Luray, VA

The weather in the Virginia mountains is fantastic...warm during the day and cool at night. Luray is in the Shenandoah Valley between the Shenandoah Nat'l Park mountains and the George Washington Mountains. Quite beautiful actually. Lots of farming going on here. It is less than 100 miles to Washington D.C. One might think it would be a favorite getaway for those living in the city, but it does not seem that way. The area is a bit downtrodden.

However, we found a nice, quiet, clean, well-kept RV park and enjoyed our stay. We plucked Adrienne and a couple of trail friends from the AT. She stayed with us for two nights and I hiked with her in the Park for 9 miles. That amounted to less than a half day for her, but it was enough for me! The Togetherness Meter dropped temporarily and rallied at the end of the day. Al picked us up, fed us dinner at the Big Meadows Lodge, and Adrienne continued on her way. What an amazing experience she is having!! We feel fortunate to witness small segments of her journey.

We hiked some on our own in the Park which is replete with wildlife, and that is always fun. Deer are plentiful and proprietary about the trails. Adrienne and I encountered a deer on the trail that did not want to give us the right-of-way. She stamped her feet a few times but eventually left the trail just long enough for us to pass. The bears are many but are more cautious, due, no doubt, to lots of work on the part of the Park Rangers.

Al rented us a sea-worthy vessel(an Old Town of course) to canoe the Shenandoah River. It was my first experience on a river, and now I recognize the V and know where the boat SHOULD go. After a few times, it was fun! As always, Al is a great teacher and it was a good day.

Luray has an amazing Singing Bell Tower called a Carillon which is actually a musical instrument. It has 47 cast bronze bells arranged in chromatic series and played from a keyboard of oak levers. Four times a week an elderly gentlemen climbs up the tower and plays for 45 minutes. What an incredible sound! Maybe you music enthusiasts are familiar with it, but we were not.

One of my favorite things is to find a really good used book store and we stocked up with a pile of good reading. We visited a local winery to replish our wine cellar and picked up a few much-needed items at Camping World--a unique U.S. map with removable state stickers to show the world where we've been...just like every other RV has. :)

Today, we went to the dentist. Dr. M thought it was really weird for us to get our teeth cleaned while on vacation. English was not his first language and it didn't seem necessary to pursue it.

The RV Park has all manner of creatures and musicians coming and going to keep us entertained, and we joined the town folks for 4th of July fireworks. Al made two new friends, Daryl from Texas and Johnny Appleseed from Massachusetts.

We really like hearing from Y'all on the blog and via e-mail! We're headed for Falling Waters, WV. See you there!