Alpine Hideaway

Earlier this month we took a couple of days and went to the Shenandoah Valley. Sometimes you just need a break, you know?

We stayed in a romantic little cabin getaway in Steeles Tavern called Alpine Hideaway. It is part of the new Steeles Tavern B&B that just opened up.

The cabins were not new but they were very clean. I always appreciate "very clean" when I stay somewhere.

This was the kitchen.

This was the living area. It had a hidden TV set and gas logs in the fireplace. Of course it was too hot to use the fireplace.

This was the king-sized bed.

This was the jacuzzi bathtub and shower. It was a little hard for me to get into as I am quite short, but it was nice.

There was also a hot tub on the rear deck. The facility was off US 11, but far enough off the road that the road noises were not a problem. Apparently there is a train track in the distance as I heard the train whistle once but I did not hear the clack of wheels on the track.

The place was very nice, if a little more expensive than we are used to. However, we have a hard time finding places to stay. Most B&Bs and cabins like this allow pets and/or smoking, and with my asthma that is a big problem. In fact, it has become hard to find a hotel to stay at. I think we're down to the Hamilton Inns because everything else allows pets.

This place does not allow pets, children, or smoking (except on the back deck) in the cabins, so this was my kind of overnighter.

The only problem I had with the cabin was the laundry, which I think had been washed in Tide. Tide sets off my asthma. The innkeeper told me in an email that she was going to switch back to doing the laundry in-house where she has better control over things like the laundry soap. Apparently she was trying out a laundry service while we were there. If she does that, the place is perfect for asthma sufferers and others with allergy issues.

But I would check with her first if that is an issue for you.

For some reason I did not take a picture of the exterior of the cabin. But it was quite picturesque.

Books: The Road To Grace

The Road to Grace
By Richard Paul Evans
Copyright 2012
Read by the author
Unabridged

This is the third (and I thought final but from the reviews on Amazon I guess not) book in Evans' trilogy about walking. The first, The Walk, was pretty good. The second, Miles to Go, was okay.

And then we come to this book.

This really shouldn't have been a third book. Honestly, these are all very short and I think it would have been better to have written a single larger book. But he did not and now we're stuck with these three books.

These books are about Alan, who lost his wife in the first book. After she died, he despaired and set out to walk from Seattle to Key West, Florida.

Along the way he meets a lot of people and sees a lot of stuff. In this last book, he is in Hannibal, Missouri, when the story ends.

This third book, unfortunately, falls short. The author obviously ran out of things to have happen to the character, and resorted to telling histories of the many towns that Alan walks through. While I enjoyed these little bits of Americana, and trusted the author enough to think that at least most of it was researched on Wikipedia if nothing else, the loss of character and forward momentum made for pretty dull listening after a time.

I wasn't looking for a travelogue, after all, but a story. I was interested in what happened to Alan. Or at least I was.

This is the second Evans book that I have not been overly thrilled about. I am glad he is one of the authors I listen to in the car and not one I intentionally spend time with.

Beatin' the Bass

Another interesting shop we found in Staunton was Fretwell Bass.

This was a music store full of, well, bass instruments.

I had to go in. Not because I play the bass, but because I play the guitar, and I love music.

Besides, how could you not stop when you glance in and see something as shiny as this?

This is a 1930s aluminum bass.

This is a line of bass fiddles along the wall. I don't know that I have ever seen so many bass instruments in one place.

Old instruments often are hard to beat. They have a sweet, mellow sound that newer wood simply cannot match. I know I prefer the sounds of some of the older guitars to the new ones in the stores today.

The bass fiddle is used in symphonies and in blue grass music, just to name a few. You also hear it in jazz, country and western, and many other formats.

Big Things of Metal

Before we headed out for our weekend in the Shenandoah Valley, a friend sent me a link to some large metal work in Staunton.

If you click on the link you will see photos of the work.

We looked for the items at the link but did not find them. However, we did find these:

A very large teapot.

Big flower pots on the other side of the tea pot.

The fireman's helmet at the Antique Fire Engine Museum.

The Camera Museum

The Camera Heritage Museum is located in Staunton, VA. It bills itself as the largest camera museum on the East Coast.

The cameras included dageurreotypes, view cameras, spy cameras, Leicas, Nikons, Canons, Kodaks, and Polaroids.

A display of old daguerreotypoe photos

A daguerreotype camera.

