Through the Shenandoah Valley, almost
After a wonderful breakfast and a couple hours of personal updating w/ our nephew and his family, where we got to meet our almost-four-year old niece, Alyssa, and the newest family member, Andrew, we headed out of New Jersey through Delaware, Maryland and into Virginia on our way to North Carolina. We decided to take a parallel side trip on the Shenandoah National Parkway's Skyline Drive rather than drive down the valley on the interstate. Here's a pano from one of the outlooks on the northern part, south of Front Royal. Tap photos to see the rest.
We found a nice family run Italian restaurant in Mt. Laurel, Al Fresco, right near our hotel. Debbie, our waitress, reminded us of Andrew's grandmother, MA, but a foot taller, maybe more. Like many of the small NJ places it's BYOB so be prepared if you want wine. Strange NJ customs. It's like the way they drink red wine w/ ice.
After leaving the Interstates we decided to roll into Harrisonburg, VA by way of the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. By taking the drive we added 2 1/2 hour to our drive, but it was worth it. This just meant we arrived too late to bother w/ the blog. Harrisonburg is the home of James Madison University. Nice town. Loads of different ethnic restaurants because of the university. We stayed at the Wyndham Microtel. Rooms are small but nice and with full-size bathrooms. No "beam me up, Scottie" shower like in Europe. The El Charro mexican restaurant is true mexican food. The desk clerk's recommendation was spot on. Margarita's are hand made and delicious.
We're staying at Forbes Farm, where my niece works caring for retired race and competion horses. Her employers and our hosts are Collin and Wendy Forbes who moved here from England and Australia about 40 years ago to raise Cleveland Bays and have now turned the farm into a retirement farm for thouroughbreds. The horses are cared for, and get to spend the rest of their lives wandering around the pastures and just being horses. We're just a few miles inside North Carolina from Virginia. Used to be tobacco country. A few of the cabins here are old tobacco drying sheds that have been converted into living quarters for clients who come to ride their boarded animals on the bridle trails. There is an old cross-country course here but it's not been used for competition training for years and is somewhat unsafe, as a result. The main business now is simply caring for the horses. Several famous, or infamous depending on your politics, people have placed their horses here.
I want to thank Wendy for allowing us to use her internet and wifi so I could get this done today. Our experiences w/ the Quality Inns and Wyndham internets have not been great. In Mt. Laurel we could get on the wifi but could not get internet access. Probably due to the youth soccer teams and 3 wedding receptions guests sucking up the bandwidth. The soccer teams were there for the Copa America games being played in Philly.
Now that the laundry is on the line we can take off for some sightseeing in the area.
Ciao for now.
MUSING TIME: Just returned from a trip to Hanging Rock State Park. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the mid-1930's. Over 27,000 young men in North Carolina got jobs and skills working for the CCC. It's really surprising how the folks who praised their efforts and enjoy the labors they performed are so negative about federal programs today.
Many people around here are in tight economic conditions yet the state doesn't provide health insurance through the Afordable Care Act, and the people are happy that they have to pay the full freight, often foregoing care because they can't afford it.
There are many communities that have tried to restrict fracking in order to protect their water wells. What does the state legislature do? They pass a law that lets a private property owner lease his/her land to frackers in spite of any local or regional regulations or laws. AND, despite the mining disasters here from tailing ponds/reservoirs failing and ruining water supplies and rivers they place little to no restrictions on new ones next to water sources. Unbelievable.
The locals have much pride in their existence and tenacity but to allow their elected officials to play on their emotions and ignore legally available opportunities and advantages to make their lives better at little cost, simply due to some misdirected pride is really disappointing.