Fall Foliage Float

On Saturday I went with the Blacksburg Parks and recreation center on a canoe trip down the James River. The weather was supposed to be very cold (which is was) and sunny (which for the most part it was not!). But the colors are pretty good at the moment. On the way to the rec center I walk past this great derelict house and amazing tree.

Old house.

After meeting at the rec center, they drove us up past Roanoke to the drop off on the James river in Botetourt county. We got kitted up and waited for the instructors to unload the canoes and get the shuttle over to a pickup point.

Canoes at the ready

Ready to go.

Because I was on my own and everyone else was in pairs (the usual story), I ended up sharing a canoe with Travis, the guy in charge. Which had its good and bad sides. Good side - I was with someone who knew exactly that they were doing. Bad side - we went through all the rapids first to test out the best path and he was slightly insane! He liked to rock the boat. Literally! I really did think we were going to get dunked. Especially when he stood up in the canoe yelling "This is what not to do!" Thankfully that did not happe. (Did I mention it was really cold?)

Getting the canoes in.

Despite the clouds, the sun did come through a couple of times and it was very pretty and peaceful.

The James River

There were a lot of different groups on the trip. There were a few parent/kid groups (one of who were the first to going for an unplanned swim but despite being freezing the kid was a trooper!).  They were all great fun and we had a good laugh (usually when someone ran into a tree or kept going in circles).

Along the trip there were some quite impressive rapids as the water was really high apparently. I loved it! Despite the splashes of cold water. (And mild terror occasionally - maybe due to the crazy man steering!)

Camille (11) and her mom, Alex 

We stopped on the river for lunch. This was after a couple of big rapids (which I didm't get any photos of - I was too busy paddling and hoping not to go swimming) so it was nice to have a chance to dry off a little. and chat.

Climbing ashore for lunch.

The little guy is the one who went swimming.

Fall leaves

After lunch we headed out again. On this section, we spent some time holding onto each other canoes and just drifting while we waited for some else to be fished out of the drink. It was nice just to chill out and drift and chat.

Near miss with a tree!

Some rocky water

The sun did come out in the afternoon for a little and made all the difference. I got a bit wet in each of the rapids (Travis like to aim for the wave trains - the biggest waves - which was fun until you a re freezing after!). Anyway the heat from the sun was much appreciated!

The sun comes out.

Doesn't look like it but there was sun I promise.

The trees weren't as good as I had hoped. High winds have removed a lot of the leaves, especially the red one for some reason. (someone tried to explain but I didn't get it). But they were still pretty, especially in the sun.

Fall colors

Moody shot

And we were lucky enough to see a red-tailed hawk. This was the best shot I could get with my little waterproof. I would have loved to have had my DSLR but there was no way it was going anywhere near the water! (I didn't even ask it for the bus just in case I was tempted.)

red-tailed Hawk

The second stop was just to stretch our legs and try to scalage for a snack. Most people stayed in their canoes to avoid getting their feet wet. But mine were already wet (thanks to the amount of water now in the bottom of the canoe) so why not? A few of us went looking for pawpaws which are apparently a cross between a fig and a banana. I was very curious (they aren't sold in shops, generally scavenged from river sides, and are only available on the female version of the tree). Unfortunately it seems everyone else on the river before us had the same plan and the trees were bare. :-(

Break site.

Looking for extra layers to stay warm (Travis is the guy in red)

More fall colors

Getting out of the break site back onto the river was tricky. The water here wasn't very deep so we pretty much had to shuffle the boats along with our butts and paddles. Not the most elegant (and in fact quite comical at times) but it worked.

Some blue sky!

Of course as we got close to our takeout point (just before the bridge), the clouds cleared and the sun came out. Thankfully the last leg was uneventful (we did go through the biggest rapid and everyone got wet but no one went swimming there). Everyone was really grateful for the heat when we got out and desperate to get back to the shuttle to change into warm clothes!

Sunny at last!

In total only 3 people capsized. I was happy not to be one of them. In the summer, sure. But not in 50 F weather. It was a lovely day and I topped it off with Thai curry and R collection cab sauv wine when I got home. I'll definitely be doing more of the rec center trips in the future (one in a few weeks in fact) and certainly more of the canoeing/kayaking trips. But in the spring/summer!
Sunday was spent working. Boring but necessary. Also planning conferences and travel for next year though. So I have some fun things to look forward to! :-)

Food!

This weekend was pretty boring. I spent it cooking and working. I have been using up things form my freezer so decided to restock. I have been wanting to make soup for a while and autumn soups are the best. I made a really tasty butternut squash soup. It was so thick it doesn't exactly pour.

Massive pan of butternut squash soup

 On Saturday evening I made a red thai curry and had it with a nice glass of Riesling. So vey civilized.

Curry

 I also made a few other things for the freezer and cooked a lamb shank but the lamb is not very good here.
And finally Blacksburg goes truly international. They now have an English food section in Kroger. It has only been here a week. And when I saw it, I did a happy dance in the aisle. :-) It got me a few strange looks but those people have obviously never tried malteasers or Aero or brown sauce

British food section

I got a nice little selection. It did not help my food bill - a can of soup was about $5! But it is worth it. I am going to horde some and have them for special occasions. There is something very comforting about tomato soup or a cheese and Branson sandwich! Makes me miss home. I am already putting in my food orders with mom for when I go back next! :-)

Tasty!

