Grandma's Eighty-Eighth

Sunday, November 16, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

SO VERY VIRGINIA, Chapter 5:
IN WHICH WE CELEBRATE TOGETHER

Day 6:  Wytheville, VA, to Charlotte, NC.  Through the Virginia highlands down I-77, fog shrouded the highway, reducing visibility to just a few yards. Of course, we refused to let a little rain keep us from letterboxing on the way to Charlotte. The small city of Elkin, NC, had several gems for us, including one near the boat ramp on the Yadkin River (pictured above).
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We arrived in Charlotte about the same time as the rest of the gang-- Ken's sister Marion, her son Ryan, daughter Heather, and granddaughter Emma. While Ryan watched the Georgia-Auburn game, the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful Charlotte weather and squeezed in a bit of letterboxing in Latta Park.
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Letterboxing and fall fun in Latta Park
Although it was Emma's first letterboxing adventure, she took to it very quickly and was quite excited when each set of clues led us to the next box.
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Heather and Emma got this.
Of course, stamping in was a favorite aspect for Emma as she graciously volunteered to do all the stamping for everyone.
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"I can definitely help you with that."
Since we were preparing a birthday dinner for Grandma Saturday evening, a mad dash to Harris Teeter was a must. Not a problem...Ken has developed grocery shopping into a science.
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On a shopping mission
After a wonderful meal, Marion presented a beautiful Sacher Torte, a favorite cake from Grandma's childhood days in Vienna, Austria.
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Sacher torte!
Sunday morning, the birthday girl herself prepared a delicious brunch for everyone. Then it was time for a few family photos of the entire family, from the youngest to the oldest.
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The birthday lady and her offspring
The youngest and the oldest
While Grandma recovered from all the work she did preparing the brunch, the rest of us made our way to McDowell Nature Preserve, a 1100-acre Charlotte park and nature center, where we did a bit of hiking and letterboxing. With Emma's help, we launched a hitchhiker letterbox in honor of Grandma's 88th birthday.
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In the end, we all left, headed in different directions for our individual homes. A lot of fun squeezed into 24 hours!
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Tomorrow we'll make our way back home, harboring no illusions that we've found the "perfect place" to live in Charlottesville.
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SATURDAY, 15 NOVEMBER - SUNDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2008

Undivided We Stand

Friday, November 14, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

SO VERY VIRGINIA, Chapter 4:
IN WHICH WE SEE SOMETHING NEW YET OLD

Day 5:  Charlottesville, VA, to Wytheville, VA.  We started today with a driving tour of Charlottesville's northern suburban areas. Unlike the Atlanta area where so many houses are built on 1/2 acre lots or smaller, most homes here seem to have much larger acreage. Subdivisions, which dominate the Atlanta housing market, appear to be the exception here, rather than the rule, based on our minimal observations. The house pictured above, for example, a mere 11 miles outside the city, is situated on eight acres, listed at a price similar to what the same house in Atlanta would sell for on a quarter-acre lot.
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After our self-guided tour, we began driving toward Charlotte, where we'll help celebrate the 88th birthday of Ken's mother. Along the way, we stopped for a little letterboxing and a little hiking. We were pleasantly surprised by a wetland restoration project in an industrial park in Daleville, Virginia.
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Wetland restoration
A massive oak at the wetland
It was like stepping into a time warp when we saw this cheap gas in Daleville. According to the fuel log we keep on our van, this is the lowest gas price we have seen in the three years we've had the van!
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Yes!  Fill it up twice, please.
When we decided we'd driven far enough for the day, we found a hotel to pass the night in the Wytheville, VA area. On to Charlotte for the birthday celebration tomorrow!
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FRIDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2008

The Old Man is Snoring

Thursday, November 13, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

SO VERY VIRGINIA, Chapter 3:
IN WHICH RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING

Day 4:  Charlottesville, VA.  We awoke to a very rainy day in Charlottesville and decided we would not be slowed down by the weather, even though the fog was so thick that we walked past our car three times before we found it. Alas, however, when we went to Monticello for a visit, the rain had reached a heavy downpour stage. As we prepared to leave the car and press intrepidly on, we realized we had left a bag in the hotel lobby as we were leaving and returned to retrieve it.

