Typical for us, whenever we plan something the weather decides not to cooperate! It’s rainy in D.C. today and tomorrow of course. Karen’s 2 days off with plans to see the cherry blossoms and monuments for my birthday. But, not in the rain!

So, I’ll start this blog post with a picture of our door wreath – simple, beautiful on our blue door. And hope that we can get out and about soon to catch the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

So, we set our alarms for o’dark thirty and headed to the Tidal Basin in search of cherry blossoms. It was unbelievable all the people that were already there! I guess they were there to catch the sunrise that illuminated the area memorials and the trees that were loaded with peak blossoms! Lots of photo opportunities for families, pets, dating couples, wedding couples and just simply the view across the Tidal Basin and blossoms up close and personal. We were very lucky to get a parking spot nearby (displaying a handicap hanger or license plate will net free parking) and headed towards the MLK Memorial for a path down to the Tidal Basin sidewalk. We were not disappointed as the sun came out, the Basin water was calm and still, making for good reflections of the trees and Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. It was very congested at this level as hundreds of people flocked to take their memorable pictures. Many thousands of dollars were being carried about in cameras, filters, tripods and more. The sun was warming up, the shade still cool. Areas of mud and puddles dotted the sidewalk making for an intersting maze of people and equipment to navigate.

The cherry blossoms were fuller this year than the last time – which was later in the season – when we visited the last time we lived here a few years ago. So glad we were able to find a nice day to check them out this year. Definitely not disappointed!

Trivia Tidbit: “The National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates the 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to the city of Washington, DC, and celebrates the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.” For more information:

About Us – National Cherry Blossom Festivalhttps://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org › about-us

NOTE: All photographs are the property of this blog and taken by KLR Images. They may not be copied or shared without express written permission.

Get off the couch!
Get out of your easy chair!
Get outside and explore your own back yard
for all the wonders it holds.

Every year at Christmastime, we try to visit somewhere with holiday decorations and spirit. This year was no different. Our destination: Williamsburg, Virginia. Specifically Busch Gardens Christmastown, where Christmas shines brightest with over 10 million lights and Colonial Williamsburg. Both are reported to be decked out with holiday decorations and holiday spirit! We purchased our ‘Bounce’ tickets that would allow us to park hop back and forth, purchased our Wreath Tour tickets, reserved our Clydes and Collies tour, packed our bags, loaded the car and off we went on a holiday road trip.

Our trip starts at the hotel where this beautiful fireplace welcomed us. Then, in our room, Karen surprised me with a lovely red Christmas cactus, which I hope to keep alive! The Santa figurine was a bonus that neither of us expected, placed in the middle of the plant! I had brought the candy cane tree and gingerbread snowman with me to brighten the room for Christmas.

Our first visit was to Colonial Williamsburg to shop the Market Square and grab some local food. We knew that a holiday weekend could be difficult to find open restaurants with available seating, but we did OK as we ate at DoG Pub, Outback, Mellow Mushroom, Colonial Pancake and not so great fare at Busch Gardens.

We visited Colonial Williamsburg during the spring a couple years ago. So we knew we wanted to specifically see a couple of places – the Governor’s Palace for sure, hoping to see some fantastic decorations – outside was great, inside did not have even a tree, wreath or garland. We also took an organized wreath tour – see separate post, Wreaths of Colonial Williamsburg 2021.

We enjoyed stolling through Colonial Williamsburg. I had an interesting exchange with a costumed lawyer who seemed to take offense that I would not give him my last name. I told him I was Lady Dee of Fairfax. LOL I guess I wasn’t prepared to banter in a colonial way! Lots of costumed characters walking about on this beautiful December day. The carriage rides are very popular and all were sold out very early.

If you look carefully, you may be able to see a single candle in the windows. From its very beginning, this tradition has been a sign of hope, safety, warmth, and love. It’s origin in Irish.

We took the complimentary trolley to the Art Museum, ate lunch at the museum cafe and enjoyed looking at the displays. Loved the quilt displays!

Now that we’ve done Colonial Williamsburg proud, well, all except for my encounter with the attorney, we headed to Busch Gardens Christmastown, land of over 10 million lights. Lots of walking and uneven terrain – they need to put oxygen tanks at the top of some of the hills! But definitely, the lights were something to see, especially in Christmastown. We also saw some pretty great live entertainment, for an amusement park. The lights going across the street in Christmastown remind me of going to my grandparents at Christmas. The streets of Canisteo, NY always had decorations spanning the street. The worst lights for me were the areas with blue lights. Having limited vision to begin with, these blue lights made it incredibly difficult to see people, strollers, wandering kids and the edges of the walkways.

