Another Tick Problem

Thursday June 13 & Friday June 15, 2013
Tub Run COE Campground
Confluence, PA

 

 

Leaving Virginia

We leave the farm and Charlottesville on Thursday June 12.  We get a late start and only go a short 80 miles to an overnight at Endless Caverns RV resort.  It’s close off I 81 in an area where there really isn’t any place else to stay.  Good thing it was a short trip since we ended up driving in the rain which I hate to do.

 

 

 

 

The Campground has full hook ups and there is the Endless Cavern to tour if you are there long enough.  Campsites on hillsides.  Questionably level.  We use Passport America which is good for only one night.  I think $26.88 for a night on a fairly unlevel campsite on a hillside is a bit steep and can’t imagine who pays the full price.  But it’s the only game in town and is fine for what we need - one night.

 

 

Next stop Tub Run COE

 

On Friday, I’m thinking of Karen who doesn’t like driving in the mountains as we leave the interstate and drive 161  curvy and winding miles uphill and down to Tub Run COE campground in Pennsylvania.  Your diesel would have had an even easier time Karen.

$22 ($11 for seniors) for electric sites of which there are only about 15.  Water available to fill your tank and a dump station.   Of course there is a lake for boating and swimming although none of the sites are on the water.  Lots of fishermen.

 

We are here to see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Ohiopyle State Park whose campground I felt I needed to see before committing myself.  Since we are arriving on a Friday during the summer I elected to make my reservation at Tub Run a 10 mile drive to the Park and then another 2 miles to Fallingwater.

 

 

 

Another tick problem puts David down for the count.

After we arrive on Friday David isn’t feeling well, he has a fever apparently from another tick he left in too long.  Yes he was out and about on the farm and did not tuck his long pants into his socks in good tick avoidance practice.  Who knows why not.   I am envisioning another hospital horror visit like the one in Harrisburg last year.  His temperature goes up and down from 98.9 to 100 and back and forth.   But mostly he is just tired and sleeps all afternoon.

 

Guess we need to get tickets to Fallingwater.

 

In the later afternoon on Friday, while he is napping and things seem stable, I drive down to Fallingwater but it closed at 4pm.  The sign informs me that I’d better have reservations if I actually want to see the house.  Well then……….problematic since we have no Verizon internet or cell service at Tub Run in spite of David’s latest antenna and booster plan.

No answer when I try to call Fallingwater from the foot of their driveway.  So I get on line and make the reservations using my cell phone.  Boy is it hard to type on that thing.  I really hate to do any money transactions on a phone.  BUT…………….   I was hoping to get an early tour, they open at 10am.   What I find is that all of the times are taken until 2pm so that’s what I take.  $22 for an hour tour of the house and as much time as you like to walk the grounds.   Pretty expensive I think.  But it’s what I came here to see so I put my money down. I buy one for David too, in hopes that he will feel well enough to go.

 

Ohiopyle State Park is a really unique park.

 

On the way to Fallingwater I go through Ohiopyle State Park and find it is an entire town.  Once I have my tickets secured, I return to the park to check out the possibilities.

The park is 2500 acres including the town and a long section with a horseshoe bend of the Youghiogheny  River.  The river has lots of rapids and waterfalls.  It’s a whitewater kayaking haven.  Because it is a town, there is no charge to “enter” the park.   There are many private outfitters for river rafting or kayaking, several restaurants, private homes, single room motels for bikers and kayakers, a Methodist church, and a post office.  It’s a town in a state park; looks like fun.

 

 

 

The park is building a brand new Visitor’s Center so there is construction going on right on the river front.  For now the tourist information bureau is housed in the great old train station.

 

 

Running right by the station on what was the old train bed (tracks removed) is a wonderful rails to trails path called the Allegheny Passage which runs 70 miles from Pittsburg, PA to Cumberland, MD.  From there the very serious bikers can pick up the C&O Canal towpath trail and ride another 75 miles to Washington, D.C.   The trail is hard packed and great riding.  Just beyond the train station, it goes over the river twice heading west.  Super bridges in both cases.

 

Unfortunately due to a medical appointment at Dana Farber in Boston, we have only this afternoon and tomorrow here to see both the park and Fallingwater.   This is definitely a return to spot.

