August 20th, the day before Henry's sixth birthday, and he has a half day at school so we are heading to Hillsborough. No matter the generation, kids grow up so fast!
Grandma reading Henry's birthday card.
Henry really liked the scooter we got him. It helps when mom tells you what he really wants! He is a coordinated little guy which was apparent during his first rides down the cul-de-sac.
It was a cul-de-sac birthday celebration with all of the neighborhood kids joining in the fun. Katie baked 40+ cupcakes!
Henry, Grandma and I really enjoyed celebrating your birthday with you. It was a fun time. And to think, you are six years old. Wow!
Well, I was wrong. Bad adventures do not come in pairs, Gretchen and I had a third. Monday (7/28), we headed north to Union Springs on Cayuga Lake to pick up the boat for our scheduled Erie Canal trip. When we stepped into the cabin of the boat, there was an odd odor which we thought smelled like a petroleum distillate of some kind. After spending a half hour on the boat, we found the odor was stronger in the rear of the boat near the gas tank. It did not smell like fresh gas, rather it smelled like some gas had spilled and was not cleaned up. We knew we could not spend a week on the boat. Gretchen was getting a headache after only an hour in the cabin. I called the owner and told him we could not do the trip and asked for our money back. To his credit he agreed with no hassle. Did I mention the boat was billed to be " hotel clean" but had cat and human hair on the cushions, an empty water bottle and used tissues stuffed behind the TV, cobwebs in the corners, dead bugs on the curtains and the AC filter had not been cleaned in years. Oh, and there was a big hole where the refrigerator was supposed to be! Leaving the marina, we were frightfully disappointed because we really wanted to cruise on the canal, go through the locks and visit the small towns along the way.
The hour was late and we headed to Ithaca because we remembered the Moosewood Restaurant from our visit with Sue Dapcic four decades ago! Sampling the fare at the Moosewood on that trip prompted us to buy one of their cookbooks and incorporate vegetarian items into our weekly menus.
We called Sue to tell her we were remembering our visit with her as we waited for our meal. The restaurant is still packed, and the food excellent. The last minute deal we got at the Lakefront Inn was super, with its Tuscan style rooms and excellent breakfast! Bad Adventure #3 is beginning to fade.
View of Cayuga Lake from our room at the Lakefront Inn.
Home after another night in the Olmes B&B (Thanks Pris and Phil), Gretchen suggested we take our inflatible boat to the dealer in Annapolis for warranty repairs. It will be a good road trip for our 44th anniversary she said; yep, that is not a typo....it is 44 years! So Friday we headed to Annapolis, then to Baltimore for an Orioles game. Walking around the city brought back memories as we lived in Baltimore for over two years after we were married. What a wonderful job the city has done with the waterfront. None of it existed in the early '70s when we were residents. Great fun at the park...got to eat Boog Powell's barbecue, drink some Goose Island beer, and act like a die hard fan (even though we can't name a player or tell you what place the team is in)...plus the Orioles won!
On the way home we stopped and walked around historic Fredericksburg. What a neat downtown! We discovered the Saturday farmer's market and had an excellent lunch at Sammy T's. Great road trip, Gretchen...what shall we do next? Bad Adventure #3, just a glimmer in memory!
We're staying with Pris and Phil for a few days on our way to the Erie Canal so Gretchen can spend some time with her mother. I brought my bike to ride while Gretchen is with her mother. So, 44 minutes into my first ride, I had just crested a hill and was trying to recage my water bottle. But....during the process I started to go down the hill and applied the brake (front) with my free hand (left) and it must have been to hard....for I found myself falling to the pavement. No cars, no dogs, just me! Gretchen could not keep herself from sending this photo to all the relatives. The collar is just a precaution anyone with a head injury endures in the ER until the doctor checks you out. I'm writing this the day after and I'm fine with only some facial abrasions and three stitches. The only joint that really hurts is my left shoulder that I injured a month ago. It was almost back to normal but I must have jarred it in the fall because it feels like it did a month ago! I am grateful for the folks on Second Mountain Road just north of Schuylkill Haven who helped me out. They were just super!
BTW, yesterday was a bad day for the Morgan's as my sister threw her back out loading her car to come to PA, had to go to the doctor, and ended up lying flat in bed for the rest of the day. Hope you get well soon, Sally!
It is a very good thing that bad adventures come in twos, for now I know I'm done with them for the foreseeable future!