Probably one of the bigger disappointments was our Clydes and Collies tour. A very short interaction with one Clydesdale, named Eddie and one persnickity border collie who didn’t care to be petted much. The tour was at 5:30PM, it was dark and the lighting cast shadows making photography difficult. A bonus that I didn’t participate in but Karen enjoyed was feeding some black face sheep nearby.

Just a note about Busch Gardens – if you have any mobility issues at all, whether it’s hips, heart or health, I strongly recommend paying the exhobitant amount ($80) to rent a scooter. The first day there, I used my walker. I would have never made it a second day without that expensive scooter! And don’t be ‘cheap’ and get the wheelchair either. It won’t be easy for the person pushing you!

After an exhausting 4 days with beautiful weather at Christmastime, it was time to check out of our hotel, pack up the car once again and head home. We turned on our Christmas lights when we arrived to enjoy for a few more days before taking on the task of packing it all away again for another year.

We hope that all our friends and family had a great Christmas. We wish us all well in the new year and hope that the world gets healthier again so we can get back to our regularly scheduled travels that have been put on hold for over two years.

The business of life is the acquisition of memories.
-Carson, the butler, Downton Abbey

As I was looking for the ‘right’ pictures to post on our Christmas 2021 trip blog, I realized that these special wreaths deserved their own blog post. Strict guidelines are in place for Colonial Williamsburg residents and shop owners alike regarding their wreaths. Wreaths must be placed for a specific time and can only include local items used or found during colonial times, which may include apples, wheat, oranges, magnolia leaves, shells, pods, nuts, fruit, eucalyptus, evergreen, boxwood, pine cones, etc as pictured below. Shop owners may add specific items to their wreaths that depict the trade of the shop such as yarn, leather, ribbon, etc. If the house included children in the family, you might see toys, dolls, cards and dice as part of the decorations. Of note is the rule that if a wreath includes items from the 21st century for example, it must be taken down, reworked and rehung immediately. The wreaths must remain fresh looking and if damaged by animals (squirrels mostly) or fading in freshness they must be repaired and replaced. You might see small ribbons next to a wreath, they were awarded by independent judges from outside of Colonial Williamsburg. We had a very knowlegeable guide on our Wreath Tour, which was conducted down Duke of Gloucester (DoG) Street. Your complimentary Wreath Tour begins below. I hope you enjoy the gallery of pictures and maybe even get some incentive to create your own welcoming wreath for your door next Christmas.

Note: you may need to click on the picture to see the full image.

This concludes your tour. We hope you enjoyed it! Compliments are the best gratuity! 😉

And so it begins…getting ready to set up the Christmas Village in a very limited space this year. There are bins and boxes and stuff all over the living room, with a narrow path through it all. The tables are up, the tablecoths spread, the tree is in the corner without ornaments. Spacing of everything is critical for the finished project. It’s a mix of fall and Christmas right now. It usually takes me about 2 weeks to set up the village and I like to have it up for the Thanksgiving holiday and all of December, so I’m right on track time-wise to meet that goal.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love Christmas and decorate the whole house. When Karen and I became roommates, we doubled our holiday decorations and merged our two villages, making the village display huge! Generally speaking, all the village houses were hand-painted by me with some assistance from Karen in more recent years. Many of the accessory pieces have been purchased, but many of the figurines were also painted by me, when I had much better eyesight!

I’ve gotten to the point that I have certain story lines that I like to form with the placement of the buildings and accessories. There’s always a Candy Cane Lane, a Maple Sugar Factory in honor of my Dad, a Town Square with lighted town tree, a train and depot, a snowball fight near the ice skating rink and campfire, a farm with a tree lot and animals, a covered bridge and horse-drawn sleigh on the way to Grandmother’s house and of course the church with nativity scene.

I’ve named my town Mistletoe, after a Harlequin book I read years ago and keep a copy of the book with the village. It’s a story about a magical village that pops up once a year, just like mine.

Originally, I painted 3 of these villages, one for me and one for each of my daughters, incorporating their favorte hobbies and likes with the buildings that were gifted each year along with an accessaroy piece or two. Today, our village is a merging of Karen’s and mine with an added building in honor of her Dad and my late husband.

