Shenandoah NP and a Bear!

It has been so hot here - yesterday 96 and should be the same today. We are closely watching Earl to see how bad we will get impacted. Sunday we drove to Winchester and to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. Was so disappointed and wasn't sure why until driving back Dave said - that a display of oppulance. Sure, the Wood and Glass family that settled in Winchester about 1730 were successful, but sheese. The Glen Burnie house is the home that the last ancestor - Glass - refurbished from some of his money. The house was built in 1738 and it is quite impressive. The gardens were beautiful. The last of the Glass family got his friend to build miniture doll houses - and that's in the museum. Even had a visiting Elvis display from the Smithonian there. Unbelievable.


Yesterday we drove down the road to Strasburg, a town that was founded in early 1700's also, and they have a museum that houses artifacts back to 1710. Now that museum was very impressive. From there we drove to the Shenandoah National Park with the intent of driving from the north entrance to the mid entrance and hopefully getting home by 3pm. The Skyline drive is 105 miles long, we drove 56 of it. Took us over 5 hours just to drive this, then another hour to get home. I got my fix of the park - it is lovely, you ride the Blue Ridge Parkway along the tops of the mountains, have overlooks about every 2 miles, very scenic. And we came across a bear in the road. When we got to one of the visitor's center I asked if that bear was a baby. They said no, more than likely it was over 1 year old at which time the mother tells it to hit the road, you are on your own. We found out that there are over 500 bears in the park, but I don't think I want to get any closer than this!

Today we sit tight, just too darn hot, will play catch up, etc.

Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

My back was better so we headed to Harpers Ferry to see that national park. I had read a sentance or 2 about it in school, knowing that some guy named John Brown tried to get slaves and supporters to join him and start an insurrection to stop slavery. He didn't succeed, was caught and hanged by the government. Robert E Lee was head of the US Marines who seized Brown and his supports. Yeah, same Robert E Lee who became general of the Confederate Army. George Custer was part of this Marine Corp also. This skirmish was the start of the Civil War because people started to really question the slavery issue. Was very impressed with: what the town of Harpers Ferry looks like - still most of the old buildings from the 1780's still there - this picture shows John Brown's fort (fire enginehouse) where he held out with his supporters and was captured by the Marines and some of the old buildings; the floods that have taken a toll on the town; Meriweather Lewis of the Lewis and Clark expedition came through in 1803 to get outfitted with rifles, etc. for the trip out west; George Washington owned much property around this area - purchasing it when he was 16 - the man was rich!; the first school - Storer - was founded for the education of blacks, and continued for almost 100 years. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad converges here and is the main leg to move supplies from one side of the Shenandoah Valley to the Ohio Valley; Harpers Ferry was the first national armory in the country. Also, there were over 80 battles of the Civil War fought in this 50 mile radius of this town.

The Appalachian Trail goes right through here and we were standing almost at the middle point of the trail which extends between Maine and Georgia. With my back not 100% I couldn't hike to the visitor's center for the Trail, only hiked about 1/2 mile of it and said I have been there, done that (sort of). Saw a number of hikers going north and south on this trail. We saw people tubing down the Potomac River, and the tubers eventually crossed to where the Shenadoah River joins the Potomac under the railroad tressle. Pretty cool.

Back Break Move

Didn't do much yesterday other than move the RV to another spot. No, didn't get to the river as I wanted to, those are booked up until the 3rd. Instead, we moved 'up' to where the manager of the resort has his RV and where the worker-bees have their RVs. We are on a slight hill, overlooking all the craziness of where we were, and backed up into the hill. The management said we will see deer, raccoons, rabbits, and bear! And best, we will be in shade from 1pm on. So, when we take off sightseeing, at least we know the RV is in relative coolness for most of the afternoon and the cats will be okay. Worker-bees are those people who come to work at the park in exchange for free camping, this is done throughout most of the US - there are ads all the time for help like this. Wouldn't want that - the gentlemen next door puts in 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, then has 3 days off of which he drives back to West Virginia (home) to relax. No thanks.

