WE'RE BAAAACCKKKK!!! OK, a bunch of pictures, then my script. Not quite caught up but close. I was in a dead zone while in Maryland, and also for a week in Virginia. Enjoy!
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| RINGING ROCKS CAMPGROUND, UPPER BLACK EDDY, PA |
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| RINGING ROCKS CAMPGROUND, UPPER BLACK EDDY, PA |
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| FISHERMAN'S MEMORIAL STATE PARK, NARRAGANSETT, RI |
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| BLUE'S BOO BOO AND BUNGIE! |
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| FISHERMAN'S MEMORIAL SP, NARRAGANSETT, RI |
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| SINGING ROCKS TREES, UPPER BLACK EDDY, PA |
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| ROKU AT SINGING ROCKS, PA |
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| MYSTIC, CT |
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| NY SKYLINE |
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| PEACE DALE FISH RUN, RI |
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| PEACE DALE FISH RUN, RI |
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| PALISADES AT PEACE DALE, RI |
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| RINGING ROCKS, UPPER BLACK EDDY, PA |
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| WELCOME TO MARYLAND! |
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| MARYLAND TREES TURNING! |
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| MARYLAND TREES TURNING |
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| THE SIGHT THAT MAKES US SQUIRM |
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| ANOTHER ANXIETY CAUSING BRIDGE |
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| PENNSYLVANIA SNOW |
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| AMISH BUGGY IN PENNSYLVANIA |
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| HITCHING POST WITH BUGGY AT GROCERY STORE IN PA |
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| WE'D NEVER SEEN THIS MANY FOOD CANS, THIS BIG |
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| CRACKER BARREL PECAN PANCAKES! |
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| WONDERFUL HOME IN PENN |
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| ROKU AND SNOW IN PENN |
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| FARM IN SNOW, PA |
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| HORSES FOR ALEX, PA |
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| ROW HOUSES IN PENN |
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| BEAUTIFUL TREES IN PENN |
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| ROW HOUSES IN PENN |
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| CIRCLE M CAMPGROUND, PENN - OCTOBER |
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| BEAUTIFUL PENN HOME |
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| MORE BIG CANS OF FOOD! |
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| DUTCH WAY STORE IN PENN, WITH THE BIG CANS! |
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| CLOSE UP OF TC'S FAV, MASHED SPUDS |
10/31/11
Halloween and we’re on the road to Poolesville! We’re meeting busy Linda in Frederick, about 30 minutes north of their place. We met lovingly at the Costco snack area, then continued shopping for our stay with them.
I’ve known Linda Selander Barnes since before first grade through Glendale Lutheran Church. We suffered through that shame and guilt-based piece of shit until we were 18 and on our own. Her mom is still a VERY active member. Friends Anne and Jude also attended, and we all went through catechism and youth group and choir together. So many memories. We discuss our experiences there a lot, since it affected our lives so profoundly. I spent my childhood living next door to our pastor and his wife, which proved to be a dismal failure on my mother’s part. My parents both had their funeral services there in the little chapel. One sister and my two brothers were married there. I won’t go near the place unless it’s a matter of propriety such as a ceremony of some kind.
Linda and I attended Seahurst Junior High and Highline High School in Burien together, tight as ticks 7 – 9th grade, losing track a bit at Highline. She spent a year in Denmark with their foreign exchange student then came home to go to college at Western. We lived in different areas at WWU, and traveled in different circles, so didn’t spend a lot of time together. We always kept in touch eventually, as all of the friends in our group have over the last 40 years. They are a remarkable group of women who I cherish.
Linda married Don Barnes, moved to the east coast due to his work, had three wonderful kids – who are now all out of the house (their youngest Julia, attends our alma mater, WWU) – and are now taking in Don’s father, and looking at retirement. They have had a lovely, devoted life together. We benefited from that this last week. My whole goal in spending time with Lin was to talk and talk and talk, hug and love each other up, however long that took. After parking the rig in their ample driveway, we plugged in and went inside to start dinner. They are both incredibly innovative cooks, and we truly ate like kings and queens all week.
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| CORNED BEEF AND SAUERKRAUT AT THE BARNES HOUSE |
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| BLUE AT THE BARNSES IN MD |
As we were now moving south again, Ton-Ton needed to know how long Linda and I needed to “talk.” My consistant answer was, “As long as it takes - could be a day, could be five.” We arrived on a Monday, and came up with a plan on Wednesday that we would stay until Sunday. We all felt good about that plan and stuck to it. Now we could figure out the rest of the week, and what a great week it was for all. Don still had to work, of course, but was home Fri, Sat and Sun.
As they have the wonderful rescued stray cat Max (see yoga pic below), and are caring for their dear friends’ dachshund Gretta, Roku’s nose was pretty out of joint for awhile.
