Jersey Shore 2017: The Experience - Day 2 - The Return Journey

8/20/17, “The Return Journey”

Scarsdale, New York

For a day that pretty much just consisted of getting a bagel for breakfast, smoking a cigar and a half, and sitting in a passenger’s seat for about 200 miles as we drove home, and stopping at Blimpie for lunch, it certainly felt like a long day.  A very long day.  I have only been awake for about 11 hours, and almost half of it was spent in that passenger’s seat, the three-hour drive that took closer to five, not even counting stops.

While the morning was perfectly relaxing, having my favorite for breakfast, the afternoon and The Return Journey was about as stressful as it gets.  For the third (and last) time in five weeks, my weekend has ended the same way: stuck in traffic on the section of I-95 N known as the New Jersey Turnpike.  Clearly we were not the only New Yorkers who decided to go to the Jersey Shore this weekend.

I don’t have much to write.  In fact, that opening sentence pretty much describes the entire day, and I have no desire to make my readers feel the same stress we felt during The Return Journey.  I will simply provide enough text to flesh out the entry to surround the pictures I want to showcase.

After I closed last night, I soon went to bed and woke up around 8 AM.  I got ready and awaited my grandfather’s arrival, who came downstairs shortly after I did.  We soon headed out to pick up newspapers and breakfast.  I got the local Sunday paper to add to my collection, and then we went to Yianni’s Cafe to get our breakfasts.  I got my favorite, whole wheat everything with scallion cream cheese and lox, along with two coffees (one for right away, the second for later, as they did not have any coffee in the house), and he got grilled cheese sandwiches for himself and his wife.

When we got back home, he cleaned the table, and we sat down with our newspapers and breakfasts.  It was an excellent breakfast, and I was quite content.  After breakfast, I started on my second coffee and lit up a Fuente, smartly using the empty cup from the first coffee as an ashtray.  That was followed by a PDR, and my parents soon arrived.  We all sat outside until it was time to leave.  My reader will note that, of the 11 hours since I woke up, I spent about 3 hours in that chair and 5 hours in the passenger’s seat of my parents’ car.  We said our goodbyes and got on the road around 1:30 PM, expecting to be home around 5:30 PM.

That did not happen.  We got stuck in a little bit of traffic on the Garden State Parkway, but it wasn’t too bad.  Soon enough, we found the Blimpie, which seemed to one of the few Blimpies still open, and it was part of a Coldstone Creamery.  Needless to say, I did not get the iconic New Jersey hoagie experience I thought I would.  I ordered their signature sub on a whole wheat roll, along with chips, and it was just too much bread, so I put the inside of the sandwich all on half of the roll.  It was good, but I would choose Subway any day over it.

We got back on the road and were doing all right until we got to I-95.  There was traffic.  A lot of traffic.  Just like there was two and four weeks ago when I came home on that same road.  When we got to the George Washington Bridge, it was brutal.  It took us an hour to get from Fort Lee to the other side of the bridge.  It should have taken about ten minutes.

Once we were in New York, we headed up I-87 to Yonkers so that I could stop at DSW for some new shoes and Starbucks for a coffee.  Both places had lines.  Long lines.  Everything was taking longer today than expected.  I was now tight on time so that I could properly space the posts of this entry, dinner, and Game of Thrones.  As soon as we got home, I relit my cigar from this afternoon and raced to go outside, where I sat down and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out this trip with the words I have been waiting to write for pretty much as long as I have closing out trips in this manner.  Next stop: Hawaii and American Oceania.

Jersey Shore 2017: The Experience - Day 1 - On the Waterfront

8/19/17, “On the Waterfront”

Ocean City, New Jersey

The majority of today has been spent on the waterfront, both the Atlantic Ocean, which lends its name to this region I am calling the Mid-Atlantic, and Great Egg Harbor River, which was the last National Park Site I needed to visit in the region.  I am now less than ten miles from where I woke up today, and the Great Egg Harbor River was the only NPS unit I visited today.

This is clearly a very different kind of trip from the NPS runs I have been doing this summer.  However, those runs were done to allow myself to say, “Mid-Atlantic Complete,” and I have said it today.  That mission has been accomplished, and the next NPS unit I visit will be in Hawaii.  My time on the waterfront has been, for the most part, relaxing, and it is a good way to close out the summer before I leave for Hawaii, and I am now perfectly relaxed smoking my pipe and staring across the water at lights of Atlantic City.