 

After a short look at the town and a visit to the bureau for information,  I get the lay of the land and what there is to do in the park and in the town.  I set off hiking on the Allegheny Passage across the bridges and then to the Cucumber Falls trail  down a lovely path through tall trees reaching for the light.  The falls are full and beautiful.  I walk down stream to where the falls run meets the river and find wild azalea blooming all along the bank.  Upriver in the rapids, the kayakers are playing.  As I walk back up the falls run and see the falls from a distance below it is just as lovely.  Music to my ears.  I can walk nearly up to it and would have walked behind it but I had no one to hold my camera.   Another next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

I’m really sorry I can’t stay and stay, but it is nearly dark and I must go back and see how David is doing.  

I find him awakened from his second nap.  His temperature is down.  I insist he take a couple of Ibuprofen when it goes up again before bedtime.   He has been sleeping now for about 6 hours or so and has had a light supper.   He goes back to bed, and even though he’s been asleep half the day, he sleeps all night.

Time and rest do the trick.  His immune system is not as strong as it once was but it is strong enough to get through this.  His comment is that he guesses he will just have to try to remember that even though he feels fine, he isn’t really.   I SIGH…………

But we can thankfully now go on to our whirlwind Saturday here in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania.  

Hiking and Camping in the Virginia Blue Ridge

Sunday June 16, 2013
Charlottesville

 

This is the last post of four on visiting historic Charlottesville,  Virginia and the area surrounding it.  If you have not read the first 3 you can find them in the blog achieve on the right.  The first one is titled Jeffersontown,

 

 

At the farm, the view to the west is exquisite.

From the backyard of the farmhouse there is a wonderful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Humpback Rocks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  The sunsets are glorious.  The farm is 23 miles from Charlottesville and about 12 miles from the intersection of The Blue Ridge Parkway and The Skyline Drive at the top of Afton Mountain.  The latter is the gateway to Shenandoah National Park.  Thus, as you can imagine, other than the trails through our woods, they are the hiking trails of choice.  Here is a brief sampling of the trails available just outside Charlottesville.

 

 

 

The Blue Ridge Parkway

 

The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of mountain top road connecting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park With Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive.  The end of the Blue Ridge Parkway is on top of Afton Mountain just a few feet from the beginning of the Skyline Drive.  You can take Route 250 from Misty Mountain Campground (see below) or Route 64 from either of the other two to access either wonderful drive.

Your really should not try to do them both in one day unless you must.  Even with one day for each, you will only get a very small sampling of what they have to offer.

 

 

At Milepost 5.8 or so there is the Humpback Rocks visitor center with a demonstration mountain farm.  Very worth visiting.  On down the road is the trail to Humpback Rock, a great hike.  Humpback Rock is a massive greenstone outcropping with a summit elevation of 3080’.  I know those of you from the west will laugh at that but it’s our rock and we love it!   If you get all the way to the top, look out into the Rockfish Valley to your East and Wave.  We might be there but probably not.

 

 

 

Shenandoah National Park and The Skyline Drive

 

 

The Skyline Drive runs through Shenandoah National Park.  It’s Markers are opposite those of the BRP which runs from 0 in Virginia to 469 in North Carolina.   In Afton the markers are from Mile Post 101 to Front Royal at Mile Post 1.

 

 

 

 

The National park has over 500 miles of hiking trails including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail.  The closest visitor center is at Big Meadows Mile Post 51, about half way up the drive unfortunately although it is a lovely drive of less than an hour and well worth going to.  As you might imagine, the visitor center overlooks a big meadow where there are nearly always deer and sometimes bear or other wildlife and wildflowers to seen.

 

 

 

 

 

But there are many trails closer to the southern end if you prefer and when you enter the park, the ranger will give you a map listing them.  The Jones Run Falls trail at Mile Post 84 is a wonderful hike but the falls will be scant in the summer time.   Unlike the Humpback trail, Jones falls, is like most trails on the mountain, a you go down first and then have to climb back up trail.  So save energy for the end.

Also be aware that the trees on both drives suffer a great deal from the air pollution which has limited the view.  In former times, from several spots on the Skyline Drive you could see the Washington Monument to the East and the Alleghany Mountains of West Virginia to the West but it’s been years since that was possible.

