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November 18, 2008
Virginia
With the aim of resting ourselves for a few days, we headed out for Virginia last Thursday morning. We drove across the Bay Bridge. We headed west to Lovettsville, Virginia, where our friend Wild Bill lives on some dozens of wild acres. He cooked us lunch on top of his woodstove.
My plate was piled high with things that Bill had either grown (collards, beets, turnips, zucchini, sweet potatoes) or butchered (a fine pig).
Well-fed and wild, we headed south toward Schuyler, Virginia, where our friends Bernice and Armand live. While visiting with them, we took a walk around their lake. Armand carried a machete. It's what he does.
Armand's otherwise happy life is complicated by the presence of a particularly ruthless thorny weed that grows enthusiastically around the lake. Armand has no compunction about dispatching it with the machete.
He is also aggravated by beavers.
And bucks, who thoughtlessly rub their antlers against the trees.
As fearsome as a machete may look, it apparently does little to deter beavers. Or bucks. But in spite of the pervasive menace, we managed to have a nice walk.
Afterward, Armand let us ride his off-road Segway.
I had a quick lesson.
And then was off and rolling.
Iggy smoldered with resentment at not being offered a try.
Robbi, however, would not be denied.
While visiting with Bernice and Armand, we took the opportunity to place Alden in a plastic box they had.
After a very nice day and night at Schuyler, we drove further south and further west to our ultimate destination, Douthat State Park in southwestern Virginia.
We had a lovely little cabin nestled in the trees, not far from a lake, in the bottom of a valley.
We had a large stone fireplace.
And a completely uncomfortable couch.
We had a kitchen and a bedroom and a shower and a thriving heating unit. We were very comfortable.
They even folded the towels up into fancy hotel shapes.
On Saturday, we took a hike up into the mountains.
We came upon a terrifying spider.
I carried my child in the green backpack.
My child is heavier than she used to be. Eventually, we reached the top of the mountain.
As we were climbing down again, Robbi suddenly threw a nut that hit me in the eye.
"Ha ha," Robbi said, "That was supposed to be funny."
I hereby vouch that it was not funny.
But the world was beautiful, and I quickly forgot the funny nut incident.
Iggy loves nothing more than being in the woods.
That night we had a feast. Spaghetti, coleslaw, and bad biscuits.
I put my baby in a large plastic pitcher to celebrate.
I put her in the Baby Gap bag to celebrate some more.
And then I put on Alden's hat and did some freestyle rap, which is Robbi's favorite thing.
Or is it her least favorite thing? I can't remember.
The next day we took a hike around the lake. We came to the playground where Iggy first learned to use a slide four years ago on our first visit to Douthat.
Alden demanded to be included in the fun.
She then further demanded that she was "too old to be going down the slide with [her] stupid dad" and that she wanted to do it by herself. Who are we to stand in the way of her fledgling independence?
We walked up the long set of stairs that leads to the top of the dam.
Robbi found a tree that reminded her childhood summers herding cattle in Montana.
When we got back to the cabin, she made a big fire.
While Iggy and I tried our best to take a nap on the bad couch.
Later we ate dinner, and eventually went to bed.
In the morning, we drove home.
As it always has, Douthat revived our spirits and gave us occasion to rest a bit. At the risk of seeing our little slice of solitude overrun by the lot of you, I heartily recommend it should you need a place to get away for a few days. And if, like me, you are generally grouchy about big crowds of people, may I recommend a November sojourn there. We have never yet encountered a single soul on the paths. The valley was ours to do with as we pleased.
Posted by bogenamp at November 18, 2008 11:28 PM