And now, the village is being put away once again, until it pops up next Christmastime. It’s a joy to be able to see it every day and remember the love that went into each and every handpainted piece. I would love to be able to leave it up year round, but apartments don’t factor in space for that!

So here’s my wish to each of you for 2022 (copied from a friend’s Facebook post)

Each year, my daughter, Karen, and I try to travel to somewhere interesting during the Christmas holiday. We are never 100% sure where it will be until time off from work has been approved or we are not in the middle of a move to a new state or location. Below is our yearly calendar, starting with the first year of this tradition until present day 2021.

2010 – Disneyland, California

2011 – Maui, Hawaii

2012 – San Franscisco, California

2013 – Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida

2014 – A Very Merry Christmas Disney Cruise aboard Disney Dream

2015 – St. Augustine, Florida

2016 – Fredericksburg, Texas; Ft. Worth, Texas; San Antonio, Texas, Dallas,Texas

2017 – German Christmas (Christkindlmart) Markets

2018 – Viking’s Danube Waltz River Cruise

2019 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2019 – Also Enchant Christmas D.C., Washington, D.C.

2019 – Also NYC and the Rockettes

2019 – Also a Pacific NW Cruise aboard Oceania Sirena

2020 – Biltmore Estate, Ashville, North Carolina

2020 – Epcot, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida

• 2021 – National Christmas Tree, Washington, D.C.

2021 – Busch Gardens Christmastown and Colonial Williamsburg

Wishing all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

from, Santa and Mrs. Claus

The best education you will ever get is traveling.

Nothing teaches you more than exploring the world and accumulating experiences.

–Unknown

It was another beautiful fall day in Northern Virginia with temperatures in the 70’s. All too soon it will be winter weather here with the cold temperatures and chilly winds. We just knew we had to get out of the apartment and do something! After a lengthy debate of what and where, we decided to visit a favorite spot of ours – Old Town Alexandria, founded in 1749. This area is just flooded with history that includes beautiful townhomes and many-chimnied houses from many years ago.

“A busy, historic district along the Potomac, Old Town is marked by cobblestone streets and 18th-century townhouses. George Washington slept at Gadsby’s Tavern, one of the many small museums in the area. Another is Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary, opened in 1783. Indie boutiques and foodie spots line King Street, and there are open-air eateries by the river. The Saturday farmers’ market has been operating for 260 years.” ― Google

We started our day with a couple of local errands and then headed down the road. Our first stop was lunch at Bugsy’s on King Street. One block near the waterfront, King Street is now closed to motor vehicles and is a pedestrian walkway of food options. We sat outside and enjoyed a burger, excellent hot french fries and a calzone. Of course a beer and diet coke were also consumed!

Afterwards, we walked around the corner to revisit a favorite Virginia shop where you can find everything Old Town and many Virginia and D.C. items of interest. I added this great sweatshirt to my growing cold weather collection. Sadly, the Christmas shop next door closed its doors so we consoled outselves with a delicious dish of Creamery rocky road ice cream and oreo ice cream as we people-watched from the bench outside. All too soon the ice cream was gone and the parking meter was out of time, so we headed back home to laundry, holiday decorating and an attempted nap.

On our way out of town, we passed the square where a weekly farmers’ market is held year ’round and the holiday tree was up but not decorated yet. We drove by Captain’s Row, a beautiful tree-lined cobblestone street with lots of leaves falling to the ground. We also decided to stop by the Spite House on Queen Street.

Interesting trivia about the Spite House:

• America’s skinniest home is a two-story townhouse in Old Town, Alexandria .
• Called the “Hollensbury Spite House,” it’s just 7 feet wide and 25 feet deep.
• The original owner built the home in 1830 because he was annoyed by loud alley loiterers.

It was another great day, out and about near our Virginia home!

Karen and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful November day in the 70’s and visit a place we have wanted to see for a few years, but never made it there. Nearby there are battlefields, wineries, museums and Patsy Cline’s home that can be visited.

Winchester is about 1-1/2 hours away from our current location. Toll roads or by ways? We chose the by-ways, added a few minutes to the comuute but saved $$ on the tolls and were rewarded with beautiful views along the way. We arrived in Winchester at lunch time and hungry. The diner we thought we were going to eat at, ended up not impressing us so we drove to Loudoin Street area and attempted to find street parking nearby. Unsure if the handicapped parking was no charge – there was a handicap parking sign but no pay parking meter, we asked a couple of people but they did not know either. So, Karen moved the car while I waited at the Water Stree Kitchen for lunch. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Our server was great and we enjoyed our meal. Not the cheapest lunch, but it didn’t matter. We were eating outside in a place we wanted to visit, on a sunny November day in Northern Virginia!

