Last Dance

Our last Summer fling

The end of our unofficial Summer vacation occurs this week. Don returns to school & Damian returns the following week. Football practices have begun. School supplies were purchased on our tax free holiday this weekend. Don’t blink because I have seen Halloween decorations already in stores. Damian just returned from spending the weekend down in the Northern Neck with his Uncle Darren & future Aunt Kensley. This afforded Don & I one last hurrah before we settle into the routine of the school year.

Fishing on the Chesapeake

This Summer we spent an inordinate amount of time in the car as we traversed across Virginia, ran down to North Carolina for our Grandson’s high school graduation, visited the Philadelphia area 3 times, extended one of those trips up to Atlantic City, made a day trip to our neighbor West Virginia and Don even made it up to New York.

Mike’s graduation

Virginia brewery tour

After flying the canopy zip lines at Shenandoah River State Park

Philadelphia 1 – meet the family

Fairy Stone State Park

The Virginia Museum of Natural History

July 4th at Kings Dominion

Overnite visit to Winchester Medical Center (I’m fine, thanks.)

Navy Reunion – Philly 2

On the Boardwalk – Atlantic City NJ

Don visiting family in NY

Philly 3 with Dawn & Darren

Despite all this galavanting we were still able to get a few things done around the house.

Before

After

Don didn’t even fall off the ladder once.

Redone barn & our new boarder.

My new garden gate.

Back deck

Screen porch

New guest room

New finish on Mom’s old china cabinet.

We even had a bit of luck this summer:

My peonies bloomed beautifully

Eric & Natalie found a new home

Damian found a volleyball while camping

The Caps found the Stanley Cup (photo courtesy of Eric Russo)

I found a bottle of Patron in my hotel room (yes, I drank it)

I digress, this post is supposed to be about our day in and around Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.
Harper’s Ferry is a confluence of 3 states: Maryland, West Virginia & Virginia and 2 rivers: the Potomac & the Shenandoah. It was historically significant as the site of John Brown’s raid & Civil War battles as well as being located along what was once the C&O Canal. Recreationally, the rivers are popular for fishing, white water rafting, tubing and kayaking. The Applachian Trail runs right through the town and there are numerous other trails for hikers to enjoy. Due to the unique location of the lower town, there have been more than 80 floods.

Crossing to the Maryland side by the old railway tunnel (still in use)

Flood markers

The high water levels are great for rafting this summer

View from the Maryland side

Garden in town

Our packed picnic (we’re not
Barbarians)

We recalled that before the current National Park site was built we used to park right down by the river on sultry summer Sundays and take our boys fishing but now you access through the main gate and are taken into town via bus. We put Don’s National Park Pass to good use. After hiking around and sweating enough we were ready to cool down so we headed over to nearby Charlestown to hit the Hollywood Casino & Race Track. The horse racing didn’t start until 7:00 pm so we figured we’d kill a little time in the Casino first.

Where my money went in the casino

Refreshed by the frigid air conditioning of the casino & the free Coca Cola we moved out to the race track. The evening was beautiful and the track is surrounded by mountains which makes for a pretty view. It is an intimate track and most of the horses running are locally bred. I enjoy going down to the paddock and looking at them before the post parade.

shot of the straightaway

The skills acquired through my time spent at various racing venues with my parents and grandparents apparantly paid off as I was handicapping pretty well this night. We departed after the 4th race being able to walk away with 2 exacta wins under our belts. We headed over to the Mountain View diner across the street which is a treat for us. It is an authentic Greek diner which while very prevalent in NY are lacking down here by us. They have a vast menu and the desserts are to die for – I packed a piece of coconut custard pie for the road.

Learning to read a racing form at age 8 pays off

We’ve been to Harper’s Ferry and Charletown many, many times in the 35 years since relocating south but I can’t recall a more pleasant time. I guess knowing that this was our last weekend alone before going back to the grind made it more special.

Visit the Mountain Heritage Crafts Festival Sept 28-30

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