Day 2, Peaks of Otter

 Note: Ward, Wally, Theo, and I are on a week long trip in the Blue Ridge of central Virginia.

Since we picked our destination for this trip on the fact that Ward had always heard about Peaks of Otter, but had never visited them, we thought they should be first up on our agenda. The Peaks of Otter are three mountain peaks (Flat Top, Sharp Top, and Harkening Hill) in the Blue Ridge along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We decided that Sharp Top was our first destination since you can get 360 degree views from the top. However, there was bad fog that morning around Sharp Top, so we decided to hike the Fallingwater Cascades Trail while we waited to see if the fog was going to clear. 

The trail was rocky, wet, and slippery, but full of interesting things to see. Below are a few photos of things that caught my eye along the way. 

  

The Cascades Trail was more strenuous than we thought it was going to be, so we opted to try Sharp Top another day. Instead we took a walk around Abbot Lake which lies in the valley among the peaks. That was a pleasant, easy walk with some good views.

Flat Top Peak

Sharp Top Peak in distance

Polly's Ordinary

Today they have something a little fancier that Polly's Ordinary. You can see the Peaks of Otter Lodge across the lake.

After stopping for Mexican food on the way home, we went back to relax at our home away from home. Ward started a 1000 piece puzzle, I read, and Wally and Theo were somewhere doing something.

Until next time...

Home Away from Home

Note: Ward, Wally, Theo, and I are on a week-long trip to the Blue Ridge in central Virginia. 

The morning is quiet. Ward is working a puzzle, and Wally and Theo have as of yet to emerge from their rooms. The sun is trying to peek through the clouds in one part of the sky while fog is shrouding the landscape in another part. It is so peaceful here where we're staying.  

The house is on 6 acres with farms all around. If Zillow has it right, the house was originally built in 1800, but it has been upgraded to the modern place we are staying today. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and just enough space for this family of introverts to find places to unwind after spending the day together.

Here are some pictures of our home away from home.

The house is down a long driveway from the main road.

In front is a huge cactus interlaced with morning glory.

There are cattle in the adjoining fields as well as this friendly horse
that Ward is feeding carrots.

There are abundant black walnut trees, and squirrels are scurrying everywhere with the nuts getting ready for winter.

The property has a small lake (pond) on it. Yesterday I saw a great blue heron fly across it.

This is the dam between our lake and the neighbors larger one next to it.

Ward and I took advantage of this swing last night.

And speaking of Ward, he's in the kitchen frying up some eggs and sausage for breakfast. I better go see if he needs any help. Next time, I'll tell you about some of the hikes we've been taking.

Until then...

Greetings from Central Virginia

 Hi, All. We're in day three of our trip to the Blue Ridge. Phone coverage is spotty, however, I checkout out a hotspot from the library that is yielding some results at the place we're staying. However, it comes and goes, and doesn't handle much data. For example, I can look at photos, but sometimes it times out before I get one posted. So we'll see how far I get with this post. BTW, libraries are great places. They have all kinds of things to check out besides books - like this hotspot. 

We left Wednesday morning right on schedule. Theo did most of the driving on our 5.5 hour trip. He planned for a hike along the way in Grottoes, VA, on the Madison Run Road Trail.

The trail started off along an old fire road before it took off up a hill.

Along the way, we found a benchmark/survey mark. These medallions accurately list the elevation at that point. Finding it, took me back to when I was doing geologic mapping. Their locations are marked on topo (topographic) maps, so I always knew for sure where I was when I found one. 

Our last stop before our Vrbo was the Bedford Visitors Center where we got brochures and maps for attractions we were interested in.

Then it was time to check-in at our rental house and relax for the rest of the evening. It is an old farm house and not close to much of anything. But I will tell you about that tomorrow. I think that's all of the connection I get for tonight.

Until next time...

Songs and A Trip

I like to sing. Always have. And I sound pretty good, except when I don't. I have a limited range, and sometimes, my voice won't cooperate with what I hear. I wouldn't say I was tone-deaf because I can hear when I'm off. I just can't always correct it, but that doesn't stop me from singing. Just ask Ward or Wally or Theo. 

