August 2019 – Adventures of Roy and Laurie

August 31, 2019August 31, 2019

The Smithsonian Museum Of African American History And Culture.

With a few days to linger around the DC area we decided to visit the African American Museum of History and Culture located near the Washington Monument. Our campground was only a 1/2 hour Metro ride away from the Smithsonian stop on the Orange Line. It is amazing what you can see and do in DC while on your way to a museum!

Standing on the National Mall we observed the Washington Monument. It is still being renovated so no tours today.

We simply turned around and saw the Capitol Building. Wonder what important legislation is being discussed there today?

That is the world’s largest cairn right here in downtown DC with no trail to follow along the ridgetops? It is in the shape of a mushroom and all the placards surrounding it discussed all things fungal. We particularly like the cool bench to sit on and contemplate.

Before the museum we stopped in to the Hamilton restaurant for lunch. Probably the best dining experience either of us have had….maybe except for the dinners at the Mount Washington Inn in Bretton Woods, NH.

A bit out of our league fancy-wise but casual atmosphere at the same time and ….was the service to die for!

A hopping place these days?
And right next door?? Wow.

Laurie is keeping good company!
This memorial to WWI and Pershing was incredible to read through

We finally made it to the museum at around 1pm when the gates open for folks who do not have a pre-reserved viewing time. As with most other Smithsonian museums, 4 hours was not quite enough to see all there is to offer so we will have to return in the future. At least all the Smithsonian museums are free to enter so coming back is not a problem.

Unbelievable how they were all jammed into the confined space.

A bit blurry but, after being in Harpers Ferry, WV recently the story that Nat Turner’s bible carries is amazing.

Ironically, each rebellion ended up being a setback in the fight for the rights that they were actually trying to achieve.

Don’t think they had anyone but land owning white men in mind here.

This is an actual action block for slave sales.

Proud to know that my Alma Mater, Cornell, was one of the first universities to allow some form of integration.

Hopefully decriminalization of marijuana will help ease mass-incarceration.

Although many black soldiers served in the Civil War, most did not receive the smallest bit of respect from society after.

After traveling around the Southern states recently we saw very little evidence that prejudice and bias exist to this extent but…..we are white.

Douglass’ quote is saddening but, most likely reality back in the later 19th century.

Nice that even some politicians can learn from living life.

Jim Crow laws were an abomination in the south.

Hard to believe this occurred fairly close to our lifetimes?

The banjo is an instrument imported to the states by African Americans.

Cool history but amazing that places like this needed to exist. We wonder if their residents had any interaction with the local Native American population.

A bit of a history refresher here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford

Washington has such amazing architecture but it is strange to think that many of the buildings were built with slave labor.

August 26, 2019August 26, 2019

A Great Day At The Site Of The Two Battles Of Bull Run…Or Is It The Two Battles of Manassas?

The Confederate army liked to use cities or towns as names for battles such as Manassas, while the Union army like to use geographical landmarks such as Bull Run. A run in this area is another name for a stream or creek. This naming is also apparent at the battle of Antietam (river), or the battle of Sharpsburg (city). This is a national park run by the NPS. From our travels we absolutely love how the NPS administers its parks. We took 5 separate hour long walking tours of the battlefields. After that, we temporarily considered ourselves experts on both the 1861 first Bull Run and the 1862 second Bull Run battles.

They had many vintage artillery pieces such as the one pictured above. There was actually one cannon missing as it was stolen back in the 1960s. They are still getting leads as to its whereabouts but no luck recovering it yet.

This style of farm fence was prevalent during the times of the battles. Soldiers from both sides often used them as a shield from flying musket balls. I don’t think I would have much faith in that protection but, what was option B?

We were very intrigued by the fact that most of the dead from the battles were simply buried in very shallow graves right where they fell.

Even months later dead were being discovered unburied. As recently as 2016 the remains of soldiers are still being found.

It took a number of years after each battle to find a proper place to bury all the dead from both sides. Being victorious, most Union soldiers were re-interred at Arlington National Cemetery but the Confederate burials were left to private organizations in the Southern States and often occurred at cemeteries like this one near the battlefield.