One of eight cameras built in the early 1900s specifically for newspapers to use to take pictures of baseball games.

This is owner David Schwartz. He can tell you anything you want to know about the history of photography.

This camera was owned by O. Winston Link, who in Roanoke is a hallowed name. He was a famous photographer who took a lot of pictures of trains, among other things.

My husband looking at some of the many cameras.

Nikons and Canons and Kodak, Oh My!

More cameras.

Still more cameras.

If you have an interest in photography, this is definitely something to see.

Thursday Thirteen: Visiting the Reaper

The Cyrus McCormick Farm is located just outside of Steeles Tavern, VA. It's a National Historic Landmark. The facility is now owned by Virginia Tech and the historic area is adjacent to the university's Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center.

Cyrus McCormick, in case you've forgotten your history, invented the reaper.

The reaper allowed farmers to increase their productivity and reduced labor costs. As far as farm machinery goes, the reaper is the granddaddy of all inventions, second only to the plow in terms of its usefulness.

This is a mill located on the McCormick property. It was used for milling grains.

This is the mill wheel. It does not take much water running through the sluice to make the wheel turn and do its work.

A sign noting that this area is a National Historic Landmark.

A second building on the site proclaims itself as the blacksmith shop where the reaper was created.

The tools that created the Virginia reaper.

This is a facsimile of the original reaper.

The case to the right holds a lot of little models of reapers.

The walls of the buildings had many newspapers, pictures, and placards of information.

This is the inside of the mill. These are the gears that work to make the grain.

More newspapers about the great invention. One of them said, "Eureka, Eureka! A boon for farmers and wives alike!"

This log indicates the time frame of the nation. It shows when the tree was just a twig in 1603 and the College of William and Mary was founded, then follows on up the years with George Washington, the American Revolution, Cyrus McCormick's birth, the reaper invention,
the Civil War, and ends with the moon landing in 1969. I thought this was neat.

A stone marking the birthplace of Cyrus McCormick.

My husband looking over the backside of the mill.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 252nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

When Firemen Were Firemen

The Antique Fire Engine Museum in Staunton is located inside one of the city's fire stations.

It's a single room, with one star attraction.

A 1911 Fire Engine.

This is a 1911 Robinson Chemical Fire Engine. The firefighters call it "Jumbo."

My husband discussed the fire truck with a firefighter who was staffing the museum when we were there.

The folks in Staunton think this is one of only two remaining trucks like this left in the world. The other is in Arizona.

The 1911 truck has lots of shiny brass doohickeys on it.

The Staunton Fire Department formed over 200 years ago; it is one of the oldest fire departments in Virginia.

More shiny doohickeys.

Still more shiny doohickeys!

There were other firefighter-related items, too:

A street alarm box.

An old firefighter's helmet.

An alarm bell that would have been inside the station.

Another alarm bell.

A really old-fashioned kind of alarm bell!

A memorial to the fallen firefighters from September 11, 2001. When the towers collapsed, 343 firefighters died.

A big metal firefighter's helmet located outside the museum.

This is a photo of a postcard showing the entire 1911 engine. The museum room was too small for me to get a really good shot of the beautiful machine. This doesn't do it, justice, either, but I wanted you to see the fire engine in its entirety. I think it is a marvel.

Goshen Pass

Goshen Pass in Rockbridge County is Virginia's oldest state-maintained natural area. The pass encompasses 3.7 miles of gorge along the Maury River, which carved out the pass. The state manages a wilderness area there of about 1,000 acres.

The Pass is located about 10 miles outside of Lexington.

The Maury River from one of the overlooks.

Another shot of the river. It's a very rocky river.

Looking upstream.

My sweetie at the overlook.

About midway, where the road and river run more even, the state has a little picnic area and pavilion.

It is a nice, relaxing place to stop and eat a bite of chicken.

People swim in the river here.

This is a monument to the philantropists who donated the wilderness area.

This is a monument to Matthew Fontaine Maury, for whom

the river is named. You don't often see an anchor that large

along a riverway in the Blue Ridge.

The Maury River flows into the James. It was not officially called the Maury River until 1968. Before that it was known as a branch of the Calfpasture or the North River.

Another scenic shot to end the post!

There are many hiking trails in the area. Definitely something to see if, like me, you find a certain kind of calmness in watching the waters roll by whilst in the midst of the woods.