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! :-)

(Outdoor) Concert

Well, it was supposed to be. On Saturday, Cissi and I had great plans to go to Claytor Lake (partly to test out my new water-proof camera) and then to a concert in the back garden on one of her friends house. However the weather had other plans and it rained so much I had a lake in my parking lot. Why travel when you can just step outside?

We ended up going to a wine tasting at the Vintage Cellar where I got a very nice Albarino from the distributor. I know I have more than enough wine but they only made 500 cases of this bottle so I wouldn't be able to get it again.

Then we headed to the concert. Due to the rain, it was moved to the church basement. The music was not exactly to my taste, a little too religious for me, but I have a great time playing with my camera. Cissi showed me some of the setting I didn't even realize it had before despite having it for years now - I am taking a photography course soon!  And there were some beautiful faces and gorgeous kids.

As you can see, I love the sepia setting!
There were 3 different "groups", a duo, a sole male and a younger boy, who I liked the best. He voice was a base and very cool. (Plus he sang the only 2 songs I knew in the evening!)
It was a potluck dinner, with everyone bring a dish. Cissi and I were probably the least creative, grabbing a couple of bags of Doritos from Kroger before we went. But as thankfully everyone else was more creative, the food was amazing. And as most of the group were Chinese (from the Church and Bible groups), it was definitely the best Chinese food I have ever had.

Food queue.

Loaded plate

And yes, the thing on top of the beans is a chicken's foot. I had to try it! I am not sure I would have it again in a hurry. The flavor was fine - it was soaked and cooked in some spices - but the texture was odd and it's very fiddly with little meat. But I had to try it.
It was a fun afternoon. Though as I was leaving someone tried to talk to me about cosmology, starting the conversation with "the problem I have with atheists is..." Not the best start but hey, I was in their church! 

Monkey Concert House

Tonight I went to the Monkey concert house to listen to 3 Penny Acre. This is the second time I have been there. The first time was in April when I got my own round of applause.  I wanted to go but didn't know anyone else to would so I got a couple of buses and walked the rest of the way. I have found if you want to impress Americans, say you have walked! :-) Someone told the band and they gave me a shout out and round of applause for the effort in getting there. That was a first, and it was worth the walk.

The concert is held by a lovely couple, Robin and Jim, in their house. The first concert I went to was held in their conservatory and this one, thanks for the great weather, was out on the deck. It was amazing. I got a lift this time, organized by Jim, from a lovely couple and in general the people are,well, lovely. (I can't think of another word for it - they are sweet and generous and friendly and made me feel at home and relaxed after a nasty week.)

People arrived around 7-ish and everyone brings a dish and something to drink. Then it's a free-for-all.

outside on the deck

3 Penny Acre.

Beatrice,  the bass player

The music was great. And I got told, by the guy sitting next to me, he had a crush on me. Which is great for the ego. He is a really sweet guy who had ben at the red wine and was not looking forward to going into hospital on Monday for a replacement knee. He was happy at having a night off not thinking about it. And I was happy to chat to him.

So I spent the night listening to great live music, drinking wine, and watching fire flies flit in the darkness (I have no idea if they really were fire flies and I don't care - I am going to believe they were). Pretty good way to end a week.