Heritage Day

Saturday was the annual Heritage day at Montgomery Museum where my friend Sue is the director. It's their big fundraiser and promotion day. And I was really impressed. There was a lot more going on than I expected.

They had a peach cook off which I was tempted to join but was basically too lazy. :-) But another of my friend Walt entered and came second! He cooked his dish on hot coals in front of the judges (one of which was Doris who runs the wine tasting I go to every other week). After the judging, you could try each of the dishes for a dollar.

Peach cook-off.

We first headed for the classic cars which were really cool.

Selection of classic cars

Stretch Caddy ambulance!! Traveling in style

Inside the ambulance

Classic Ford.

Christiansburg Fire Engine

Arty moment.

They also had a petting zoo. I has hoping for a few rabbits etc. But it was still fun. And I loved the goats. I have so many funny photos of them. :-)

The calves weren't very energetic.

And these guys just wanted to eat.

My new favorite photo! He wouldn't stand still!

There was also a VT entomology stand with lots of bugs, which was fun and really creepy. The lady there showed us some spiders and the baby versions which were so cute. But then they grow into the big ones which made my skin crawl.

New Mexico Scorpion

The baby version was very cute. 

Huge caterpillar found a few minutes early under a nearby tree.

There were also lots of people in period dress. I was in a sun dress and hot. So they must have been baking! It was great fun looking at all the costumes.

Typical civil war tent.

This lady spent a long time trying to recruit us as reenactors. 

Very enthusiastic soldier.

There were also loads of crafts stalls with some really nice things.

Making rugs

Hand-made leather crafts

It was a really good and I was so happy of Sue that the weather turned out well. And I got to take loads of photos and play with my camera. It was great fun!

Musical Bike Parade

Friday was the grand opening of college avenue. This road has been dug up so many times since I first arrived here and now it's finished! Well, almost. They started digging part of it up again on Thursday but I guess was done enough to have the opening. When I first got down there, nothing was happening. So I sat in the sun for a bit. Then the steel band started which was fun.

Blacksburg steel band.

Super cute!

I got a little bored so decided to get some food. As I was waiting, the parade started so as soon as I got my food, I dashed outside with my camera. I missed some but the ones I saw were really cool.

lie down bicycle.

Harley style bike (and rider)

Sesame street bike.

My favorite 

Mayor of Blacksburg

Mayors (bored) grandkids and his ride.

French style.

I didn't stick around for the speeches. I was really hungry and while taking photos, the stick on my shiskabob broke making eating it tricky. But it was worth the trip downtown. :-) 

Gourmet Pantry

This week has been pretty busy. Monday night I went to the Gourmet Pantry for "Women and Wine" night. This is the first one they have held (the name is a work in progress) but I met some really interesting people. One was an author and local council woman so I got lots of info about things in the area and brought her book which is about the local area. I haven't had chance to read it yet but at a glance it looks really interesting. Though the group were a little cliche!

Drank the wine too quickly!

Some of the group

I had a fun chatting to people and at the end, a few of us just stood around talking and finishing off the bottles Quinton (the wine vendor) had left. There were some very nice wines but I have way too many as it is so restrained myself from buying more!

I hoped to get the bus back but just missed one so sat around waiting for the next (and last) bus, and playing with my camera.

VT campus at night

At the bus stop - proof Uni students are odd.

Then on Wednesday night I was back at the Gourmet Pantry for a Persian cooking class. It started at 6.00pm but by 4.30pm, my brain had well and truly died. So I left work and headed towards downtown. Every month in the downtown market square, they have "Jam in the Square". The market stays open later and there are food, beer and wine stalls with live music. I have been meaning to go for a while but haven't managed it until this week. So I sat listening to the live music (which was really good), watching very hyperactive kids having a great time dancing and drinking a lovely glass of Sangiovese from Villa Appalachia (now on my list of vineyards to visit). The square was great. I will definitely be going again!

Blacksburg market 

Live band

Glass from Villa Appalachia

After, I headed to the Gourmet Pantry. I have been to a few of the cooking class to get ideas but this was the best! The food was amazing. My favorite restaurant back in Preston was the Persian Palace before it closed so I am really happy to now have a few recipes I can make. Though not often, as saffron is super expensive.

