A Trip East

John and I have had a busy fall season so far.  Two weeks ago we took a cabin at Meramec State Park, joining our daughter and her family who were tenting there.  This past week-end we took a road trip to Washington D.C. to visit our son Dan and his wife.  On highway 68, across the northern top of Maryland, we saw the brilliance of reds and yellows in the fall colors.  Seemed a bit early for them to appear, but we were driving in mountainous areas.

A day after arriving in D.C. we drove with our son Dan and Amanda to the Shenandoah Valley where we rented a cabin belonging to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.  The first day we hiked around the immediate area and saw the usual remnants of old farm sites, which included low stone walls as well as home fireplaces.

Our cabin had an interesting feature, a bridge to nowhere in particular.  The family who built their vacation home here, in the 1970s,  liked the artist Monet.  The lady of the house had a bridge reconstructed in her yard, similar to the one found in some of Monet's paintings.

According to a journal in the cabin, written by past visitors to the home, a black bear had been spotted in the yard in July.  All we saw of wild life were some wild turkeys- our son and his wife did see a pileated woodpecker while sitting on the porch.  And we hear many birds chattering in the trees, that alone was quite pleasant during our stay!  One last picture here is that of Virginia Creeper, whose leaves are now turning red.