This structure is called “The Stone Building”. Go figure! It was a tavern turned into a makeshift hospital for both battles at Bull Run.

Much of the building is still original and authentic to the period. The docent pointed out the split in the floorboards here. The boards in the front have been replaced but the ones in the back are original and surely saw many bloody spills. It felt very strange standing on them.

There were many different styles of uniform used on both sides of the conflict.

We thought this entryway to a driveway in Virginia was excellent. Confederate soldier on the left and Union soldier on the right.

This is the uniform of the NY 5th Brigade.

Amazing and scary too. Could not imagine being involved in such a conflict.

This is the restored Henry House. Unfortunately for it’s owners the Henry family it was located on a hill of significant military strategy. Judith Henry was bedridden at 85 years old when a projectile crashed through the house taking off one of her legs. She died of complications due to infection the following day.

Judith is buried right in her front yard with her two sons that did not perish in the battle.

The tour guides were very good at discussing where exactly in the area the lines for each side formed and how the artillery was used.

Could not imagine having one of these aimed in my direction!

We found this to be amazing! Before being discharged from duty in 1865 the Union soldiers thought it important to honor their dead. They built a monument to honor the dead Union soldiers during the two battles a few years earlier.

No post regarding Bull Run would be complete without a picture of Stonewall Jackson. It says “Here Stands Jackson Like A Stonewall”.

August 23, 2019August 23, 2019

Smithsonian Air And Space Museum Annex….The Udvar-Hazy Center.

We have visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum many times over the years and still find something new to see. We were not aware that the “Annex”, as this place is known, was even a thing. This place was so fascinating that we chose to come back the next day to finish up our viewing. We did our first virtual reality experience on day one as well as watching two movies at their IMAX called “Secrets of the Universe” and “Apollo 11”. We also took a docent guided tour for a few hours of extra information and stories. The docent was a former physicist that helped out with the shuttle program.

This was an awesome entryway. It was designed to honor all that have been involved in the flight industry.

Even though we were there on two separate days, we could not remember its name.

The middle tall structure is the observation deck that allows you to watch planes take off and land at Dulles International Airport. Very cool.

This is an experience that everyone must try. We were being transported into space and then around the International Space Station. At certain times we were holding on to avoid falling or getting out of the way of flying debris. The motion was really minimal but the graphics were “out of this world”.

We spent the majority of our time the first day exploring the space shuttle Discovery. It was placed here right after its last flight so much of it looks “used”. We much more enjoyed seeing all the authentic pieces rather than totally restored ones

What an awesome looking plane. The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. This stealth plane could fly at mach 3 or 3 times the speed of sound (761 mph is mach 1). There were only 32 of them ever built.

The Air France Concorde or, the SST as I remember it back in the day (Super Sonic Transport). Most US airports did not allow them to land as they created a very loud sonic boom as they surpassed the speed of sound. Growing up near the airports in NYC I distinctly remember those booms on occasion. There were only 12 ever made and a roundtrip from Europe to the states cost $12,000 in the 1970s.

Another fabulous view of this amazing plane.

The Enola Gay was a B29 bomber that delivered the atomic bomb to Japan to end WWII. One of the Japanese visitors who lived through the ending of the war saw the exhibit and told the staff he was thankful the US dropped the bomb because it probably saved millions of Japanese lives. He said most Japanese would have died trying to defend the homeland if we needed to actually invade to end the war.

The Enola Gay seen here has been totally restored. Too bad they did not leave it in the condition it was in when the museum got it?

They had a huge exhibit on plane engines. Very nicely done.

They also had the engines from prop planes in the exhibit next to all the generations of jet engines.

Their exhibit regarding helicopter flight was also top notch.

This rotorcycle was extremely intriguing to us.

We hiked on the AT with a pilot of one of these Intruder fighter jets in Vietnam. Tom was quite the character and said he wished he could have taken us for a ride in one.

Back in the days before digital photography spy planes would mount their film cameras under the body of the plane in one of these capsules. When the film was used up it would be dropped to a plane at lower altitudes waiting to catch it for developing. Boy have we come a long way in the past few decades eh?