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| MAX BARNES PRACTICING CHILD'S POSE |
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| LINDA AND GRETTA, DOG GUEST |
He like the area and hunted, etc., but was very, very puzzled as to why he couldn’t come in the house and hang with us. He did let himself in a few times but he and Max weren’t going to happen, and Gretta barked and chased him out. He was much more successful if I stayed on the screened-in porch with him. I think he missed our company more than anything, which is understandable. He is one hell of a cat, I tell you.
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| ROKU ON THE BARNES DECK |
We had decided on DC for Thursday, but spent so much time talking in the morning and lazing around, we ditched that idea for Harper’s Ferry. To get there you start in Maryland, go through a little piece of West Virginia, to end up in Virginia proper. The drive through Maryland is stupendous with the leaves changing here now (!), the rolling grassy hills, horse farms, rivers crossed back and forth. You cross two bridges over the Potomac and Susquehanna rivers to get to Harper’s Ferry. We had the top down most of the way in the sunshine. We were smart enough to stop at the info center and were told that we couldn’t drive into Harper’s Ferry as the Discovery Channel was shooting a documentary in town. We zipped across the road to the park, where TC flashed his federal camping America card to get us in free, parked, then took the shuttle to town.
Harper’s Ferry itself, despite the historical significance of the John Brown uprising, is remarkable, beautiful, mysterious. It’s also a tourist trap with the usual bother attached to that. We walked the town up and down, stopped for lunch – were really able to absorb the history of the place, and a feel for how the town lived and thrived before, during and after the civil war. As one of two arsenals, it was an important spot during the war. A train runs by the town, the rivers converge here, part of the Appalachian Trail runs through it, and the view is spectacular.
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| ST PETER`S CHURCH, HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| POTOMAC AND SUSQUEHANNA RIVERS IN HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| RIVERS VIEW FROM ST PETER'S, HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| CHARMING HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
We climbed to the top of the hill where St Peter’s Catholic church is, and the rock ruins of the Episcopal church. We hear St Pete’s is haunted, and I would have like to have gone inside to feel it out, but it was locked tight. Past the ruins is “Jefferson’s Rock”, where Thomas stood in awe, looking over the rivers, mountains and valley. It was quite a hike and felt great. I wandered to the Rock while TC and Linda talked monetary investments (?!), where I met up with Nathanial. He had started the Appalachian Trail in Maine, it’s general terminus, and was heading for his end in Georgia. He’s a scuba instructor by trade but decided he had the time and money to make this trek and went for it. I asked him if he enjoyed the time alone, or if he wished he was traveling with a partner. He said he likes coming to towns along the way to get his social time in, but cherished the time on the trail alone. He said you don’t encounter many people on the trail, so there’s a lot of solitary time. He bragged that he only spent $300 on food for the entire trip, shopping in bulk and sending it ahead to the check points. I was so happy to have encountered a “walker”, as I have hopes of completing the Trail myself one day.
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| LINDA AND TONY AT THE ARMS CENTER IN HF, VA |
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| BACK OF HOUSES AT HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| CHURCH RUINS AT HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| HARPER'S FERRY FROM THE TOP |
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| WE ALL LOVED THIS WORN STEP AT HF, VA |
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| HARPER'S FERRY BLDGS |
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| LIN AND I IN FRONT OF APPALACHIAN TRAIL SIGN, HF, VA |
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| JEFFERSON'S ROCK, HF, VA |
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| LESBIANS IN HF, VA |
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| LINDA AT ST PETER'S CHURCH, HF, VA |
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| ME AND MY PAL! |
And by the way, he confirmed that the correct pronunciation is Ap uh lach’ un, the “a’s” pronounced as you would “apple."
We then hiked down our hill and rooted around the historical buildings. Harper’s Ferry has done a tremendously interesting job of preserving their buildings, and showing them to us as well. Many are open and you walk into their foyer, to look beyond the plexiglass that showcases the living or working space. We saw a house, tavern, arms maker shops, outfitted neatly and correctly with period pieces. Fascinating and thrilling to this history degree holder!
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| HARPER'S FERRY OLLLLLDDDD TAVERN |
Wandering down at last to the main street, we spent about 45 minutes watching the filming of Discovery Channel's “The Robber Barons” documentary. They were filming in Virginia, what was supposed to be NY. Lots of actors dressed in the period attire, a local horseman with his draft and carriage, many dozens of professionals in the film industry making it work. We felt so fortunate that we had picked that day to visit, as the filming just added a cool vibe to the whole day. We also had a lot of fun together, and wished that Don could have been there.