Since we were already there, we decided to stay for a while, make some tea, and check out the C'ville real estate situation by means of the internet. Interestingly, this area has a category for historic homes. We found homes on the market that were built as far back as 1738!
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The rain slowed to a crawl by mid-afternoon, allowing us to visit Kemper Park, a well-designed pocket park near Monticello. Coincidentally, we found a letterbox there after a brief hike.
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Kemper Park
Leaving the park, we drove out to Ash Lawn, the home of James Monroe, where we saw a gorgeous golden tree. By this time, it was too late for a visit to the house, so we pressed on, driving around some of the southern and western C'ville suburbs.
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All we saw of the Monroe estate
Tomorrow we plan to explore the northern suburbs, still mulling over whether this is an area we might like to live.  
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THURSDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2008

Carry Me Back...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

SO VERY VIRGINIA, Chapter 2:
IN WHICH SOMEONE STARTS HORSING AROUND

Day 3:  Culpeper, VA to Charlottesville, VA.  On our way to the home of James and Dolley Madison this morning, we caught sight of a horse standing inside a fence near the road. Of course, we had to stop so horse friend Ken could give him an apple. Before Ken could return to the car, a couple of other horses came running up to get their share as well.
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Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison, has been undergoing a massive restoration project since 2003. The new visitor center near the Montpelier mansion was completed last year and houses a gift shop, movie theater, gallery and other exhibit areas.
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The new Montpelier Visitor Center
Built by James Madison's father in the early 1760s, the mansion remained in the Madison family until it was purchased by William duPont in 1900. DuPont built massive additions, transforming the 22-room house into a 55-room compound. The estate remained in the duPont family until Marion duPont Scott made arrangements in her will to transfer the estate to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1984 so that it could be opened to the public as a monument to Madison.

Deconstruction of the duPont additions and removal of the stucco facade was required before the house could be restored to the way it looked in the days of James and Dolley's retirement in the 1830's. Fortunately a $20 million grant from private sources was obtained for the work. Today the exterior is complete and restoration continues on the interior.
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Montpelier restored to its 1830s appearance
The Montpelier gift shop sells brick tea, blocks of finely ground tea leaves that have been packed in molds and pressed into block form. Traditionally used as a method to transport tea by camel along the silk road from central Asia, brick tea was in use when colonists dumped chests of tea into the harbor during the event we know as the Boston Tea Party.
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An embossed brick of tea leaves
Tea compressed into brick form retains its quality for a long time. To make tea, one simply removes a small bit and brews like any loose tea. At times brick tea has been used as currency. Scoring the brick on the back facilitated this use. The bricks were available in 4 by 6 inch and 8 by 10 inch sizes at Montpelier.
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A tea brick designed to be cut apart as currency
Farmhouse for rent along a Virginia scenic byway
A drive through Virginia's winding roads took us to Charlottesville, where we found our way to the  historic downtown mall. Considered one of the finest urban parks in the country, the tree-lined pedestrian mall is home to a vibrant collection of more than 120 shops and 30 restaurants located in the historic buildings on and around old Main Street.
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Charlottesville's historic downtown mall
On the mall we found Hamilton's, a restaurant recommended by one of Pam's friends who lives in Charlottesville.  Both the food and service were excellent.
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Hamilton's 
After a delicious meal, we went to find a letterbox in a golf course cemetery and called our first day in Charlottesville a success.
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WEDNESDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2008