Below are some of the many photos of COOL planes we snapped:

If you are ever near our nation’s capital make sure and visit the Annex. It is free but you do need to pay the $15 airport parking fee.

August 19, 2019August 19, 2019

Cycling Through History On The C&O Canal.

Back in the Spring of 2013 we had a week or so off for Spring break from teaching and chose the historical Chesapeake & Ohio Canal; aka The C&O Canal. We had 5 fabulous days of cycling from Cumberland, MD to Harpers Ferry, WV. It was a bit cold but that also meant we had the path basically to ourselves. Here is a snapshot of our 2013 bicycling segment of the C&O Canal.

6 years ago it was a bit colder and we had a bit more camping gear.

The NPS provides wonderful hiker/biker sites for free every 5 miles or so. They even provided free spit wood for our campfires.

Check out the mirror images here. The canal water was extremely still on this March day.

The Paw Paw tunnel was closed…
we had a 2 mile walk over the mountain

Little did we know when we had this picture snapped in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 6 years ago we would someday actually complete the Appalachian Trail!

Fast forwarding to 2019 and 2 days of warm and fabulous weather to finish the C&O Canal. We bicycled the last 63 miles of the canal path from Harpers Ferry to the Georgetown district of Washington, DC. The canal path is not paved so we pulled out the same trusty tires that we had used in 2013. Modifying our tandem so the wider tires would fit meant taking the fenders off and hoping it would not rain.

We are not sure if the tandem has ever been that dirty? Time to run it through a car wash when this ride is over.

The logistics of this trip included the bike, the scooter and the truck.

Pictured are the towpath for the canal and a lockhouse where the lock keeper lived and worked.

A few of the many locks have been restored to almost working condition. Fascinating.

And in some of the locks were left so we could also see the original pieces of the once working canal system.

A restored canal boat. We wondered if any of the boats way back in the day actually looked that nice?

The water from the mighty Potomac River fed the canal system back in the day.

We wondered if these cliffs were man made by blowing them out to make room for the canal?

This area on the Potomac called Giant Falls reminded us of the rivers in the White Mountains, NH.

I wondered where my partner in bike crime was?

A detour?
Nicely done by the NPS

As the canal corridor is federally protected land there are many species of animals that call it home:

Not sure if this was a turtle family or simply a party to celebrate the warm weather?

This duck does not seem happy that his party is being crashed by all those turtles.

We are not sure why many of the turtles appear splayed out on the logs. All 4 legs are stretched to their fullest.

The deer here were not timid at all. They simply looked up to make sure we were only human beings and not a larger animal and then kept on eating.

There seemed to be a blue heron such as this one conveniently spaced out along the canal path. They are really fun to watch when they are hunting for their dinner or as they take flight to escape us.

Not sure what this reptile is called but boy was it fleet a foot.

Happy to be back on the bike after months on the hiking trails.

August 18, 2019August 18, 2019

A Few Days Of Rest And Relaxation!

Before heading north toward Philadelphia and our long awaited Mark Knopfler concert we kicked back and relaxed for a few days in the Shenandoah National Park.

Time to say goodbye to an old friend. After thousands of miles on my back it was time to retire the EMS pack.

One more AT story that will go down in our history books as the most interesting bear encounter ever. The day before ending our AT hike we were hiking along a ridge with thunder clapping in the distance. As I try to do on a regular basis, I tapped my sticks together and cleared my throat to let any unsuspecting bear know that we were in the area. Well, this time I guess that backfired as I scared a bear about 40 feet up in the tree so much that it had a controlled fall to the ground about 10 feet in front of me. It landed with a thud on its back and immediately bounced to its feet and lumbered away. All this happened so fast that we did not have any time to be scared. After he was gone, the goose bumps appeared on my arms and I had to laugh aloud at what had just happened. I was carrying bear spray today for some reason but did not even think of reaching for it?

This was the site near our site at Loft Mountain Campground in the Shenandoah NP. The rangers already “hazed” the bear to no avail. Now the plan was to try and trap the pesky bear and relocate it. We saw the teenager black bear the day before.