Years ago we watched a public television fund raising program by a very talented band called O.A.R (Of A Revolution). They had a unique sound highlighting a super sax player, a very talented lead singer and great guitar player. O.A.R is a staple on our "driving" playlist. So when we saw they were going to be in Portsmouth, we got tickets, thinking it would be a good Adventure.
Well, it was not! The concert was horrid. The sound system was so loud we had to flee our good center seats to find respite from the din in the far left corner of the venue. The super sax player was gone, the talented lead singer could not be heard over the roar of the instruments. The Revolution has left us behind; blaring hard rock is not our staple. Thank goodness we have songs like Turn the Car Around, City on Down and Hey Girl on our iPhones that displayed the band members' talents! The best part of the evening was leaving the concert early!!
Adventures being what they are, have many components and we loved visiting the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk; it is free and fabulous! We also got to explore downtown Portsmouth for the first time. It's a pleasant, walkable city center. Our room for the night was at Smithfield Station, a very nice marina/hotel complex on the Pagan River. So all was not horrid on the trip. But in the future, I think we'll stick to venues like Garth Newel!
Henry was with Jim and Linda last week and they went to their lake house for the weekend. We picked him up at Lake Gaston so we could also get Katie's Laser which I have volunteered to restore.
Monday
We took the Laser out to the sail club, had a picnic lunch and a good time swimming with Henry. We also stopped at the Bridge on the way home for ice cream and Henry got to feed the carp.....a real thrill for him!
Mint ice cream with huge dark chocolate chips.
Tuesday
The surprise today was to ride the Amtrack Northeast Regional from Lynchburg to Charlottesville. So we got up real early to hit the rails! Grandma dropped Henry and I off at the station and then drove on to Charlottesville to pick us up.
Henry watching the train back up the siding to pick up passengers.
We had a fun time on the train and Henry told his dad it was the best thing we did all week! We hit our normal round of stops at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's in addition to getting Gretchen a new bike helmet at Performance. We then made it home for lunch. I felt like I was in the Army, "getting a full day in before lunch!" In the afternoon, Grandma and Henry went to the spray park.
Riding the rails!
Wednesday
This morning Grandma, Henry and I went for a ride on Blackwater Creek. It was a hot day but we had a good ride. I wondered why Henry was weaving around a lot since he did not do that earlier this year. Then I noticed his tires were almost flat. When I pumped them up, they were both under ten pounds and their range is 45-65 psi!
After lunch, Grandma took Henry to the spray park and on the way home they just had to try out the fare of the new ice cream truck at Boonsboro Shopping Center!
Thursday
Grandma took Henry to Amazement Square where he got to work the locks on the James River Canal exhibit....a favorite activity on each visit. One of the first things he told me was he got in trouble at the museum. They are undergoing a major rennovation and when he went down one of the chutes, he found himself in a construction zone. Guess they didn't block off all of the chutes they needed to!
First photograph made with solar print paper!
We played Go Fish all week, a game Henry loves. But we also taught him how to play Old Maid. He finally came around to liking the game, but I must say the first time he ended up with the Old Maid card, he had quite the melt down! Late afternoon, Kelley and Maggie arrived for the Fourth of July weekend!
Friday
VISA Game Day at the lake was the activity of the day. We met Katie, David and Audrey at the Club and a great time was had by all; swimming, sailing, playing the games, listening to the live music and eating! Henry obviously loved it because he wanted to go back to the lake on Saturday to "play with his friends!"
First team to fill the cup with cereal wins!
Maggie and Audrey decided eating the Fruit Loops was a better idea!
Cousins.
Maggie and Grandma.
Great week with Henry and then having everyone here for the Fourth. It was a special week!
Henry was excited to learn he had a candy bar named after him!
We departed for Marlinton, WV, at the very civilized hour of 10 a.m. Our first adventure started in Warm Springs when Gary turned the "wrong" way. But knowing he is a meticulous planner, we followed and shortly arrived at Jason's for lunch. Jason's food was wonderful, but just let me say that his burger & fries would feed an NFL offensive tackle! After checking into the Locust Hill Inn, we went to Beartown State Park. It's an interesting place with a boardwalk through these really unique rock formations. Gretchen and I remember visiting this park with the girls....a long time ago. I wonder if they remember walking the boardwalk?