 

 

A local favorite hike is Old Rag Mountain.  This is a rock scramble and a tricky hike but very rewarding.  It is quite popular so I suggest starting early in the day.  If you are short there are some unique challenges.  Best to take a taller buddy. Wear butt scooting pants if possible.  It is a loop hike and you should plan on it taking the entire day.

 

 

 

The adventurous will LOVE this hike.  For lots of folks in these parts it is an annual affair.  But it is a scramble for sure.

 

  

 

 

 

 

As for campgrounds, here are three nearby.

 

Because we are from Charlottesville, we have never stayed in any of the campgrounds near here.  Winnona hangs out for free either in Charlottesville or in the barn yard.  That said, there are two very close and one not tooo far away campgrounds.

 

The closest one is Charlottesville KOA which of course has the normal KOA cautions.  It is accessible from two different directions, Rt 29 South a large 4 lane state highway or Route 20 south a scenic small two lane road.  BUT the campground is on the road between them.  4 miles from the larger road, 1.5 miles from the smaller.  Take your pick. 

 

The second campground is Misty Mountain Camp Resort and it is easily accessible from Interstate 64 just west of Charlottesville and only slightly down the mountain from The Blue Ridge Parkway and The Skyline Drive.  $35 for W/E,  $42-$45 for FHU at the time of this post.

 

There is also Small Country Campground in Louisa Virginia about 28 miles East Charlottesville.  Small Country is a Passport America Park and I have heard others say it is a very nice spot especially with the PPA discount.

So that’s finally it.  When I started out to play tourist in my own hometown I seriously had no idea it would take me four posts to do it.  But I would not have had anything but rain to post about otherwise.

Heading north, see you on the road.

Presidents and Trails

Tuesday June 11, 2013
Charlottesville, Virginia

 

Pretty sure I would not have had time to do these three posts on my hometown had it not been for the forced days inside per the dermatologist and per the constant rain.  It has been raining every single day since I was allowed back outside.  Haven’t gotten much crossed off my list.   So here’s another post on visiting places very near my hometown of Charlottesville Virginia.  If you have not seen the first one, click here.   This link will take you to the second.

 

Presidents three, four and five all  lived within about 60 miles of each other.

They were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe. Jefferson was the 3rd President and Madison the 5th.  Monroe’s home Ash Lawn is about 2 miles further from Charlottesville than Jefferson’s.  You just turn  left out of Jefferson’s driveway and go on to Madison’s.  They were neighbors.

 

The property is now known as Ash Lawn-Highland.  The Monroe’s owned the property from 1793 to 1826 and made it their official residence from 1999 to 1823.   After Monroe’s death, the property passed into private hands and the name of their farm was changed from Highland to Ash Lawn.  Today it carries both names.  But locals refer to it as Ash Lawn.  The property was opened to the public in 1931 by philanthropist Jay Winston Johns and his wife Helen Lambert Johns.  In 1974, his will left the home and grounds to the College of William and Mary where Monroe had studied from 1774 to 1776.  Jefferson also attended William and Mary.  The College continues to own and operate the property.

 

 

There is a tour of the house, you can walk walk through the beautiful gardens, enjoy the outstanding views  at your leisure and visit with the resident peacocks.  The tour begins in the 18th Century section which was the Monroe house and then continues into the 19th century section which was added on.   There are living history demonstrations in the outbuildings and workshops in candlemaking, rope making, tin lantern making, and paperquilling are available.   The home and grounds are open 9am-6pm April-October and 11am-5pm November-March.

 

 

For many years, there was a summer program of outdoor opera which we attended frequently especially the summer in which Carrie was a member of the opera orchestra.  You can see the musicians just at the edge of the stage.  The audience is beyond them. 

The opera moved into the renovated Jefferson theater I believe because of the unreliable weather and the peacocks who often joined in the singing.  But there was a lot of controversy about that as an evening of opera and dinners on the grounds had become very popular.  We were sorry to see it moved. 

This summer the Ash Lawn Opera is putting on its 36th season and its 5th at the Jefferson Theater.  They are performing Puccini’s La Boheme and Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.   But you can still take a picnic to the lovely Ash Lawn grounds when you visit.

