Hometown Tourist | steadily skipping stones

Oct 20

Apple Trees and Waterfalls – Part Two

Crabtree Falls!

I feel compelled to let you know right off the bat that I didn’t make it to the top. You see, I still have this cough…and…and…okay, I’m in terrible shape. I got up to the first overlook without much trouble, but that’s not saying much. By the next stop, I was out of breath and my heart was beating out of my chest. Going into the hike, I didn’t think I would make it very far, but I did think it would be worth trying. It was! I got far enough to see a lot of falling water, which is what I wanted. So I’m satisfied, with the view if not with myself. And (you know me) I managed to take a ton of pictures, some of which turned out okay.

We’re in the woods, ya’ll! The George Washington National Forrest, to be exact.

Oct 19

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Apple Trees and Waterfalls – Part One

I had a wonderful day last Saturday! I spent it with my good friend, Vicki, her sister and their two nieces in the Shenandoah Valley, picking apples and climbing waterfalls. Well, climbing a trail. But there were waterfalls!

One of the great things about where I live is the proximity to so many other wonderful places. We’re an hour away from our nation’s capital, an hour away from the state capital, an hour and a half from the mountains and two hours from the beach. If your notion of fun runs to roller coasters and water parks, King’s Dominion is a forty-minute drive, and Busch Gardens is two hours or so. I’d say that Fredericksburg is a day trip away from just about anything you’d want to do.

First stop – the apple orchard. I was too short to reach these, so my friend helped me out. The bottoms of the trees were well picked over, but there were some big beauties still hanging up top.

I have long wanted to experience the fun of picking my own apples. That sounds silly now that I’ve written it out, but it’s true. Another friend of mine used to go every fall with her family and she loved it. It always sounded like so much fun, and a little exotic, in a country kind of way. I imagined what you see on the television or in movies: tall trees with apple-laden branches stretching out across a bright blue sky, wooden ladders propped up against sturdy trunks, and apple baskets (you know the kind, with bright red handles) filled to the brim with delicious redness. continue reading…

Jul 12

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Don’t Worry, Bee Happy!

A few more pictures from my walk with my sister and the girls…

Jul 9

29 Comments

I’m with the Band!

I love the nightlife. I like to boogie.

Okay, not really. But if I did, I figured I’d be out of luck in Fredericksburg. I mean, we don’t get a lot of action around here. This isn’t New York City, after all; we roll up our streets at 10pm. But it used to be eight, so there’s progress for ya.

Wasn’t I just reminiscing and mooning over the lost simplicity of my little old home town? Wasn’t I just waxing nostalgic for the way it was? Some people are just never satisfied.

Sure we have ten times more restaurants and shopping centers than we did when I was a kid. But I perceive our growth as sprawl: getting ever wider, without moving up. Despite all the development, it’s still so…mundane. Where’s the vibrancy? Where’s the fun? *sigh* This town is so boring.