The 'Back Break' of the title refers to me. I hurt my back somehow Tuesday, could barely walk Wednesday and in so much pain! and yesterday was a tidge better, thanks to eating tons of medicine. I looked 30 years older, leaning to one side, taking small baby steps. Today I am able to walk not leaning, and we will go to Harper's Ferry (a Civil War sight) and then to the visitor's center of the National Park.

Front Royal, VA

We packed up yesterday morning in complete fog and waited until it lifted somewhat before heading to Virginia. Knowing we were going to pass through the Allegheny Mountains on the way here, we weren't excited about driving in the fog. Cats screamed at us for about an hour until I realized that if I turned on the a/c and cooled it down, they might shut up - which they promptly fell asleep until getting here.

We are at the Front Royal, Virginia, camping near the entrance to the Shenandoah National Park, the most northern town of the park. This campground is something else - it's a Coast to Coast campground which means that members buy into it for a price and they are guaranteed a spot if they call within 3 days of coming. Since we aren't members, but members of Passport America, they leave 30 sites available for 'us'. We are packed in tightly, can't even park the truck with us - it's at an overflow area not far, but still. We have asked if there are any Coast sites available for us for the next 2 weeks and those are sitting right on the Shenandoah River. I hope we get to move.

Plan to go into town today to get info at the visitor's center, scope out what to do, etc.

Ohiopyle

Ever ride your bike in the pouring rain? That's what happened to us yesterday. We were going to go hiking at Ohiopyle State Park, on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, which is an old railroad that has been converted to a bike/hike trail connecting Pittsburgh to Washington DC. Instead of hiking it down along the rapids at Ohiopyle, we biked up on top where the railroad used to be. Ohiopyle is an Indian word meaning white frothy waters. Lots of rapids and many rafting along - could hear them as we looked down on the river. In this picture - small red blobs - were 2 rafters that we followed. Unbelievable scenery. Camping, white water rafting, horseback riding, street biking and mountain biking, hiking, swimming, fishing, a virtual outdoor lovers area. Started out going north on the trail, about a 1% incline we were told, and biked over 6 miles one-way then decided to turn around - had not biked that long of a distance in months - and got within 2 miles of where we started - and wham! Pouring rain. Still, glad we didn't miss this opportunity to see Ohiopyle and experience the Allegheny Passage Trail.

Today is clean-up day, laundry, final grocery shopping, tomorrow we leave for the Shenandoah.

Rainy Sunday

Dave and I can't remember - we think during all our trips the rain only fell at night and usually stopped mid-morning. Yesterday was the first day that it rained most of the day. So, it was a low-key day for us. Grocery shopping, surfing the internet, reading, napping, cleaning. We are changing our plans a tidge - we are going directly to the Shenandoah Mountains to camp next. With the holiday coming, campsites are filling up with reservations, so we decided to go there Wednesday, to Front Royal VA, which is at the top of the national park. We'll stay there for 2 weeks before moving on. Lot's to see and do, we aren't far from alot of Washington DC sites too.

This campground we are at - when we came in Wednesday we were one of 3 RV's parked. Then by Friday noon the swarm came. Every site taken and yesterday by 8am they started back out. Now we have 9 left, and I see 2 are packing up to go today. One weird RV: a nice big class A (bus style) came in yesterday, no car being pulled behind it meaning they are stuck here, and then proceeded to set up chairs for 8 people. We were expecting a couple of RV's to come in and park by them by dark last night, but no. Weird.

Today we are going biking on the Allegheny trail. Hope to bike to Ohiopyle State Park, about 9 miles from where we will start. There is a waterfall there that is a natural stone slide. Sounds interesting.

Frank Lloyd Wright homes

We had made reservations for Frank Lloyd Wright's, an organic architec that designed and had built over 1000 homes and businesses (the Guggenheimer Art Museum in New York) in the US, homes for Saturday tours. The first home is owned by Lord Palumbo of England, he is the second owner of Kentuck Knob. Could only take photos outside of both homes, sorry. We started out bad, our 20 minute drive ended up 1 hour. We missed our first tour by 10 minutes but they let us in on the next one. And things got worse after this tour, we waited for the shuttle bus to get us back to the visitor center (they don't allow anyone to walk up to it or drive to it) which was being driven by a very old man. So, called Fallingwater (our other FLLW home) and said we were late and what can they do to accomodate us - they said not a problem. They said they would fit us in within a half an hour after we arrived.