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Winchester boasts a 2-block walking mall – no cars allowed. We walked the entire area and it was a bit sad that the stores were closed for the most part and the place looked a bit deserted, except for a few homeless people, who did not bother us. After lunch we checked out an antique store and poke around in thre for a while. We came out empty handed. Karen was looking for the perfect birthday gift for a friend and found a store that had items she liked. And that was sum total of our walking mall shopping day! There were some historical buildings along the walking mall that were interesting, from the 1700’s adnd 1800’s. We love checking out the old buildings and fantacising about the days gone by long ago. What was that building orginially used for? Who lived in that building? Was this a one-lane road that horse and carriage traversed? You can just set your imagination to work in a place like this! As we drove thorugh town, there were several older, huge houses and buildings, many with historical markers proudly displayed.

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All in all, it was a good day for a road trip. On our way home, we stopped at a favortie grocery store to get a few things that we have been unable to find at our corner grocery store. Life is good in Virginia! Stay tuned for more Out and About blog posts as we find time to travel locally and investigate this historical area.

My apologies for the untouched photos. My computer did not want to behave today! All photos taken by Karen on an iPhone.

Step outside your front door and visit the area you live in – it’s an eye opener!

Where else can you visit an embassy AND do some Christmas shopping? The answer: Our nation’s capital, Washington, DC! We started our holiday shopping early this year and plan to attend several other local Christmas Markets in the next two months. What do you do when you are not ready to travel internationally because of health safety issues? You visit the embassy! We took some time Saturday morning to visit the Czech Embassy and do a little early Christmas shopping. One of our fond memories of the Czech Republic was visiting Cesky Krumlov – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – a couple years ago.

As we traveled along a beautiful, winding road with fall trees, meandering water and waterfalls and huge arched bridges, we marveled at the beauty around us. We passed such icons on our way as the Watergate Hotel, the first Marriott Hotel in the United States, Kennedy Center, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and traveled over the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge. Where else can you see all these historic places on a scenic drive to an embassy Christmas market?

The market was full of beautiful glass ornaments (one of which came home with us), jewelry made with Czech beads, traditional pastries, wine and food. There was also a live nativity complete with animals. The only thing really missing was a place to sit! This lack of seating is typical of the European markets we have visited.

We love going to Christmas markets both overseas and at home. The plan is to visit as many as we can locally. Not that we really NEED any more Christmas decorations but it’s fun looking and finding that one thing that speaks to you and says, “Take me home.”

Here’s a bit of history about Czech Christmas traditions –

Christmas is the most important holiday in the Czech Republic. The main part of Christmas is celebrated December 24 and is called Generous Day. It is a time when families get together, observe thousand year-old traditions in order to give thanks for the past year and bring fortune and good health to the next, and prepare the most festive dinner of the year.

As the Czechs say at this time of year

Unfortunately for the Class of ’71, our original 50th reunion plans were canceled due to COVID-19. Our overall theme for the reunion is Celebrating Us…Remembering Them. Our evening celebration is Peace, Love and Friendship. Classmates attending were encouraged to dress in 60’s and 70’s attire.

We had a great turnout for this reunion. Many classmates will be attending one of our reunions for the first time. A busy weekend is planned – Dinner celebration on Friday night, visit and tour of the old stomping grounds aka school on Saturday and a casual get-together at a country bar that has hosted our class get-togethers during previous reunions on Thursday night. I have not attended many of our reunions. It’s always interesting to see how much we’ve grown up and changed over the years. Many classmates have been married for 45+ years, have children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.

For over a year, I have been working on a 50th reunion yearbook using Shutterfly. We started out by asking classmates 10 simple questions online and then they submitted their answers. It’s been interesting reading about the many successes of my classmates. It’s also been a bit sad reading about the deaths of spouses and children. A page in the yearbook has been dedicated to classmates who have passed on over the years. I’ve also dedicated a page spread to those classmates that served our United States militaries during a very troubling time – the Vietnam War. This book was a labor of love and I’m proud of the published result, even if it was a bit difficult to get 120 clean copies in the end.