More vineyards

On Sunday morning, the last day of my long weekend away, I got up late and went out for a big breakfast. Not quite an English breakfast but still. (I ended up at Cracker Barrel which is ok though I much prefer iHop.) The plan was to head home via some wineries. I am trying to get to as many of the local wineries/vineyards as possible. But I was a little early. I ended up sitting in a car park for 45mins watching my kindle as they didn't open until noon.

The first was Cave Ridge. It was really pretty and the people were lovely. I ended up coming away with 2 bottles, a voigner (white) and a port like desert wine which was really tasty.  Some of the others were nice but not worth the price they were asking. It would be nice to sit and have lunch there with some of their wines.

Courtyard

View for drinking.

On the way to the second vineyard, I stopped a lavender farm to get some fresh lavender for my bedroom. They also had a little farm with rabbits to play with and other animals to feed. I couldn't resist!

Bunnies fighting for lettuce

Having a sneeze.

Slightly freaking looking goat

Pony

Ducks

Turkey!

The air smelt amazing and so relaxing. I spent some time wondering around the gardens

Lavender

Bottle tree

Flower

I did have to do a double take and slightly backed off when I saw this guy. Way too big for my liking.

Spider!

The duck pond was also really pretty and the sun was out. Though the water was a very unnatural blue.

Duck pond

Boy and his firefly jar.

The second vineyard was Crosskeys.  The wines were ok but like with most VA wineries they are really overpriced. The only one I did buy was another port style red dessert wine which was really good. I didn't like this place as much as the last one as the service just was not half as good. The place was beautiful but they people were more stuck up.

Cross Keys vineyard

I ended up getting something to eat and chilling to make sure I was ok to drive home. They had some live music and, though, not much choice in food for me, the salad was very tasty.

Live music

Ice tea and salad

I ended up going down the i-81 to get home instead of the back road as it would have just taken too long. I still hate the i-81. More people try to kill me on that road than another. Most should not have licenses! But I got home safe and it was a great weekend. Possibly the last weekend away for a while. But I still have the hot air balloon voucher so need to rebook that. So maybe....

Shenandoah National Park

On Saturday morning I was up earlier than I expected so after a dismal breakfast at the hotel (thankfully I had packed cereal bars), I got to the Shenandoah by 9am. And it was "get in free" day! (Normally there is a small fee to get into National Park without a pass and my pass ran out a few days before my trip.) I have been wanting to go up the Shenandoah since I got here. It was a beautiful as I had hoped.

Beautiful views.

Looking over the Moorman river. (I think)

I wanted to do a few of the hikes, but the small ones! The first one was to Blackrock summit. It was only a 1 mile round trip and because I was there early I had the place to myself for most of my walk.

The trail

The trees had started to turn so the colors were amazing!

Autumn leaves

Though I will admit when I saw this sign, I did think about turning back. Thankfully I didn't see any snakes, though for the first 10 mins after seeing this sign, a lot of tree roots looked very snake like! I think, thankfully, it was too cold for them at that time in the morning.

Snakes!

The trail up wasn't very scenic so I amused myself taking odd photos. :-)

Leaf!

But then the trail got to the summit after about 20 mins ambling. The trees just suddenly disappeared and the path becomes rocks. And the view was worth the climb.

View from the summit.

The path lead around the summit and meet up with the Appalachian Trail on the other side for the way down.

Path

On top of the world again

Fall has arrived

From the top of the summit.

The way down was along part of the Appalachian Trail. I had through walking the trail (Which is about 200 miles I think) would be cool. Then I read the Bill Bryson book on doing just that (I highly recommend it) and decided it was totally not for me. I am happy just walking a few little sections of it.
Once again on the way back to the car, I amused myself taking photos.

More leaves

Autumn trees and blue sky!

The second walk I did was further north and to Lewis Falls. According to the hiking map, it was a moderately difficult trail. They lied!!!! Going down was fine. Coming back up .... really not fun.

The Appalachain Trail start to Lewis falls

Thistle.

The start of the walk was along a open path in the sun. Very nice

Random door to nowhere in the side of the mountain.

Going in the right direction

Then the path become a little less obvious.

There is a path there. Honest. Somewhere

It took about 30mins to get there. And the view was worth it.

View near the falls.

You then continue round to view the falls, which was a bit disappointing. You couldn't see them very well. :-(

Lewis falls

I saw and ate my lunch viewing the falls before heading back up to the car. It took me quite a bit longer to get back. At the gift shop, they told me that was one of the more strenuous trails. The moral to this story is never trust hiking guides; they are probably written by someone a lot fitter than me!

After the hike, I had had enough walking, so headed for my hotel in Woodstock. The original plan was to go for a hot air balloon flight that night. I was so excited and the weather was amazing, perfect for the sunset flight. Then I phoned to check the flight was on and the owner told me his wife had had a baby a few hours ago and he was going to have to cancel. Congrats for him but of all the days....

So instead I went into Woodstock, found a steakhouse and had a really good meal. The steak was huge and perfectly cooked (finally an American who understands rare!). Back in my hotel room I watched the Little Mermaid and finished the wine from last night before getting an early night and one of the best nights sleep I have had in a while. Not the night I had planned but still pretty good.