The chef, Roya  

Clockwise - Saffron rice, Cucumber mint yogurt, Cucumber and tomato salad and Chicken Khoresh

Colorful

The full meal

I didn't get a picture of the kebab patties for the first course as I was really hungry. They disappeared very quickly. Nor of the saffron ice cream because once I started eating that, it was all gone! It was amazing!!!!! On the class night, I get a 10% discount. So after the ice cream, I HAD to buy saffron and a bunch of other spices. I have got to make the ice cream, possibly for when my parents come over in a few weeks. A really good night.  :-)

Cascades waterfalls.

This weekend I hired a car to get out and about. (I am still waiting for my contract to get financing for a car. And I can't wait to be mobile.)

Friday:
In February I got a groupon voucher for a 90 min hot stone massage in Roanoke. So as I had the car, I booked it and headed in Friday morning. Once I got there it was great. Though I am finding my Sat Nav (GPS) has issues with left and right. (And I swear it's not me!) The massage was very nice and the first time I have had a male masseuse.
After, feeling very loose and chilled out, I headed into the city centre to have lunch with a friend. After finally finding a place to park, I wasn't quite so chilled out! But I got to the coffee shop and meet my friend on time. We had lunch at the market and were going to wonder around but the weather had different plans. So we sat on the tables in the empty outdoor market under cover for a while.
And on Friday evening I went back to the Monkey House for another concert. The music was ok but I had a hard time concentrating as the male guitar player was pulling some really funny faces. I think he meant them to be serious "I'm really involved in my music" faces, but I had a hard time keeping a straight face! :-)

Saturday:
The weather wasn't great but I went with another friend to the Cascades anyway. The Cascades are in the Jefferson National forest and only a 15 min drive from here. I will definitely be going back once I have a car.

The walk is a 4 mile round loop with 2 different ways to go. The slightly harder way is much prettier and along the river so you see a lot more of the rapids so we decided to take the lower path there and the easier upper path back down. It's not that much harder but I guess because it had been raining recently most people thought it would be too muddy so took the easier way and we had most of the trail to ourselves. It was a bit muddy but much nicer. And I got to play with my camera. Luckily Jake didn't mind when I stopped for photos or saw a little path off down to the river and ran off!

Bridge over the river at the halfway point 

Lower path along the river.

Cascades along the river.

The walk took a while, mainly because I was dawdling. :-) And we stopped a few times to sit and chill out. Or more to the point for me to cool down. It was pretty hot but mostly really humid! So we stopped a few times to cool down. About 3/4 of the way to the falls, we found a bench with a cool mist coming down the rocks behind. It was amazing! Natural air conditioning. We sat there for quite a while.

The main falls is 66ft tall and well worth the trip. Normally in the summer it's not very impressive. But thanks to the amount of rain we have had this summer, everything is very green and the falls were in full flow.

The Cascades.

Cascades Falls from the base.

View from the walk to the top of the falls.

You can swim in the pool and I think one day I am going to have to. But it was really cold! No one was swimming though there were a few other people paddling.

Proof I paddled!

After going to the top of the falls, we headed down the easier path back to the car, with me stopping to take photos again, though more of the local flowers and wildlife as this path wasn't as pretty and further away from the river. (Despite the heat I was really glad we took the other path up as it was much nicer.)

The leaves are starting to turn. :-( 

mushrooms by the river.

One of many creepy crawlies on the path back down.

The walk ended up taking 4 hours for the 4 miles! I was going really slowly and took loads of photos! :-) We headed for mexican for dinner at a place in Christiansburg which has a salsa bar, which as we' were both really hungry, instant chips and 10 different types of salsa was a good choice. I also had my first white wine Sangria. Which was interesting but I'll stick to the real red wine stuff.

Sangria el anglo

Sunday:
As I had a car, I spent sunday shopping. Not as much fun but necessary and with the car I could get the bulk foods and juices and some more storage units. And I did get to go to Red Robins for lunch, which is a gourmet burger place that does gluten-free burger buns and sweet potato fries. Being able to have a good burger is one of the only things I miss about not being able to eat wheat. And the burgers are good! :-)
I am really looking forward to having a car! :-)