What is a guilty pleasure? A guilty pleasure is something that “one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.” Many classmates chose chocolate. Many chose bourbon, scotch, wine. Some classmates chose not to reveal their guilty pleasures or said they did not feel guilty about anything! Gardening, food, sports, spending time with family and friendships were answers to what they like to do in their free time. Hobbies varied from sewing to painting to “making stuff” to cooking or in general, just enjoying life.

My classmates are all over the world. I find it interesting that many have stayed close to home but a few have wandered a bit further. Bermuda, UK and Australia come to mind. Most, however reside somewhere in the continental United States, many in the greater Rochester area.

The over 100 classmates that responded to the survey represent many areas of our school culture – sports, music, theater and other school clubs such as DECA, honor society, cheerleaders, library, pep squad, chess and too many more to mention. These have been listed as their fond memories of high school. Also several teachers were mentioned; many had the same remembrance. Probably the two most common mentions were a female Physical Education teacher and a Music teacher. Other teachers were fondly mentioned as being guiding lights for future careers and personal development.

As time drew nearer to the reunion, a few classmates had to cancel for various reasons. Such a shame to miss such a momentous occasion! But, once again COVID rears it’s ugly head to put a damper on many events so why should our 50th reunion be any different? Even after all the stress, planning, worrying, re-planning, this 3-day weekend was great. We had a selfie booth, a couple of photographers, a DJ, a beautiful venue, games and lots of surprises, not to mention the 50-page yearbook full of memories for the class of ’71.

Not only will this 4-day trip include reunion plans, but also I have a luncheon planned with my sisters-in-law and significant others and a lunch with my nephew and his family. Karen has plans to see an ‘old’ friend who lives in the area. Busy! Busy! It’s going to be an exhausting 4 days in Rochester!

AFTER THE REUNION UPDATE:

I think we all need a t-shirt that says, “I survived my 50th high school reunion!” Such a great event took place that took 2-1/2 years to plan, many stresses (venue, wine glasses and yearbooks come to mind), connecting with our original graduating class to make sure they all knew the plans so they could attend. It was a momumental job taken on largely by one person, using the internet, email and Facebook.

Except for some inclement weather, the weekend was a huge success. Below are my event recaps as posted on Facebook.

Thursday Night – Nashville’s
It was a night of friendships lost and friendships found at our casual gathering of the class of ‘71 at Nashville’s, Thursday evening. Lively conversations were everywhere. Reminiscing and catching up. It was good to see so many familiar faces and to put names with those not readily recognized. I truly wish more classmates would participate in our reunions. I know that I’m guilty of being absent from many of the more recent ones. I had a nice conversation with Carl Hansen. Gave Edna Ash a hug. Received a bear hug from Jesse Ingram. Chatted with Kathy Doherty, Jane June, Quentin Gordon, Gloria VanGelder, Mary Ellen Toomey, Sam DeCicco and too many more to mention. I had my picture taken with Janet Magraw, Marcie Greer, her daughter Dawn and my daughter Karen Rosington. Chatted with a few more on my way to or from the little Cowgirls room. Stopped and talked to a couple of the guys – Rich Ferguson and Alan Lowe. Talked with Amy Camardo. And the list goes on. Queen Janet was the perfect hostess. She never sat down. She graciously accepted her due from the appreciative classmates. And enjoyed many glasses of Merlot. Looking forward to tonight at the Wilder Room. I’m sure more fun and connections will be made. Addresses, emails and phone numbers will be exchanged. Food, wine, and Carol Messina’s games enjoyed. Tons of selfie pictures created. And the 50th Reunion yearbook pages well turned. Until tonight…

Friday Night – Wilder Room
The ‘big’ event night at the Wilder Room was a great success thanks largely to Janet Magraw’s ongoing efforts on behalf of our class. Mention must also go out to Carol Messina, Paula Summit, DJ Bobby Rocker, Amy Camardo, the staff of the Wilder Room and of course the classmates who attended, and danced the night away. Of special note is the 50th wedding vow renewal for a classmate who was married before graduation, before her husband went to boot camp. Our photographer for the night, Karen Rosington, captured the evening’s moments which will be shared at a later date. I must also mention the inclement weather, for historical purposes. I hope you enjoyed the yearbook. I had so much fun putting it together for all of you! Next stop: back to school!