After the bear gets trapped, how far away will they have to move it so it cannot find its way home?

Waiting for a pint or two at the Devil’s Backbone Brewery.

A flight of hard ciders at the Bold Rock Cidery. Jazz in the background made for a very relaxing time.

We thought we were going to relax at the cidery but they made us “scale the mountain” to get there!

We had some of the best ribs ever at Hank’s a few years ago during a spring break hiking trip here so…..no better place to celebrate the completion of a LONG hike.

We were not sure if we should drive the truck with the Bullet over this rickety bridge? The sign did say that the RV campground was on the other side? Don’t think the barricades on the sides of the bridge would do much good.

August 17, 2019August 17, 2019

One Final Post Regarding The AT.

Finishing the Appalachian Trail has been a longstanding goal. My first hike on it was in NY near Bear Mountain back in my high school days. Shortly after meeting Laurie we started backpacking the AT in states near us starting with Massachusetts. After Mass, CT, NY and VT in 2007 we had an idea that someday we might actually walk all 2192 miles from GA to ME. That day was last week when we hiked into Powell Gap along the Skyline Drive just south of Front Royal, VA. It is tough to describe the emotions I felt as we crossed the imaginary finish line after 15 years of planning and hiking but one thing is for sure; being able to finish the trail with my best friend and wife was a dream come true.

Views like this made Virginia one of our favorite AT states.

Notice the white blaze painted on the rocks. I think that was the trail maintainer’s way of saying “not to close to the edge son”.

I am not an expert on any type of flora but these fungi were very impressive. The fact that no one stepped on them as they were right in the middle of the trail is impressive too.

There have been trail closures before but not for construction of a power line. This detour added about a half mile to the already grueling day of 17 miles.

We were hiking through the area of the recent tragic murder on the AT and found these newly posted 911 signs every mile through Amherst County, VA. If you look closely you can see it was a rush job to get these signs up. It does clearly give instructions for your “saftey” Great idea though in the age of cell phone useage.

We hiked by/through many old home foundations along the AT corridor. This one has a very eerie looking chimney don’t you think?

Our map kept telling us how far we were from the “foot bridge” over the James River. We had no idea it was called that because it was named after a dude named Foot!!

This bridge is built more sturdily than many of the regular bridges we have driven over.

This shelter was built in a stunningly beautiful setting right next to a roaring stream. Not sure I would sleep there in a rain storm though. I could not imagine being caught in a flash flood in this narrow river valley.

The grave of George Pearis is in the AT corridor. The fairly large city of Pearisburg, VA is named after him.

Our last hike on the AT was a short 6 mile hike. It criss-crossed the Skyline drive 4 times in that 6 miles. At each road crossing the NPS places a cement marker with a steel band wrapped around it. They put the familiar AT symbol facing the road and the mileages to certain points of interest along the trail on the band.

We snapped this photo in 2010 during our bike ride down the Skyline Drive/Blue Ridge Parkway. We figured we would be back to hike the AT in the area some day.

There it is!! The end of an epic journey awaits just across the street. There is nothing unique or special about Powell Gap but it is a very special place for us now.

August 16, 2019August 16, 2019

Monticello. The Fabulously Interesting And Gorgeous Estate Of Thomas Jefferson.

This was our third visit to Monticello. The conservancy has done a great job creating new exhibits and keeping old ones up to date and historically relevant. It was a very warm day but, being on top of the mountain helped a bit. We figure that is certainly one reason Jefferson chose the spot. The other must have been the absolutely wonderful views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. He also used the view to oversee the construction of his proudest accomplishment, The University of Virginia (UVA).

Strange to see scaffolding on the house.

Check out the website www.monticello.org/plastering It is very interesting.

Montalto view from Monticello. Jefferson owned this mountain also and had grand plans for an observatory there but that never materialized.

I am usually not a huge fan of walking through someone else’s gardens but…..

A wee bit of history here. Many of the flower varieties were from seeds brought back to Jefferson by Lewis and Clark from their expedition out west

Along with all the flowers and vegetables Jefferson grew cash crops like these tobacco plants.