Dinner was at the Pretty Penny Cafe in Hillsborough; an old haunt of ours now under new ownership with fine vegetarian fare. And the great thing was that Laurie did NOT order skim milk! Locust Hill Inn has beautiful grounds and a fine porch, so where we had cocktails and watched the sunset. The men also watched the ladies doing laps up and down drive way to satisfy their Fitbits.
Our porch!
Friday
It was a beautiful day to ride the Greenbrier River Trail with blue sky, low temperature and humidity! We rode from Marlinton to Cass and back (49 miles). We ate lunch in Cass at the train depot where we got to see several of the excursion trains.
In the evening, we went to First Fridays in Lewisburg (Coolest Small Town in American 2011). The downtown was packed and we had a hard time getting a parking place. A band was playing at the center city park, people were milling around shops and galleries; it was a fun time! We had dinner at Food and Friends, an excellent restaurant!
Saturday
Another beautiful day for riding and we did, from Renick to Marlinton (31miles) with lunch in Seebert. The Inn has a pub that is open on the weekends so we had an early dinner there before heading to the Marlinton Opera House for the surprise show Gary promised. It was Hilby the Skinny German Juggling Boy! Hilby was a juggling artist and comedian who had an amazing stage presence. He had every one in the audience laughing, clapping and yelling; it was a really entertaining evening!
Sunday
Today, we left our bikes rest in the barn and went to tour the Green Bank Radio Telescope facility. It has a really neat visitors center with a tour of the telescopes and a great exhibit hall.
One thing that caught my eye was a Jansky unit displayed by typing its value out, the long string of zeros lining the hallway on the way to the auditorium. A Jansky unit is 10 to the minus 26 watts per square meter per hertz. It measures the strength of radio waves. We're talking really minute strengths here. Imagine a 100 watt light bulb. Now reduce its light by a thousand, that is 0.1 watts; not reduce its light more to the Jansky level.....its would be 0.000000000000000000000001 watts. That is a really small amount of light! The point is astronomers measure really weak radio signals coming from space and.....when we are exposed to their realm, our minds are boggled by the numbers they use! Karl Jansky was a pioneer in radio astronomy who worked for Bell Labs. His first antenna is on display at Green Bank. Dinner at the Locus Hill Inn Pub was so good last night, we ate there again tonight. If we head to Marlinton again, we will happily stay at this wonderful Inn!
Gretchen's photo of the poppies in the garden.
Monday
Time to head on home. But wait there is more! Our first stop was at the Pearl Buck birthplace for the 10:30 a.m. tour. It is an interesting stop. We knew a bit about Pearl due to her affiliation with RMWC and some of us had read The Good Earth, but we were really surprised at the total number of books she wrote. We had no idea!
Do you know the origin of the phrase "pop goes the weasel?" We learned one plausible origin on the tour. A yarn spinner's weasel in the old days was a rotating device used to measure a specified length of yarn. When the length was reached, the weasel popped a button out to stop the wheel turning. Hence the term "pop goes the weasel!"
Greenbrier Resort
Lunch was at the Stardust Cafe in Lewisburg where salads were the fare of the day. Then we went to The Greenbrier to tour the bunker. The bunker was built to house Congess and their staff members for up to sixty days in case of a nuclear attack. It was constructed in 1958 and kept secret for thirty years. It is a fascinating tour, well worth the price of admission. The design was neat because parts of the bunker were used by the hotel for public functions with no one knowing they were actually in the bunker. Gretchen and I think we'll have to take in a stay at The Greenbrier, it is an impressive hotel! Did you know they do not list any room prices on their website?
Double Nickles 2014 was another great tour. Thanks to Gary and Laurie for you excellent planning!
Fun day at Smith Mountain Lake with friends. Rowing, canoeing, kayaking, motoring SunShower (no wind), tin foil dinners and Dutch oven cooking were all on the agenda.
Where's Gretchen?
Good job Emily!
David and I broke out our Dutch ovens after several years in storage to make desserts; an apple cobbler by David and a pineapple upside down cake by me. Thanks David, it was fun cooking with you once again.
Oh well, almost got it to flip cleanly!
After dinner, we sat around and watched dusk settle over the lake; peaceful ending to the day! Note: we arrived at VISA to find the water off in the bathrooms due to a water line break. So, figuring all of our guests are avid outdoor people, we broke out the buckets to flush manually. And true to our guess, toilets were not a problem. Next year Gretchen and I will try to schedule to see how we do without electricity!
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