Saturday Noon – RH Central School, James E. Sperry Building
Back to School with the class of ’71 walking the halls of the James E Sperry building. It was a big school our sophomore year and even bigger in our ‘senior’ years!! Too much walking for this graduate. The breezeways are now enclosed. The library has tons of books but lacks the ambiance of the old library. The new gym is at the back of the building as a newer addition. The auditorium has new seats. The cafeteria looked the same. Comments on honey buns and peanut butter cookies were in the air. To these tired eyes, the dedicated colors of the halls and lockers were different. Luckily for a few late comers, the principal’s office was closed and no tardy slips were given. And our 50th reunion is now complete. Connections that were lost may have been found. Peace, love and friendship to all.

Family Time
Friday, Karen and I treated my 3 sisters-in-law and their significant others to lunch at a local Spencerport restaurant. It was good to see them, get hugs and update each other on what’s been happening. Saturday, it was my intention to treat my nephew and his family to lunch at another local favorite spot near the lake, but his long arm beat out my short arm when it came time to pay the bill! Afterwards, we drove along Edgemere Drive, contemplated stopping at Abbott’s, stopped at the Rochester Genesee Lighthouse for some updated pictures and headed back to our temporary base in Henrietta.

All too soon, it was time to return the rental car and get on a regional jet in the fog to head to our new home in Virginia. During the time I worked on the yearbook, I had surgeries, injuries, hospital stays, computer issues and moved a few times. But I met my deadline to finish the yearbook before our (cancelled) July reunion plans. The next problem involved getting a clean, published copy as Shutterfly had issues printing the books. Almost 400 were shipped to get the original order of 120 clean copies! Each book was unwrapped and looked through carefully to check for “blue measles” that appeared on several pictures. Finally, we had enough yearbooks, which I believe were enjoyed by all.

Now I have almost 900 pictures that Karen took throughout the weekend to look through and choose the best ones to share with everyone!

Peace, Love and Friendship to All!

Road trip! Even after driving from Florida to Virginia, Karen got behind the wheel, once again and off we went to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive for a Sunday leaf peepin’ day. This is a road trip we were unable to make during our last Virginia residence so we wanted to be sure to see it and hopefully some fall colors.

We started at Front Royal entrance, closest to us, where the colors were basically green and brown. Our first stop was at Apple House for some apple cider donuts. Still mildly warm, we sat on the back of the car and enjoyed them with the Virginia sun on our faces. This was a nice stop before continuing on to the park. Restaurant had a wait line a mile long. Clean restrooms with interesting things to read on the walls. Pretty great gift shop – but I felt the prices were a tad high.

My National Park Senior Pass saved us $30 in entrance fees and we bypassed the long line of paying visitors. The winding roads of Shenandoah reminded us a little bit of the Road to Hana in Maui, Hawaii. Lots of curves left and right, hairpin curves and switchbacks to traverse. The fall colors started to show up around Thornton Gap. There’s plenty of places to stop and enjoy the overlooks. Also plenty of restrooms along the drive. We stopped for a late lunch in Skyland, the highest point in the drive. Another entry into Karen’s Beers of the World file, with a local beer, was made.

The weather was windy and cold for this Florida blood. I can see I need to dress warmer! The day started out with sunshine and then became overcast. But we, of course saw several people in shorts and t-shirts. Karen jumped out of the (parked) car and was ready to take some pictures. A few pictures are ‘window shots’ as she drove along. She does a great job capturing all types of things, from leaves to fence posts and scenic shots too. All told, between 35mm and iPhone, 177 pictures! This was her first time on Skyline Drive. I remember a family vacation many years ago, when we visited the area and took the drive through the park. It’s always a different perspective to see something through adult eyes.

Lots of “Halloween” trees throughout the area. I can just imagine them with spider webs and ghosts! The fall colors weren’t like you sometimes see in published pictures, but they probably will pop in the next couple of weeks. Maybe next year! Note: Best viewed when the sun is shining!

Shenandoah Fun Facts:

1. Skyland Resort has hosted weary urbanites for long stays since the late 1800s.
2. Presiden Herbert Hoover and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover built their Rapidan Camp as a retreat to escape the stress of work andsummer’s heat and humidity in the Nation’s Capital.
3. Mary’s Rock Tunnel was built in 1932 and cuts through 600 ft. of mountain.
4. Rangers are available for impromptu talks. We learned that approximately 600 black bears have been recognized as residents of the park.

Your favorite explorers are back at it again. More travel blog posts to come!

Go forth and see nature’s beauty every chance you can!