want to remember the excellent combination...remember I am not an old person talking about food.) and a small but thoughtful collection of new and used books. I bought a book by a local author, Marietta, McCarty, "The Philosopher's Table", about starting a Philosophy Dinner Club, like melding Socrates Cafe with food. Hard to have a dinner party in Max, unless of course I can serve PBJ and no one minds the overflow seating in the bulkhead of the cab.
Really awesome mural at Stone Soup in Waynesboro:
Our patronage at Wine Guyz in LaCrosse and Con Amici in Baraboo has given me enough knowledge to know that if I go missing I want my photo on wine bottles so my friends will know to look for me (take note Miss Amy). We planned to try to get to six wineries but read on...
According to the tasting room attendant at the King winery, the site was chosen specifically on the basis of the amenable grounds for polo (tax write off anyone?) thus it was situated amongst very green pastures. Top photo stable, tasting room on the left. Five samples and we're on a roll...
Virginia's most notable wine is the Viognier, a white wine with hints of citrus and...well the tasting notes will go on and on about the notes of bee's sweat and sunbeams with a hint of rainbow and unicorn poop..whatever, a good brunch wine. The Viognier is one of the most decorated wines of the Pollak winery. Eight samples later and a purchased bottle of Viognier to take home, like troopers we ambled on.
At this point I had my fill of wine...yeah, I'm a light weight, and needed to eat so we found an awesome bookstore/sandwich shop in Waynesboro called Stone Soup. Great food (Yummy ham and brie on multigrain roll and kale salad with squash and apple slices and honey mustard dressing with sunflower seeds. I'm only writing about my food here because I want to remember the excellent combination...remember I am not an old person talking about food.) and a small but thoughtful collection of new and used books. I bought a book by a local author, Marietta, McCarty, "The Philosopher's Table", about starting a Philosophy Dinner Club, like melding Socrates Cafe with food. Hard to have a dinner party in Max, unless of course I can serve PBJ and no one minds the overflow seating in the bulkhead of the cab.
Really awesome mural at Stone Soup in Waynesboro:
Friday hiked to Humpback mountain and then part of the Appalachian trail. The humpback trail head has a collection of 19th century log cabins to view. "Ranger Rick" at this cabin provided a nice talk about the area:
Cabins for little people that like the breeze (maybe cuz they were really stinky):
We hiked the AT 25 years ago and back then the trail was barely marked. Now there is a white blaze every 1/4 mile and nice engraved signs at major intersections.
These walls were in the valley and way up at the top of the mountain and in between--the work (not the greatest photo but imagine stacked stone walls that carry on as long as the press does about Kim Kardashian):
After hiking, being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we made a beeline to Sherando Park, part of George Washington National Forest, to mountain bike for a bit. Fun trail but more fun trying to use our "Gorilla Pod" for photos:
Some folks have added encouragement along the way:
Stopping at the log picnic table for lunch:
A strange feature I didn't notice last time we hiked the trail was the massive stone fence along parts of the trail. We later learned that it was built by the slaves to deter wild boar from foraging into farm property.
Lake Sherando
Back and forth...20 photos later.
Saturday was a nice change of pace. My old buddy Tara said her neighborhood was having a trail clean up in the shared woods around her home. Yes! We'd love to help her community and play in the woods. Doug got to play with the chain saw (which made him very happy) and I gathered the brush and limbs to create little "curbs" along the trail. Afterwards Tara took us out for a beer and food at Blue Mountain Brewery. The brewery is the kind of restaurant/brew pub any owner would dream about, it was literally bursting with business--two parking attendants guiding the cars into available spaces, lovely view with spectacular mountain side seating, FFB, and dog friendly (where was the last place you ate that was sprinkled with dogs). We had a great time catching up and talking about life and before we left Tara's house I snagged a photo op with her critters (and there is also a horse and cats not included)!
Tasha, Wicket, Tara, and Sam
Goodbye Charlottesville, or C'ville as the locals call it. We'll miss your beautiful mountains!
Goodbye Charlottesville, or C'ville as the locals call it. We'll miss your beautiful mountains!
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