Another Weekend in Virginia

Sorry about the lateness of this post.  Last week completely got away from me and this last weekend was lost in a blur of art-framing, housework, beer, lasagna, and playing with Legos.  Yep.

Saturday, September 16, 2010

This afternoon we drove back across the Potomac and headed for Mt. Vernon, George Washington's Virginia Home.  The drive down George Washington Memorial Parkway was very pleasant, and I will keep its miles of greenbelt river-side trails in mind next time I'm looking for a scenic bike ride.

While we waited for our friends to meet us there Hans and I observed the scale-model of the mansion with moving walls and spent some time in one of the gardens, featuring espaliered apple trees.  While we sat on a bench a bold squirrel approached us along the garden wall and flopped down pathetically on its belly once it reached our position.  Even though I stood up to take pictures and point it out to a small girl nearby it hardly seemed to be frightened or care in any way.  It might have been used to visitors handing out scraps but I sadly told Hans that it was likely sick.

Once our friends arrived we roamed more of the grounds, visiting George Washington's former and present tombs, a memorial dedicated to the slaves that worked on the property, and the dock on the river that serves a base of operations for short water tours and a landing spot for excursions that begin at the National Mall in DC.

We got in line to tour the mansion, which was so busy that you had to follow a constant single-file stream of visitors through the lower rooms, upstairs, and then back down again.  The tour guides did the best they could, repeating their speeches over and over as each group of people filed past, but it would have been much better to have more freedom in observing the house and stay in each room longer.  I am definitely determined to return in the winter.  I should note that the exterior walls of most of the buildings were particularly intriguing.  At first glance they looked to be made of stone, but really were varnished wood with sand mixed into the paint.  Even by touch the effect was very convincing.

Crowds aside, the house was very interesting.  I really liked the wheat motif in the plasterwork that could be seen throughout the building.  A key to the Bastille is on display in the main hall, a gift to Washington from Lafayette.  I tried to picture Washington, at six-foot-two, stooping in and out of small doorways in the narrow hallways.

At the end of our visit we made high-brow jokes about the property's "necessaries", then went through the extensive and very impressive museums, which included a pair of Washington's famous false teeth (not made of wood).

On the return drive Hans and I went through the more commercial side of Mt. Vernon and were impressed by the quiet parks and neighborhoods.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Since it looked to be another nice weekend, we decided to visit the site of the Manassas Battlefields at the last minute, stopping to pick up some secondhand furniture for the apartment on the way.

The entire park has a range of trails that cross between most of the monuments and battle sites, and we did the short trail that outlines the features the first battle of Manassas, and the start of the Civil War.  The grave of Judith Carter Henry, the first civilian victim of the war is on the site, as well as a replica of the owner's farm house.  As we walked along the path crickets could be heard humming fretfully on the grassy hillside.  Hans pointed out that the battle took place in July, and the uncomfortable sweat I had coming on seemed hotter.

 

On a southeastern ridge there was a line of cannons on the site where Stonewall Jackson was given his nickname (and nearby the grave of the general who coined it and died a day later).

Artillery aimed at Henry House, where Union soldiers had taken refuge.

After deciding we'd had enough entertainment, we drove back home to enjoy a laid-back evening.

Shenandoah National Park

Oof.

We are tired.  I am sitting here at my desk with a bad case of sore limbs and surprisingly un-sore feet, but Hans' feet are fairly blistered.  There are muscles in my bum that I didn't know I had and they hurt, hurt, HURT.

So, at the moment I'm chowing down Ibuprofen with rootbeer chasers while I post about our weekend.  I guess you could say I'm speedballin' in the lamest way possible.

The general idea of our trip to Shenandoah this weekend was to pack for backcountry camping to get away from the crowds, and also all of the campgrounds were reserved/full months before we even thought of spending Columbus Day weekend in the park.

On Saturday we got up a little late so we weren't in the park until right before noon.  Skyline Drive, the 105-mile road that winds along the park's backbone, was already packed with cars and motorcycles and all of the scenic overlooks were occupied with multitudes of visitors.  After a quick stop at one of the visitor centers for a free backcountry permit, we drove to the Elkwallow picnic area where the trailhead Hans picked out was.