Since not much happened today, this will be necessarily be a short entry.  After I closed last night, I brought the mattress out so that I could sleep outside.  I slept quite well, waking up around 8 AM before I headed down for my workout in the building’s gym, which was perfectly adequate.  After my workout, I changed and we headed down for breakfast.

My first choice for breakfast would have been a smoked salmon omelet, but I knew that we would be having fish for dinner, so I decided against that.  My second choice would have involved bacon, but I was planning on going to Blimpies for lunch, as it is New Jersey’s most iconic fast food restaurant, and their specialty is a pork-based sub.  I then saw that they had an interesting dish called cream chipped beef.  I got that.  It was much better than I expected.

Not long after breakfast, my mother and I headed out on our adventure.  In many ways, it was to cash the check that we wrote as we were crossing the Delaware last weekend.  Great Egg Harbor River National Scenic and Recreational River was the last NPS unit I needed to visit I the Mid-Atlantic region.  All of our efforts would pay off today.  I knew the stamp to be located inside Estell Manor Park, so we headed there first, and, sure enough, they had the brochures and stamps.  They also had two more brochures (and stamps) for Maurice River Wild and Scenic River and Pinelands National Reserver, neither of which are Official NPS units, but I got all three brochures and stamped each with their stamp.

This was a success, but I could not claim it yet.  We needed to take a ceremonial picture on the waterfront, so we drove to a place with a scenic vista.  I lit up an H. Upmann, we took our ceremonial picture, and I made my pronouncement.  “New Jersey Complete.  Mid-Atlantic Complete.”  I was proud of my accomplishment.  We went for a bit of a walk before getting in the car and heading to Blimpies, in a town called Rosenhayn.

I had my navigation on, and I lost focus about half of a mile from the destination.  We were past the location, and my mother said that she just saw a deli but not Blimpies.  Long story short, the Blimpies had closed down, and it had been replaced by Rosenhayn Deli.  This was neither iconic nor famous.  In fact, it was not dissimilar from the one we went to at the end of our trip last weekend in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.  I got a chicken parmesian on wheat, along with chips and coffee.  The sandwich was too big, and I only could eat half.  I then lit up an Aroma de Cuba, and we drove back dejected.

I was now determined to say, “Atlantic County Complete,” which meant we would need to visit the country legislature and the two National Historic Landmarks in the county.  We first stopped at the meeting place of the Board of Chosen Freeholders in Northfield.

Next was the Atlantic City Convention Hall, now known as Boardwalk Hall, the home of the Miss America pageant.  After I took my ceremonial picture I still had a little bit of cigar left, and it was going out, anyway, so I decided to save it for the other NHL, which we would visit on our way to dinner.  When we got back to 5000 Boardwalk, we all relaxed for a bit before my parents and I headed back out to dinner.

We stopped at Lucy the Elephant, the country’s oldest surving “roadside attraction,” on the way to dinner in Longport.  I got a replica of the elephant and relit my cigar, and we took our ceremonial picture.  That was it.  Atlantic Country Complete.

We met my grandfather and his wife for dinner at a restaurant called Catch.  It had a great seafood selection, and I was pleased to see that they had Gosling’s Rum behind the bar.  I always like a nice rum with seafood, and this would do quite well.  It was probably close to two years since the five of us had been together, and a good time was had by all.  The funniest moment of the evening occurred when my grandfather started saying something that seemed to be intended as a compliment but didn’t really make much sense.  I nodded along politely, and, after he finished he paused for a moment before realizing that what he said was complete nonsense.  He then asked me if what he said was complete bullshit, and, without missing a beat, I confirmed that it was, 100%, that not a single word of it made sense.  We must have laughed about for a solid five minutes.  The food was good, too.  My appetizer was a surf and turf dish consisting of scallops and short rib.

My main course was wild Atlantic salmon with vegetables.  That was excellent, but I knew that I was eating too much and would soon regret it.  After we were done eating, we demurred on dessert.  The only dessert I wanted was a nice cigar.  I went to Ocean City with my grandfather, and, once I got settled in there, we went out to the pool area, where I lit up a PDR and we chatted for most of the cigar.  The best part about staying with him is that I can smoke in the house, so, with a little bit of cigar left, we went inside, and he showed me everything I might need over the next hour or so, incuding some dessert options.  I was quite content.

We said our goodnights, and I finished the cigar in a very comfortable chair.  I then made myself a small platter of desserts before heading upstairs and heading out to the patio, where I sat down, lit up my Ardor, and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and soon get to bed.