I do not think I have ever seen a cotton plant up close.

Gorgeous trees! Although many looked old……

This red cedar (small tree in the center) is believed to be the only remaining tree from when Jefferson was still alive.

The ice house. Something we do not use anymore in our modern times. Read about it below.

Even the Founding Fathers had to go sometime!

Imagine standing downwind of this vent on a hot summer’s day?

This “buggy” is called a phaeton. What a fun looking ride! We suppose this was the luxury model back in the day?

Something Jefferson and I have in common is the passion for measurement.

The odometer above for his phaeton would ring a bell every tenth of a mile so Jefferson could easily keep track of his progress. Check out the detailed gearing!

Jefferson’s log book of distances near Monticello

The Levy gravesite on Mulberry Row at Monticello. They purchased the home in the 1800s and made very few repairs or modifications to the estate. This made the conservancy’s job much easier to restore the estate to Jefferson’s time period. 75% of what we saw was authentic and actually present during Jefferson’s life. Gotta love that.

The splendid gate and fence were funded by the US Congress many years after Jefferson’s death. It was more for security purposes than aesthetics.

Note the 3 major accomplishments he wanted listed on his tombstone. Being President was not one of them. Seems as though the religious freedom issue is rearing its head again in today’s politics. Wonder what Jefferson would have to say today?

Had to snap a photo of this romantic elder couple. Very inspiring indeed.

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019

The Appalachian Trail At A Turtle’s Pace?

We hike at around 2.5 mph these days. That seems like a turtles pace in today’s world. For some reason, the state of Virginia is loaded with these turtles. They like to sit in the middle of the trail and wait for someone to come along and harass them. We, of course, do not harass them, we simply admire their prehistoric beauty before moving on around them. Occasionally we actually get to see them walk. They can move surprisingly quickly. It reminds us of the Looney Tunes race between Bugs Bunny and Cecil Turtle: Check it out by clicking the link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymQHdMEUrQ

See the resemblance to Cecil, or was it Chester Turtle?

This is Chester. Notice the back legs revving up to go.

A slightly more fleet-a-foot animal we have come across on a regular basis in the Shenandoah National Park is the black bear. We usually do not have time to snap their photo as they are in the process of a quick retreat (thank goodness) but this one above has a story. I will call the story “My stand-off with Yogi”. I was not making enough noise to warn the bear of my presence so we met about 10 yards apart and looked at each other with interest. Maybe it was a bit of trepidation on my part? Protocol says never to run away from a bear as they will see it as an invitation to chase you. I yelled and banged my sticks together at first. I got “the look”. You know, the look. He did not budge and was right in the middle of the trail. I slowly backed off to 100 yards or so and monitored its movement, or lack thereof. It would not take its eyes off me either. After 20 minutes or so it slowly motivated away up the hill. I hustled by the spot where it was. This was on an uphill incline so hustle might be the wrong word. When a trail is fairly steep, trail builders use a thing called a switchback to lessen the grade. This trail “switchbacked” right toward the bear again! Damn. As luck would have it, I did not see Yogi again as I walked back toward the scene of our first meeting but at a slightly higher elevation. Walking away from the situation I realized that, indeed, Yogi was a civilized bear.

Would you dare walk the path under this hanging boulder?

We love geography but had never heard of the Eastern Continental Divide. Guess it makes sense though.

We remember this mountain from our tandem bike trip a few years back. It is the summit of an 18 mile hill climb out of the James River Valley on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Apple Orchard Mountain is famous for its “radome”. It is basically radar antennae protected by a covering in the shape of a sphere (in this case). Back in the Cold War (are we entering another one?) it was a fairly classified place. Guess the planners did not realize that the Appalachian Trail meandered right by it.

We have occasionally taken a bit of time to live a life outside of hiking the Appalachian Trail. Buchanan, VA is home to Reggae On The River. An annual event. This year it was 95 and humid but the music and flowing beer made for a very nice evening.

August 10, 2019August 10, 2019

Cycling The Virginia Creeper Trail.

