Riverside Rendezvous

Our "America is Beautiful" Tour began with a weekend rendezvous with our daughter Laura in Bridgewater VA - half way between the George Washington National Forest and the Shenandoah National Park. 

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Our first day trip was an hour west into the George Washington National Forest. We hiked to Elkhorn Lake on the North River. We found some colorful friends in the meadow ​and paused for a refreshing wade in the cool waters.

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Our AirBnB was beautifully situated on a bend in the North River and was nicely appointed except for the fact that our only cooking sources were a microwave and an electric skillet. It took Nancy right back to her youth in Everett where her Mom used  an electric skillet all the time, making fried haddock, American "Chop Suey", and western omelets. Our best effort on this trip was a chicken piccata with asparagus and brown rice. After dinner we took a sunset stroll to the neighborhood DQ - offering drive-thru service only! So we we joined the line-up of pick-up trucks on foot. Our combined weight wasn't enough to trigger the signal that we were at the microphone, so we ordered at the pick-up window and enjoyed an American classic soft-serve on the walk back to the symphony of cicadas, crickets, and toads and the light of a cell phone and an occasional fire-fly.

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On day two a 90 minute drive east brought us to the Shenandoah National Park for a 3.4 mile out and back hike to the Doyle River Falls. The sun-dappled trail followed the river so we heard the constant rush of water along the way. 65 feet of rushing water fell onto two terraces before breaking into the boulder-studded stream. The dance of light against the leaves and fallen trunks made a perfect setting for our al fresco lunch of turkey roll-ups that Laura had prepared. The hike back was less fun in the mid-day heat and reminded us that we needed to get back to our routine of 10K steps a day, every day. On the drive back we discovered a farm stand and grabbed 2 varieties of peaches, some vine-ripened tomatoes, and fresh basil for our evening meal. We also grabbed some wide green beans and shishito peppers for our planned paella dinner later in the week.

On our final morning in Bridgewater, we walked to the lovely Wildwood Park, right in our neighborhood and also on the North River, before packing up and heading to Richmond to hang out with Laura and Mark for a spell. Few places in America are as beautiful as the Shenandoah valley in early September.

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