All of my sisters have nice singing voices. My oldest sister is the best, and she was the leader in teaching us many songs when we were young. It was a time of folksongs, and she learned to play the guitar and sing many. That, along with all of the songs she learned in Girl Scouts, gave her quite a repertoire. The routine would go something like this. We'd eat supper, then my parents would retire to the living room to watch the evening news. We, girls, would then do the dishes. And while we worked, we sang. I loved it. (The singing part, not the dishes part.) We'd also sing in the car. Again enjoyable, but more importantly, it helped with carsickness. While it helped, I wouldn't exactly say that it always worked. But maybe I don't need to go into the details of that just now.

I sang at school, I sang at church, I sang in plays, and now I sing during storytimes. But mostly, I sing to myself. It seems that many things remind me of a song, and I just need to sing a few bars when the one pops into my head. Sometimes, when it's not appropriate to burst into song, I save it for later.

So what song just popped into my head? Leaving on a Jet Plane because of the first line, "All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..." But the way I'm singing it now is, "All my bags aren't packed, I'm not ready to go..." That's because we're leaving Wednesday morning for a week-long vacation in the Blue Ridge, and we're not ready yet. Of course, we don't have to be ready until Wednesday, so it should be okay, I tell myself when I look at my To Do list.

Where we're staying doesn't have internet, so I don't know if I will be able to check in with you during our trip. But, I'll share our adventures with you when we get back, if for no other reason than this is where I record the main parts of our trips.

Do you like to sing?

Until next time...

P. S. If I'm lucky, I will get Wally and Theo to sing with me on this trip. 

Meanderings

 In my head, I've written several blog posts since I last visited with you. And they have been very insightful as well as humorous. Too bad, my thoughts are so rapid-fire that as soon as I have one, another comes along to push the first one out of the way. So, let's see where my mind meanders today. :)

There are many more where these came from.

We have been picking up dropped apples around the broken tree limb, and although the apples are still sour, they are sweeter than the ones we tried a couple of weeks ago. They are taking a while to process because they are full of rotten places and wormholes, but I have managed to get some into the freezer for pies. While working on the apples, I thought about when I was a kid and we made lots of applesauce. We didn't have an apple tree, but my father collected bushels of dropped apples from various friends. Every day after school, we would have to make a canner load (7 quarts) of applesauce. This continued until the supply was depleted and often lasted for a few weeks. My father was always scavenging for food - I think a throwback to his childhood when he earned extra money that way. We always had a good supply of blackberries, hickory nuts, and apples from his efforts. And he was a big gardener. But that's a story for another time.

I was too lazy to take the pizza out of the oven for a picture. 

Last night, we had one of our easy, frugal, but tasty dinners. We got a cheese pizza from Aldi's (16" one for only $5.99). We added shredded rotisserie chicken from Costco (4 lb cooked weight/$4.99), peppers from Uncle Billy's garden (sweet for me and jalapeno for Ward), and tomatoes from our garden. We have pizza this way occasionally, and the toppings vary with whatever we have on hand. It easily provides a couple of meals. It could have been cheaper if we had made it entirely from scratch, but it was still a very good deal. And all we had to do was push the Easy Button. And if it's easy, we're more likely to eat at home instead of eating out. And eating at home is almost always cheaper than eating out. 

Surprise iris bloom

I had a fun surprise in the yard recently. I turned around in the driveway one day and saw an iris blooming. I got these irises from an aunt, and they have not bloomed in the two years I've had them. I know it takes a season or two for one to bloom after transplanting, so I was not worried that they hadn't. Disappointed but not worried. It was a surprise to see one blooming in September when they usually bloom in April. I'm unsure what it all means, but I enjoy the bright pop of color.

Next week, we are going to the Blue Ridge with Wally and Theo. Where we're staying is not close to any town, so we can't count on popping out to Walmart to pick up something we've forgotten. And there will be no internet, which we usually use to figure out the details of where we're going and what we're doing for the next day. I think it's time to get serious with our planning. In the meantime, work and other things are keeping us busy. 

Hope everyone gets a fun surprise this week, like my iris.

Until next time...