While hiking the AT with friends Scott and Kathy they mentioned that when they were driving down they stopped in Abingdon, VA. They checked out a path called the Creeper Trail and recommended it to us. Here we are! The trail meanders right by our campsite and that happens to be the exact halfway point of the 34 mile long bike path. We chose to take two days to ride the entire thing. Each day we left our campsite and headed out 17 miles to both termini and then back. Absolutely gorgeous trail!

Waiting patiently for the photographer and the cyclist that will push my big butt along the trail.

We also found some really cool colored rocks lining the trail; this would make a great oil painting.

This is what the old railroad bed looks like..

Just to think that this oak tree started growing around the time the Civil War was going on.

Who said cows have no intelligence? It was 90 degrees and they are either in the water or in the shade. This pic was taken from one of the trestles we rode over that used to carry the trains.

We think this gal had no idea what we were doing up on the trestle. The bike makes a freight train like noise when it goes over the now wood planked trestle/bridge.

Our tandem bike is set up for riding on the road with skinny tires. Although the trail is very nicely done and maintained it is still not a road. Much better suited for mountain bikes. We always carry a spare tire and a few tubes. And, yes, just in case of multiple flats, we have a patch kit…..we think we packed it?

Our first flat came about 1/3 of the way back to our camper. It was on the front tire which is much easier to fix than the rear.

10 minutes later……hssssss….another flat, this one on the rear tire! We had already used the spare tube on the front and the old tube from the front was not patchable as it split at the seam from hitting a large rock at high speeds.

We did find an old patch kit in the front bag and managed to stick a patch to the rear tube after failing a few times. This made me very nervous as we still had 10 miles to go with no other available fixes if we got another flat. We held our breath those last 10 miles and did make it back to the Bullet. In the morning I drove to one of the many bike shops in town and bought a new patch kit and a bunch of spare tubes! Fool me once……the saying goes.

A view of what the trestles look like as you approach them on the trail.

Most of the trail followed an awesome creek/river. There were many spots to pull over and cool off if one desired.

There was still an old station in operation at Green Cove. They turned it into a museum and concession shop. Very tastefully done.

Here is what the station looked like back in the 1800s

They told us that When the owners sold it to the conservancy they simply left all the items on the shelves and they have been left that way since.

Some of these items were a bit before our time but we did have some memories.

I did not use one of these during my 32 years teaching!

As the depot was also the local post office they had the prices of stamps throughout the ages. Check out the drop in price from 1917 to 1918.

There were tons of cool old black and white pictures of people in the old station way back in the day. The furniture and items in the station were exactly the same as 2019! Check them out:

A bit of contemplation after a beautiful ride.

This dude was amazing! Check out his stats.

August 9, 2019August 9, 2019

More Wonderful Hiking On The Appalachian Trail.

It is tough to pick our favorite pictures to share from such a long hike but we had to start somewhere:

Many hues of green, almost like Spring in Upstate NY

Central Virginia had some awesome, sweeping views from the trail.

One of our daily “half lunches”. Not necessarily half the lunch but many times two separate full lunches.

Our favorite snack after both half lunches. Not usually cold but certainly refreshing.

Not sure if Laurie is doing yoga or pointing out the upcoming portion of trail?

Beautiful “tunnel trail” today. The white petals were with us for weeks as the rhododendrons bloomed.

Some fine folks always made sure to let hikers know of their progress. Below are the 600 miles north of Springer Mountain and one quarter of the way to Katahdin in Maine. Not really near each other but…..

It amazed us how many foot paths intersect the AT. This one, the Allegheny Trail, heads north through West Virginia. One day!

We have walked over countless streams and rivers on man-made and nature-made bridges but sometimes we have to marvel at the amount of time and effort had to be put in to build the bridge deep within the woods.

So many rock formations to hike/crawl over and around.

There was an abundance of wildlife along the trail but our favorite had to be the cows dotting the landscapes. I had a long conversation with one of these particular cows. I do speak fluent bovine you know.

Below shows one of the nicer free accomodations one can find along the Appalachian Trail This shelter had plenty of room and was very neat and tidy.