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| TONY AT FILMING IN HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S FILMING AT HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| STREET SCENE OF FILMING, HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| STREET SCENE, HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| DRAFT AND BUGGY IN HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| HARPER'S FERRY, VA |
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| THE GIRLS AT HARPER'S FERRY, FULL OF LOVE! |
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| LINDA TELLING TONY THE WAY IT WILL BE |
On our way home Linda decided Chipotle was the place to pick up food to eat for dinner, and that we must have firsthand knowledge of the Chipotle “experience.” We did and we’re won over by the tasty food put out by this chain restaurant. To add more to an already successfully happy day, as we ate our delicious food, we watched Masterpiece Theater’s “Downton Abbey.” I had seen only the first one with my sister Dawn, then didn’t get a chance to see the next six episodes. Both of my sisters have seen it all through, so I’m excited to talk with them about the series. All four of us thoroughly enjoyed watching it for the next two evenings.
We really charged up our “home” batteries at the Barneses, doing laundry and ironing; showering in a clean, large, hot, pressured shower; making delicious and healthy meals together; lounging around watching TV; sitting at the table after dinner talking and sharing life stories. It was time to hit the road, however, and we waved goodbye with mixed feelings. At Don’s direction, we traveled through DC on various large freeways, then hit 17 which is a scenic route. Utterly divine traveling through the south again – it is VERY distinctive, this south of ours. All the churches are immediately Baptist and built with large white spires stretching toward God and heaven; the land is farm land, utilized to this day as such.
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| DON, LINDA AND GRETTA WAVE GOODBYE |
We arrived after dark (daylight savings had begun!) around 5:30 PM and made our way to park at the river front. Couldn’t see a thing but were able to set up, eat a bit, read the Sunday paper, let an increasingly restless Roku out to explore, then hit the hay. I was awake at 4:00 due to Tony’s restless sleep, read for awhile with Roku then hit the sack again.
We awoke to a splendidly sunny blue sky day, overlooking a shoreline of turning trees and Piankatank River. We are delighted to use this as our base for the next several days as we visit the important triangle of American towns: Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown. I am thrumming like a cello string at the thought of what history we will experience in this area! Virginia is truly southern, and there were many, many battles fought here in the Civil War. Oddly, Maryland is considered southern as well, due to the placement of the Mason-Dixon Line, but I view it as a New England state, not southern.
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| ROKU ON THE CHESAPEAKE TRAIL, VA |
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| BLUE AND ROKU AT CHESAPEAKE PARK, VA |
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| ROKU LOOKING EPIC, PIANKATANK RIVER, VA |
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| PIANKATANK RIVER, CHESAPEAKE PARK, VA |
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11/7/11
Spent the day in Gloucester, VA, seeing what needed to be seen. What we didn’t know, is that the Visitor’s Info Center stands in the middle of a circular brick wall, in the middle of town. We also didn’t know that the city is paving around the circle, making getting there difficult. After a discussion with a random county worker woman who kept repeating “It’s INSIDE the circle” – we didn’t know what “the circle” was at the time – we finally parked and walked to this hallowed circle, and were amazed. Had a nice talk with the info center volunteer, and Alex B., simultaneously. Went across the circle to the old Courthouse and gazed upon the Confederate plaques, Confederate war memorial, homage to a black soldier. Beautiful history.
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| GLOUCESTER'S TOWN "CIRCLE" WALL |
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| TC IN "COURT", GLOUCESTER, VA |
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| GLOUCESTER TOWN "CIRCLE" |
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| GLOUCESTER, VA'S VISITOR'S CENTER & CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL |
We had also spotted a spiffy Masonic Lodge outside the circle, so went back to look at that. We had to walk through the paving to get to it, whereupon Ton-Ton tripped and fell, but caught himself on his face, and at the expense of his glasses. One construction guy came up and got some napkins – there was blood dripping from his face, his knees, his hand and his arm. I took him to the emergency room where we met a nice family in the waiting room, and watched Maury Povich with them while the children declared their southern like or dislike for whichever whore/mom lied about whichever whore/dad about their poor illegitimate child. Thought it was a tad inappropriate for an emerg waiting room, but conversely thought it was oh-so-right happening while in the south.
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| GLOUCESTER'S BEAUTIFUL MASONIC LODGE, AND THE ROUGH PAVEMENT IN FRONT.....READ ON..... |
They kicked him loose without treating him, as the nurse said we could clean him up ourselves instead of waiting around. We agreed, bought some peroxide and ointment so he could fix himself up. Oddly, Tony isn’t like most people in so many ways, and pain is another of them – he felt none. He was more upset that his glasses were trashed than all the skin that was scraped off. A secondary inconvenience is that we have a killer hot tub at this park and he can’t go in with open sores, plus…youch! Chlorine on an open sore!
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| WHY I OUGHTA.....! |
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| BASHED UP AND BLEEDING |
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| HAND AND KNEE SCRAPES BLED LIKE CRAZY! |
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| AND ANOTHER KNEE..... |
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| HIS REAL TRAGEDY...NO SPECS |
We are perverse, I admit it. When we had left the ER I told TC I should have loudly scolded him, "I TOLD you to take the trash out!" We laughed and he said he should have asked for a pamphlet on elder abuse. Ha!
