Virginia 2021 - Day 7: Baltimore, Return Home

Saturday morning, we packed up in the rain and headed back to PA.

On the way, we stopped in Baltimore to see some friends for the afternoon. Our original plan was to have a BBQ, and we decided to stick with it, even though it was overcast, drizzling off and on, and in the 50s.

Lani had reserved a pavilion for us at a park, and was the grillmaster for the day.

One of the other pavilions was also an outdoor gym. It's sort of a long story.

Erin would not be goaded into playing with the huge tire. It was quite heavy, which I guess is the point.

We had packed for summer weather; this was the warmest attire I could cobble together from the car.

Lani and Erin are seasoned park-BBQ experts, so we had an excellent food fest in the cold. It was like being at a fall tailgate, without having to go to a game afterward. Or perhaps where the game was "navigate efficiently through traffic".

Erin and I split a... cream soda, in the park.

The cold people eventually figured out that they could huddle around the grill for warmth.

Here we can see Sabrina, wandering off to find a bathroom, sporting the latest in random-car-blanket-over-raincoat warmth technology.

Before we left, we took a short walk down to the harborfront, to get the full low-tide experience. It was a gray and overcast day, but I'll take that over 90s and sunburn any day of the week.

After a few hours, we continued on our way back to Pennsylvania. If the weather had been "nice", traffic probably would have been horrible, given that it was Memorial Day weekend. But as it wasn't exactly a beach day, so the second half of our drive was uneventful.

Virginia 2021 - Day 6: Easy Hike, Wine, Beer

The weather was marginal again, this morning, so we lounged around the house and made plans to do things between the bouts of rain in the forecast.

When we finally headed out, we decided to stop in "downtown" Madison for some brunch. One of the only local establishments that we hadn't yet experienced was Miranda's, so we decided to try that.

We got there a few minutes before they opened (at 11 AM), and decided to wait and give it a try. It turns out they only do breakfast on Saturday and Sunday (when they open at 8 AM). Instead of brunch, we had coffee and tea with lunch, which was decent.

After carefully studying the forecast, we decided to squeeze in one more hike for the week. We were looking for something relatively nearby and not steep, which ruled out anything in Shenandoah National Park. Sabrina found Preddy Creek Trail Park, about 20 minutes from the house, which looked reasonable.

It had rained overnight and this morning, so the woods were cool and damp in the shade. We hiked the longer loop trail around the park, which showed ample evidence of recent equestrian use.

There were also some "advanced bike trails", which had these clever anti-horseback gates.

The trail was easy, wandering up and down gentle slopes for about 3½ miles, which was just what we were looking for after a week or steep hikes in SNP.

We added the optional "creek loop" that followed what we assumed was Preddy Creek for a mile or so.

There was a surprisingly stout wooden/cable-suspension bridge, in the middle of the park.  It seemed out of place. We couldn't resist crossing it, even though we didn't want to explore that side of the river.

I wondered how the mountain bikers and horseback riders were supposed to cross the bridge, as there were 5 or 6 stairs at each end. Not far past it, there was a trail that forded the creek.

It was getting hot and humid as we finished today's hike, so we donned dry shirts and once again sought a nearby vineyard. Since they're littered all over the valleys here, it wasn't hard to find one a few minutes down the road: Reynard Florence Vineyards and Winery.

As we pulled into the driveway, a fat corgi abandoned the couple he was with, at the pergola, and followed us to a parking space. He was a big fan of Sabrina, as dogs usually are.

We ordered two wine flights, then went out the back door to look for shaded seating on the deck. Ti Rey, as his tag read, escorted us.

The view from the back deck wasn't great, so we settled on a table in the front, with an umbrella for shade. This view was exactly as advertised, on the website.

Ti Rey, of course, parked himself next to us. The owners assured us he was very friendly with people (but not other dogs).

As we sipped our wine flights, the owner decided that he'd better process his burn pile, before the rain came. He then monitored it from a safe distance, while sitting on a running tractor, "for safety". Occasionally, he would drive forward and use the bucket to push some burning sticks back into the pile.

The couple that been occupying the pergola retreated to the back deck, for some shade. Shortly after, some clouds rolled in, so we seized the opportunity to finish our wine from the "best seat in the house", as the website describes it.

It was just starting to rain again, as we left the winery around 4:30 PM.

I almost convinced Sabrina that we should try another vineyard, but all of the nearby options were closing soon anyway.

As we had eaten lunch at 11 AM, we decided to have dinner earlier than usual (for most of the week, we'd been eating around 8 PM, due to almost everything being an hour away from the house).

One of the only recommendations we hadn't tried from the "welcome" paperwork hanging from a magnet on the side of the refrigerator was Bald Top Brewing.

Aside from the obvious benefits (beer), Bald Top also advertised wood-fired pizza, and was only about 3 miles from the house.

We timed it perfectly; it started pouring rain just after we got inside.

They had 20 taps, so the fact that the flight was only 8 beers seemed inadequate, but I only wanted to try 10 or 12 of them anyway.

We claimed a corner table in the semi-outdoor tent that was attached to the... barn? But it quickly became apparent that we'd have to relocate, as:

• People started closing the walls/flaps, cutting off the cool breeze (and the rain, I admit)
• There was loud music blaring from several speakers, which seemed to be getting louder due to the flaps being closed
• Some guy started bringing in instrument cases and an amp, signalling the inevitability of live music

We ordered a few personal pizzas, and once they were ready, we fled to a detached tent during a lull in the rain. Initially, we had the entire tent to ourselves.

