Punkin Chunkin

For the 3rd year in a row Carren and I went to the Punkin Chunkin. It was awesome. Carren gives a great report of the whole thing on her blog. Check it out and don't forget to catch the special on the Discovery Channel some time! http://mycket.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-love-smell-of-pneumatic-air-cannons.html

The DGM

Some times people come into our lives to give us remarkable gifts. To grant our most ardent wishes and make all our dreams come true. In Cinderella the Fairy Godmother grants Cinderella the chance to go to the ball, meet Prince Charming and start a new life. In Alexandria, Virginia the Dairy Godmother almost daily grants me the chance to escape from hectic city life into a world of tantalizing frozen custard and delectable baked goods. She's a culinary genius who has turned ice cream into an art form. Every 2 days she has a new flavor and I have taken it upon myself to sample each one. Some of my favorites have been chocolate orange shortbread, banana pudding and toasted almond. She even caters her flavors for the seasons and holidays. I'm looking forward to eggnog next week. With her shop just a few short blocks away I've become a regular and can't really imagine life without said Dairy Godmother. Cause let's face it, some days you just need a pint!

Wild and Wonderful

This year for Columbus Day weekend my roommate Janet, my buddy Brian and I went on an adventure to John Denver's "almost heaven" West Virginia. We took a little detour on our way out and stopped at the Graves Mountain Apple Festival. Where we sampled and picked our own apples before heading to WV. Our first stop in WV was the Biscuit World, where they serve biscuit sandwiches with names like Ron, Tootie, Thundering Herd and Duke. It was delicious! Once our bellies were full we headed over to Cooter's Cabins & Campin'. "Cooter" was exactly what you'd expect a West Virginian to be, except he had a full set of teeth, but he was not without the overalls, goofy laugh, and country manners. His house is on the property and the "office" is located in the old barn. In the office there are a variety of things for sale, including Cooter's Cabins & Campin t-shirts puffy painted, I'm sure, by the misses. He showed us our campsite and warned us not to leave our shoes lying around 'cause the neighbor's dog would chew 'em up. The neighbor's dogs showed up an hour later to play an endless game of fetch. Nothing could deter this dog from the game in fact she was waiting outside our tent the next morning with the same stick in her mouth ready to go. But we had other things to do. Mysterious things.


My roommate had tried to visit the Mystery Hole several years ago but sadly it was closed that day. After reading their website we were not gonna let that happen again. The website makes it perfectly unclear what the Mystery Hole is. My favorite quote is "Now that you've read and digested this story I believe you understand what you think I've said, but I am not quite sure you realize that what you've read is not what I meant." So even if you think you understand, you don't. Like the website says, "seeing is believing." So we came to see. When we pulled up what should be playing on the loud speakers but the Macarena. It was then that I knew this experience would be extraordinary. We purchased our $6 tickets and waited for our tour group to be called. It's hard to describe what happened on that 15 minute tour. The best I can do is tell you what I saw. Picture if you will psychedelic happy face book fair posters, plastic Halloween skeletons, drift wood creatures, abandoned hornets nests, 1970s mannequins, a black hall way with spatterings of neon paint glowing under a black-light, a wood paneled tilted room where a golf ball running along a track appears to roll up hill, a mustached Hawaiian-shirted tour guide cracking goofy jokes, fun house mirrors, and the comfort of a bench seat that formerly resided in an old ford pick-up. It was almost as if some one had raided Good Will or their 90 year old Grandma's basement for decorations. Really its something you must see for yourself. If you are ever in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia don't miss the Mystery Hole! In fact you probably won’t be able to resist the powers of the Mystery Hole drawing you near…