100 Down...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

SO VERY VIRGINIA, Chapter 1:  
IN WHICH WE HIT THE CENTURY MARK 

Days 1-2:  Atlanta, GA, to Culpeper, VA.  Since we retired in 2001, we've entertained the idea of moving away from the Atlanta area.  One of the places that has come up in our discussions is Charlottesville, Virginia.  So we decided it was time we visited the area to try to sense whether it might be a good fit for us.
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Watauga Chapel
We had an uneventful drive to Virginia on Monday and began our day Tuesday with a visit to Watauga Chapel, a beautiful little church outside Abingdon, Virginia, near the spot where the Virginia Creeper Trail crosses Watauga Road. After locating a letterbox outside the church, we visited the nearby Watauga Trestle. Part of the Creeper Trail, the trestle has been transformed into a boardwalk for bikers, hikers, and horses. As may be obvious, the trail runs along the right-of-way of an old railroad. Coincidentally we found a letterbox on the trail after we crossed the trestle.
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Rail trestle turned hiking bridge
We've driven a good many miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but ninety-five percent have been in western North Carolina. So we had to check out part of the Virginia section of this spectacular road. It did not disappoint. Even though we arrived in the area about a week after peak autumn leaf season, the drive was still quite colorful.
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Perfect combination—leaf color on the trees and carpeting the roadside
While on the parkway, we found our 100th letterbox! It was a new box planted last week by some grandparents and their two grandsons.  We also took a brief walk on the famous Appalachian Trail.
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Hidden among the rocks...#100!
Ken through hiking the Appalachian Trail
Coming off the parkway into Buchanan, Virginia, we found (a letterbox and) the perfect spot for lunch-- The Fountain at Ransone's Drug Store.
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Main Street in Buchanan, VA
We ended the day in Culpeper, Virginia. Pam came down from Manassas and met us for dinner at Foti's Restaurant. Fabulous meal and even better companion-- after we lured her out of the historic cemetery she was visiting when we arrived, being the taphophile that she is.
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Posing with Pam
The server took our photo with this statue, whom she referred to as Dionysus. Maybe that old Greek god has found a new gender!
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MONDAY, 10 NOVEMBER—TUESDAY, 11 NOVEMBER, 2008

The Call of the Wild

Friday, November 07, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

Letterboxing has reminded us how much fun it can be to be outdoors enjoying all the beauty that nature has to offer. Today we visited McIntosh Reserve, a 500-acre park on the Chattahoochee River in Carroll County near Whitesburg, Georgia. We would probably never have heard of, let alone visited, this park had we not been searching for letterboxes there. Our visit to McIntosh Reserve gave us the opportunity to witness letterboxing ingenuity in action. Can you find the letterbox in the tree with the star? (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) All the clue told us was that the letterbox was halfway between the trail and the river. Ken was astute enough to find the box in the tree and the pulley to bring it down to our level. How clever! It was a gorgeous fall day and as we sat down near the river for our picnic lunch, a wind blew up and the trees began leafing. Beautiful! After hiking about six miles on the McIntosh trails, we ended up finding 12 letterboxes, a new one-day record for us. It's definitely a place we'll visit again-- and not just because there are three more letterboxes we didn't have time to find.

Like All Good Things...

Sunday, November 02, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

...our game weekend had to end. Jan and Elliot found time for tea and coffee on the point before breakfast. And we all said goodbye to a new favorite place, vowing that we will definitely return. A lost or abandoned chihuahua arrived shortly after we did on Thursday and spent the entire weekend with us. We fed him and tried to befriend him. Thanks to Ken's persistence, the little fellow found a new home the following week.

Getting Boulder

Saturday, November 01, 2008 Road Junkies 0 Comments

The gaming continued as the sun climbed on Saturday with Maxwell challenging Ken to a chess rematch. After a bit of sightseeing, we had our second experience at "extreme letterboxing." (Actually these boxes aren't technically considered extreme; they just seemed so to us.)

The clue for this one directed us to locate the tree at the top of a crevice with a rope attached and use the rope to descend between two boulders. Our intrepid searchers clung to the side of the canyon wall, following a trail of sorts and eventually making our way to a deep overhang/shallow cave where we found the letterbox! At Canyon Mouth Park in the Little River Canyon National Preserve, we found the perfect spot for a less demanding activity-- rock skipping. The river was shallow, narrow, and very clear. (L to R) Elliot, our rock skipping champ, Dan, and Ken show off their form. Just off the Canyon Mouth Trail, we found the perfect spot to plant our Game Weekend letterbox, cradled in the heart of a conjoined twin tree. Back at the lodge after another dinner divine, we made smores around the firepit.
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