It started raining again, shortly after we'd made our strategic move. The humidity was working wonders with Sabrina's hair.

I thought the pizza was quite good. Sabrina would've preferred it slightly crispier. In both cases, I think it exceeded our expectations, given that we were in a tent, in the middle of a field, surrounded by cows, and the pizza was made in a barn. 

On the way out, I stole a glance at their pizza oven, through the open kitchen door.

Back at the farm, we sat on the front porch and listened to the birds, cows, and goats, as the rain returned and the sun set over the mountains. We managed to time everything around the weather today, and needed neither raincoats nor umbrellas at any point.

It's allegedly going to rain, intermittently, all night and all day tomorrow. We're leaving in the morning anyway, so this doesn't present a huge problem for us, beyond the possibility of needing an umbrella while loading the car.

Virginia 2021 - Day 5: Shenandoah National Park, upper third

The days start early, here on the farm.

This morning, our alarm was a tractor pulling a mowing attachment, just after 7 AM. I took a short video from the porch, so we can relive that sound at some future date.

We had breakfast on the patio, as the tractor did laps in the adjacent field.

He was still going strong at 9:30, as we were starting to pack the car and discussing plans for the day.

(I had expectations of being woken up tomorrow morning by the hay baler, tractor loading bales, etc., but they baled and carted off the evidence while we were out for the day.)

The field looked good, with the hay in neat lines, as we left the farm around 10:30 AM.

It was a perfect day for more hiking: partly cloudy, high of 84F, and a gentle breeze.

We gassed up and drove about 45 minutes back up to Thornton Gap, entered the park, and headed north on Skyline Drive.

Our first hike today was the Overall Run Falls trail.

Sabrina spent the first half mile yelling at bugs, and attempting to sword-fight them with her hiking poles. Eventually she relented, and applied bug spray, as you can see in this action shot.

The trail was mostly downhill-but-gradual, until we reached the upper falls. The path down to the water was precarious.

We found some flat-ish rocks in the shade, and enjoyed our lunch amidst the cool rock walls of the small valley at the base of the waterfall.

Here you can see me using the behind-the-head selfie technique. Judging by my eyes, I'm not cut out for farm life.

As you can see, we wanted to blend in with the serious backpackers today, and therefore went with the wool socks and boots. (Also it wasn't as hot, and we probably should have used the boots on Tuesday, too.)

After lunch, we continued down the trail, which got increasingly ridiculous, until we found the viewing platform for the lower falls.

Overall Run Falls, the top of which is barely visible here, is the highest waterfall in the park, at 93 feet.

The view of the Shenandoah valley was also spectacular, although difficult to capture without getting too close to the edge.

Here's the best shot I could get of the falls, without risking a lethal tumble.

The edge of this rock leans out over a sheer drop of hundreds of feet.

After admiring the view for a while, we opted not to do the additional 1.5 miles to the bottom of the falls, and headed back uphill towards the parking lot. We did, however, opt to return via a different path, making it into a loop of about 5¼ miles.

We continued north along Skyline Drive, and eventually stopped at an overlook for a snack break and more planning.

We were going to just sit on the rock wall, but it was covered with tiny red ants. Thankfully, we had two camping chairs in the car for just such an emergency.

I didn't want to sit in the sun, so I turned the car around for some shade, and we enjoyed more leftover chips/salsa with some fresh guacamole, just as we had done on Tuesday.

The view was splendid, and there was a cool breeze flowing up the hillside.

We decided to squeeze in one more short hike, on the way towards the northern park entrance.

Along the way, we stopped to admire the view and caught a glint of sunlight reflecting off the Shenandoah River.

For our second, easier hike today, we parked at the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center, heading for the Fox Hollow Trail.

It was around this point that we suddenly had cell phone reception, for the first time in about 5 hours.

Sabrina had received a series of messages from our Airbnb host, detailing some problem with the (water) well pump back at the farm, explaining that they were working on alternative accommodations and/or water supply for us. We told them we'd like a place to shower, but other than that would just roll with whatever happened.

What that settled, we commenced our short hike through the site of a former homestead, complete with random rock piles/walls and a (still-maintained) cemetery.

We were once again on the lee side of the ridge, though, so the air was still and humid. The trail was fairly easy, but we still had over an hour's drive back to the house. We had considered extending this second hike along another route, but opted out and returned to the car after about 45 minutes.

After changing into flip flops and less-sweaty clothes, we received an update about the water situation; it was just a broken pressure switch, and had been resolved already. They seemed surprised that we were unconcerned about the threat of surviving one night without running water.

The view from the visitors center was completed by this inviting bench, but we didn't have any more time to sit around today.

On the drive back to the farm, we ordered takeout from Mad Local, in Madison; this proved to be unfamiliarly difficult due to poor cell coverage.

They seemed to feature their local, organic chicken sandwiches, so we both got chicken. It was very good, which was fortunate because they seemed to be just about the only place that was open.

This is not an area for a food-focused trip, it seems.

As usual, we ate on the patio as the sun set (behind the storm clouds, again).

We hiked about 6.5 miles today, again, and I didn't even need any Aleve this morning.

I'm not quite sure what the plan is for tomorrow. My vote was for more wine/beer sampling; word on the street is that some of the closer places might even be open, what with it being Friday. There was also some talk about doing another hike, though.

The weather forecast looks iffy, in the afternoon. I'll report back when I know more.