Along with the Mystery Hole, another legend of the New River Gorge area of West Virginia is “5 Dollar Frank.” We asked Cooter about Frank and he had all sorts of great things to say about the man. Frank passed away a few years back and when he died he was apparently the oldest licensed pilot in the US, couldn’t hear a thing and gave rides in his Cessna plane for $5. He built the Fayetteville airport with his own 2 hands and everyone knew Frank. While we missed the opportunity to meet 5 Dollar Frank we did wander over to the Fayetteville airport and for a lot more than $5 dollars took a ride in a WWII biplane. A biplane! It was incredible! Admittedly I was a little scared, but it was also a once in a lifetime opportunity. The weather was absolutely perfect for flying. The leaves were at peak fall colors, the sun was shining and the sky could not have been bluer. The flight was about 25 minutes with amazing views of the New River Gorge and beautiful WV hills. We cruised along leisurely through the sky with the open air blowing past us. After the scenic part of the flight came the fun part. The acrobatics! We did some barrel rolls and hammerheads and while the cockpit is open, you don’t feel like you’d come close to falling out. And I had a parachute on “just in case.” It was like a very mild roller coaster. Not scary, just fun! Sadly my time was up after the acrobatics and we had to land. All good things must come to an end and we had to return to our real lives. It’s true what they say. West Virginia wild and wonderful!

Why I love visiting Bean

One of the best things about visiting my sister is the greeting I get from the kids and dog. They know when I'm coming and are posted at the glass door ready to jump up and down and bang the door as soon as I'm within sight. I love it! I adore those 2 little girls and their momma too!

Nova Scotia Pictures

Nova Scotia

I have 3 of the greatest friends in the world. The 4 of us make up a group we like the call The Little Truckers. We went on our first trip together over 3 years ago and since then we have decreed that we will take an ATTS (annual trip to somewhere) until we die. DIE! This year we went to Nova Scotia, eh. Why you ask. Why not? It was absolutely beautiful! Picturesque if you will. We went over Labor Day weekend and it was a perfect time of year to be there. In preparation of our ATTS we usually try to read a novel that takes place where we will be vacationing. If you haven’t guessed what novel we read already you are either A. a dude or B. missing out on one of literatures greatest treasures: Anne of Green Gables.

On our first day in Nova Scotia we took a Ferry to PEI (Prince Edward Island) and spent the day enjoying the beauty of the island and the Anne sites. We went first to Green Gables, the house and land that inspired L.M. Montgomery to write her story. It was like walking into the novel; Haunted Woods, Lake of Shining Waters, Barry’s Pond and all. Next we visited Avonlea Village, again stepping into the story. The village was set up with a school, houses, church, gardens, farm yard, shops, etc. The characters from the book roamed the streets and at select times during the day acted out scenes from the book. It was so fun! There was even a pig race. I fell in love with Gilbert Blythe. He was adorable. Lucky Anne! After our Anne fun we enjoyed one of the island’s specialties: lobster. It was delicious. In fact I couldn’t get enough. I bought a live one in the airport and took it home to DC for dinner.

Day two of our trip took us on an amazing drive through Cape Breton, but not before stopping and taking pictures at a random house whose lawn was littered with painted wooden cut-outs of EVERY Simpsons character. The drive around Cape Breton was stunning. Alexander Graham Bell once said, "I have seen the Canadian and the American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland; but for simple beauty, Cape Breton out rivals them all." We spent most of they day ooohhhhing and aaahhhhing and taking pictures at scenic stops along the road. It was beautiful!

The third day of our trip was spent in Fort Louisbourg in the year 1744, when the French had command of the fort. I loved this place! Everyone was in period costume and played their parts so well. Visitors are allowed to walk all over the village and explore the buildings, restored and original, without supervision. I love Canada! We even had a typical meal that would’ve been served in 1744. As a genealogist and history nerd, I love this kinda thing. Living history is awesome. One day I aspire to take part in some sort of historical reenactment. One day.

Day four was spent exploring Halifax. We visited the Titanic section of a cemetery and the Halifax Maritime Museum which houses the largest collection of Titanic artifacts. After which we were obligated to listen to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." Then we shopped around for some Canadian goodies to take home. Little did we know that the grocery stores were closed for Labor Day. Yeah were definitely not in the US.