 

If you are up for another president’s home and a beautiful drive through the Virginia countryside then continue on to Montpelier home of James and Dolly Madison.

 

For 76 years, Montpelier was the home of James Madison it had been in his family from 1723.  When he was elected President in 1809, he was already considered the Father of the Constitution and with his friend and mentor Thomas Jefferson had founded the Democratic-Republican party.  He died in 1836 and is buried at Montpelier.  Dolly sold the home in 1844 and it changed hands many times and the house and grounds were changed. The family of William DuPont purchased it in 1901 and bequeathed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1984 and they continue to manage the property.  An independent non profit organization, The Montpelier Foundation, was created.  In 2003 they launched a 5 year restoration to return the house to the way it was when James and Dolly lived there in the 1820’s. 

The Montpelier estate includes the home, the gardens, historic buildings, exhibits, archeological sites, and forest trails.  This is another great picnic spot.

 

 

There is a tour of the house including the Presidential Library.  The grounds are 2,650 acres of rolling hills with wonderful views again of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  There is a two acre formal garden and the cemetery where both James and Dolly Madison are buried. 

 

 

 

The 200 acre Landmark Forest has been virtually undisturbed over time and contains red, scarlet, chestnut, white and black oaks, tulip poplars, pignut and mockernut hickory trees.  A few of these are 200-300 years old. Diameters between 36 and 60” are not uncommon.  It is a National Natural Landmark and well worth visiting.  There are two miles of trails.  Visiting the forest is free and open to the public during regular visitor hours.

James Madison spent six months in his upstairs library here at Montpelier researching governments and organizing what he believed were the idea principles for for a representative democracy.  These ideas became the “Virginia Plan” and ultimate the framework for the Constitution.

The Center for the Constitution is located at Montpelier.  It is an educational endeavor and holds seminars as well.

The home and grounds are open  from 9:30 to 5:00 every day but Monday.  First tour at 10AM last at 4PM.

 

 

If you love old growth forests as much as I do, you may want to visit The Old Growth Forest Network to see where they are along your route.  You can check their website above for state which currently have dedicated old growth forests.  At this time they include Virginia, Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Hawaii.  Or at least those are the states who have joined the “This Forest Will Never Be Logged” network.

 

 

 

 

And now for you Winers and brewskites.

 

You really can’t drive anywhere in the countryside surrounding Charlottesville without running into winery after winery.

 

OF COURSE Thomas Jefferson is known as the country’s “first true viticulturist” or at least that’s what we’re all told.  So there are plenty many wineries for you to visit and sample their wares.  Not being a wine drinker I can’t advise you but the tourist bureau at the top of the Downtown Mall near the Friday’s After 5 pavilion certainly can provide you with more ideas than you’ll probably have time for.  Here is what Wine Spectator has to say about the area.

The Monticello American Viticultural Area, which surrounds Charlottesville, is home to more than 20 wineries. Roughly encompassing 1,250 square miles, it’s the 26th largest AVA in the country, dwarfing regions like Sonoma and Napa valleys. Yet navigating it is not difficult; most of the wineries lie within 15 miles of Charlottesville.  The array of wines produced in the region’s red-clay soil is staggering. It’s not unusual for a winery to have 30 or more different releases a year. Tour the tasting rooms and you’ll find Bordeaux grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, Rhône reds and whites, Riesling and Chardonnay, and even Spanish and Italian varieties. Then there are sweet wines made from blackberries, pears and the like, plus native and hybrid grapes such as Norton and Niagara.

You can also find information on many wineries at The Monticello Wine Trail.  At least 30 wineries in the vicinity are listed with information and directions.

 

 

 

If you are a beer lover then ask at the Tourist Bureau for the Brew Ridge Trail  or check out their website for craft breweries in the area.

If you have followed my suggestions you may well be on Day # 4 or #5 in this area.  I have one last set of suggestions for a day or two spent visiting some of our best hiking.   I’ll give you some campground suggestions then too. 

 

 

 

**NOTE:  I’ve been told that my posts aren’t showing up on some folks blog rolls and I haven’t been able to make my email notification work on blogger but I have another possible notification method.  If you would like to be notified of future posts by email either put that in your comment or email me at RVDreamlilfe@gmail.com and I will add you to the list.   I look forward to your comments.
Sherry