He had originally suggested a 5.2-mile loop for us to do, then later some short waterfall-viewing walks before we chose a campsite, but I wanted to get the whole backpacking experience and suggested a "slightly-longer" loop where we could make camp near the end of the hike.  What I originally estimated to be about 8 miles turned out to be 13.  Ouch.

This hike really made us feel flabby and out of shape, even though we recognized that it had been a long time since we'd hiked any distance with 30-pound packs on, and the first time we'd ascended 1,700 feet in the process.  

 After 3.4 miles, when we'd reached the 2,865-foot summit of Knob Mountain, we were really considering turning around instead of pressing onward.  But, after a little co-encouragement, we lumbered down the back ridge of the mountain and into the creek valley known as Jeremy's Run and began to make our way back toward our starting point.  At this time we began to look for a decent place to pitch our tent, but the long weekend and nice weather meant that several people had the same idea.  It seemed like we were in a designated campground.  It wasn't for another half-mile that we managed to find a secluded place for ourselves, though we could hear several groups of other campers nearby.

We thankfully threw our packs to the ground.  Making camp was a tedious process in the fading light and with our stiff legs.  Once we were seated around our camp stove it was very difficult to move, except when it came to escaping from spiders.  Hans nearly set the woods on fire (a moment that was really scary one second, and hilarious the next).

Hanging our bear bag at the end of the night was a little difficult since we were surrounded by trees with very few and very skinny branches.  Hans had to help because, well, I throw like a girl.  After we'd crawled into our tent for the night we could hear our neighbors searching far and wide for a bear-bag place in the pitch dark.  I crushed some spiders in our tent with Hans' hat, to his great indignation.

This morning we were up at first light and on the trail about an hour later.  It took me a long time for my legs to feel more flexible than wooden posts.  The last five miles of our hike took us across the creek at least a dozen times and by the last crossing I was very tired of trying to balance on small rocks with my heavy and wobbly backpack.  Hans recommended that I bring a jet pack next time.

Once we returned to the car I drove as we continued on Skyline Drive for another couple of hours of sightseeing and viewpoint stops.  At about the half-way point through the park, we headed back into civilization and continued home after making a quick burger stop.

We will definitely be returning to Shenandoah in the future.  The fall foliage was very beautiful and the cool weather was perfect for hiking.  Next time, we'll do some of the shorter hikes and hopefully be in slightly better shape.  For the moment I'm just happy to have feeling in my shoulders again.

The National Arboretum

At first we were thinking of going back to the National Mall for the first time since we moved to Maryland, but in stead opted for a visit to the National Arboretum at Hans' suggestion.

Now that the cooler fall weather is finally here, it grants the opportunity to get away from civilization, and with 446 acres to play with and the tourist season winding down, the park is a great option for us.

We only saw one corner of the Arboretum today, starting with the traditional knot herb garden and nearby vegetable herb gardens, which offered plenty of color even though most of the flowers have already faded.  Ornamental peppers seemed to be the main feature though there were some interesting collections of plants historically used to as dyes or for their industrial-use chemicals (like one that was used for its epoxy acid production).

Explosion of color

See pods of a tree native to southwest China

In the knot herb garden

The highlight of our visit was probably the impressive collection of bonsai trees.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

This bonsai has been "in training" since 1625!

Across the meadow from the knot garden were a peculiar assemblage of tall Corinthian columns.  It turns out they are the original sandstone columns from the front of the Capitol Building that were replaced in the 1950's with marble ones (there was an oversight when it was first built and the dome overhung the rest of the building until it was extended slightly).

For the last part of our visit we climbed the gentle paths on Mount Hamilton (I snorted quietly to myself at this label).  The hill is planted with many varieties of azalea, so we'll have to return in the spring.  At the top of the hill there was a very faint clearing from which we could see the Capitol Building about 3 miles away and some of the other monuments of the mall, so we sort of killed two birds with one stone today :)