Overall the trip was fantastic. If you get the chance to go to Nova Scotia DO IT!

Excuses

I hate excuses, but I’m about to give you a long list of them. These are the reasons I’ve neglected the blog all summer. I’ve been busy. REALLY busy. And I’ve had a A LOT of fun. So here it is. The reasons why I’ve not blogged / what I did this summer.

VA Beach – the boardwalk, a random firework show, the beach, and Elvis impersonators make for a great weekend

Kayaking – much harder to tip than a canoe and really fun

Camping – twice along the beautiful Skyline drive above the Shenandoah Valley

Tubing – there are few things more enjoyable than floating down a lazy river on a tube with a bunch of friends and cooler full of snacks in the tube next to you.

4th of July – What better place to be than DC? Fireworks, parade, food, fun and the Folk Life Festival.

Gettysburg – Huge Civil War reenactment. It was awesome. I felt like I’d stepped back in time. Cavalry, canons, Yankees, Rebels, bayonets, soldiers.

City if Alexandria Birthday celebration –fireworks!

Baseball games – incredibly on 2 different occasions my people were able to get free front row seats to Washington Nationals games in their bright shiny new stadium. We’re talking no one in front of us but the players. One game was even followed by a fireworks show.

DC – I just love visitors! It so fun to show people around DC. Arlington Cemetery, Tidal Basin paddleboats, Eastern Market, the Mall, the monuments, Mt. Vernon, etc etc.

Ghost Tour – nothing will beat the time that huge storm blew in and soaked Jordan and I as we ran from an old church grave yard, but I still keep going in hopes of something good.

NYC - I heart NY! I finally got to the Statue of Liberty, enjoyed some great NY eats, saw a show, shopped and enjoyed central park. Check me out on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-cEN1CrFvw

Hiking – along a river with waterfalls and swam at the base of some falls, beautiful and so fun!

Berry Picking – I have no qualms about picking and eating blue, black and raspberries ANYWHERE.

Manassas battle field – another Civil War battlefield, but no reenactment.

Concerts - Melissa Etheridge, Brandi Carlile, the Indigo girls and Neil Diamond. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Neil Diamond! Seeing him live has been a life long dream of mine and it was exhilarating to have it come true, for real. Love him.

Farmers Market – Del Ray has the most adorable farmers market with the tastiest yogurt and European breads.

Missouri – Lubbs and I visited Dad in Collins/the-middle-of-no-where, MO. We went to St Louis and I went to the top of the Arch. We visited historic Fort Scott, Kansas, Cahokia Indian mounds, put on our own fireworks show (all varieties of fireworks are for sale all year long in MO), cooked, enjoyed some Kansas City barbeque and just hung out with our old man.

Gardening – if the #$%& squirrels would keep out I’d have a lot more to show for all the work I’ve put in. It has been a ton of fun to play in the dirt again after living in a high-rise apartment.

Babysitting – I just adore my nieces and they both had fun fun birthday parties this summer thanks to their super mom!

Sailing – It is so relaxing to just sit in a sail boat on the water and feel the breeze in your hair.

Grilling – mmmmmmm

Crabbing – at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware we caught ‘em and had a fiasco trying to get them in the pot for cooking but it turned out pretty tasty in the end.

Soccer game – DC United, they have a serious Latino fan base that was so fun to cheer with.

Star Gazing w/ Smithsonian Air and Space Museum – Only an hour out of the city and you can see so many stars! This was awesome. An astronomer/huge nerd took us on a “star tour” with his super power pointer light and showed us a bunch of constellations after which we got to look through a few telescopes at the stars and planets.

County Fair – The best part about this is the people; Carnies, Latino families and high school kids. Grab yourself a funnel cake and enjoy the show!

And not to be forgotten are eating, sleeping and on occasion working. It’s not over yet though. I just got back on Tuesday from a long weekend in beautiful Nova Scotia and here it is Saturday and I’m in the Denver airport heading to Utah for a week. I promise I really do work…sometimes.