Thankfully Fallingwater was only a 15 minute ride away and they took us into the next tour. One thing that I kept saying to the tour guide - a maintenance headache! We saw alot of signs of deterioration from the water below (freeze/thaw) and from the cantalevers of all the levels - so much weight and stress. I read that in the first month that the owners moved in after it was built, there were 50 leaks that had to be addressed. And Dave and I complain about one leak in the condo! Ugh, shame on us. Both homes very impressive in architecture and lifestyle, however Dave and I still have Taliesan West in Scottsdale AZ as our favorite so far. We chuckle that our condo is kinda FLLW in that we don't have alot of furniture, have wide open spaces, try to incorporate the window views of Lake Erie as much as possible with furniture placement, etc. Guess we have to make it a point to see the Pennfield Home in Willoughby - you can even rent this home for yourself for a price!

Wind Farm on Mount Davis

Yesterday we decided to make it a low-key day. First stopped in Rockwood where the Allegheny Trail is, a biking/hiking trail, that we will do in next couple of days. Then drove to Mount Davis, the highest elevation in PA, was sorely disappointed because the sign was in a bad way and there was no view. However, turning the corner to go back down we saw a small sign and it said it was wheel chair accessible (huh? a walking trail in the mountain handicapped accessible?) Went on the little walk and came across this sign and a cute little area with benches. Well maintained, only can think that the family has kept up this area. Very sad story - google Baughman Rock and read the entire store.

After leaving there we drove back to the campground, and saw three different wind farms. These puppies are huge! Didn't make any noise, but if they went fast, Dave said birds could not see the blades and fly right into them. I didn't realize I lined up a wind mill with an electric pole.

Today we head to Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater homes. Weather is pretty warm, not having the a/c on but all the fans. When we got back to the RV yesterday Chip and Grace were laying inside the cabinets, very lethargic, but recouped within an hour. Campground is full, lots of dogs and kids. Noisy during the day, cats don't like that, but I told them to hold their ears if they didn't like it.

Laurel Caverns and Fort Necessity

Yesterday was our first day sightseeing - decided to venture to Laurel Caverns first. This cavern is known for it's Boy Scout Climbing Merit Badge Program. The cavern has been privately owned but open to the public since it's discovery and it's feature is rapelling. We took the 55 minute tour - and at the end of the tour the guide gave us a light show to Mendell's Messiah. As caves go, and this was my 6th cave, okay. Most impressive has been Karchner in Arizona.

From there we drove to Fort Necessity National Battlefield, about 30 minutes away. This National Park is all about George Washington and his first military commission. This battle at a fort of necessity (George had to quickly build a small fort to house his supplies only when he realized he was going to be in a squirmish with the French and the Indians) was Washington's first defeat in his military career, however his leadership during this time and the subsequent Braddock Campaign proved why he was chosen as this nation's first leader. We were so impressed with the historical significance to this area, this battle of Fort Necessity started the French and Indian War lasting 7 years and is known as the first global war. Washington was clearing a road from Virginia to the Ohio Valley to open up trading routes and for expansion, and today it's called the National Road, Route 40. Portions of the original road, named at that time to Braddock's Road, are still viewable today. We hiked around the fort afterward, found the trace, and then followed a small deer along the path. Pretty cool.

Laurel Highlands at Rockwood PA

We made it here to Hickory Hollow Campground in Rockwood PA, just 15 miles south of Somerset yesterday afternoon. We are in the Laurel Highlands and the scenery here is lovely. Cats were no problem, as a matter of fact, we wondered if we had the right cats in the truck - not a peep out of either one. Will stay here for a week, going to Fallingwaters and Kentuck Knob which are 2 of Frank Lloyd Wright's homes, to Ohiopyle State Park where there are numerous trails and canoeing; Mount Davis; ride our bikes on the Great Allegheny Passage Trail which connects Pittsburgh with Washington DC; see Fort Ligonier - one of George Washington's forts; Fort Necessity; Laurel Caverns; and that's just a start. From here we will go to West Virginia to see some of the Allegheny Mountains, then head over to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.