Jersey Shore 2017: The Experience - Day 0 - A Familiar Boardwalk

“Jersey Shore 2017: The Experience”

8/18/17, “A Familiar Boardwalk”

Ventnor City, New Jersey

It’s all so familiar.  Even though it has been four years since I have been here, it looks as familiar as my hometown.  It is a place I have been well over a dozen times.  I have probably been here at the tail end of more summers than not.  The four years since my last visit have done nothing to dull my memory of this boardwalk, these beaches, this building, and especially this apartment.  Even before I walked in the door of the apartment, I could recall the layout, every nook and cranny, as well as I can my own.

I am now out on the balcony, smoking my favorite pipe, as I look over the Atlantic Ocean and enjoy a crisp breeze and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.  I have experienced this view and these sounds from this balcony more times than I recall.  I have watched more tennis matches in this apartment than I can count.  I have walked this familiar boardwalk more times than I could ever know.  It is all so familiar, and I suppose it is a fitting place to begin my last trip before I leave for Hawaii at the end of the summer.  I promised it would be a summer to remember, and it has been, but the best is yet to come.

It has been a chaotic day, but it ended well, and I am now fully relaxed.  The day began before 7 AM, as I had an 8 AM inspection, and I wanted time for breakfast and a cigar before my inspection.  I woke up to pouring rain, which dampened my plans for the morning, no pun intended.  I still lit up my Caoba and went to get my bagel, leaving my cigar outside the deli.  I got my favorite from my local deli, a whole wheat bagel with lox spread, along with a coffee.

After breakfast, I retrieved my cigar and biked to my inspection, with my two bags for the trip, in the rain, and left my cigar outside.  I actually had only eaten half my bagel with the intention of having the other half for lunch.  After the inspection, the rain had let up, but my cigar was drenched, so there was no hope of relighting it.  I biked to Grand Central and got a little lost in the maze of underground passages, coming in from the hidden 47^th Street entrance.  I soon made it to my building and used my lunch hour for my workout.  I got a vanilla coffee protein shake to pair with the rest of my bagel for lunch.  It certainly didn’t taste like health food.

After work, I headed to the Port Authority with two of my coworkers, one of whom was taking the subway uptown, the other of whom was taking the bus home to New Jersey.  I had plenty of time to kill, or so I thought, so I went in search of dinner.  I had intended to eat inside the Port Authority, but the options were not appealing.  I instead found a deli a couple of blocks away where I got a grilled turkey and bacon sandwich on whole wheat bread.  That was good.  I then lit up an Oliva and smoked it outside.  My bus was at 6:30 PM, and I wanted coffee and a power bar for the ride, so I figured I would need to head inside at 6 PM.  I got the coffee and power bar and went to print out my ticket, which was a process.

When I got there, I was dismayed.  It wasn’t like an airplane where, if your flight is at 6:30 PM, they start boarding your flight at 6:10 PM, and you get on the 6:30 PM and have a reserved seat on that flight.  It was first-come, first-served, and there was a massive line waiting for the buses, which came sporadically, but at least once every thirty minutes.  I thought I might be waiting two hours, but I was actually on a bus by 7 PM.  It was still pouring, and the drive was slow, but I spent most of it looking at various options for trips for the next year or so, now that I have a better idea of what my early 30s will look like.  I looked mostly at The Philippines, but also at Thailand and Vanuatu.  If my reader does not know where Vanuatu is, I don’t blame him or her.  It is a tiny island nation in the South Pacific, and it requires at least three flights to get there, and I would need a four-day weekend just to see the capital and the one World Heritage Site that is right by the capital.

Soon enough, we were in Atlantic City, and I got off at the Tropicana Casino, where my mother was awaiting me, due to some confusion in our plan for the evening.  I had intended to have a cigar at the casino and gamble a little before walking to my grandmother’s place along the Boardwalk with the rest of my cigar, though I worried that the rain might put pay to the last part of that plan.  In other words, there was no point in my mother coming to meet me.  She took my bag of clothes, and I went into the casino and lit up a PDR.  I was in heaven.  This was my kind of town.  I found a blackjack table in the smoking section and sat down.

While it is my practice not to mention dollar amounts in this Travelogue, I can mention quantities.  I bought chips for eight times the minimum bet of the table, and I kept betting the minimum bet.  I was up and down, though never up more than one times the minimum bet.  At one point I was down half of my buy-in, though.  Eventually I ordered my drinks, a Scotch and a side of water.  Not long after my drink came, I was even again, and I got pretty much the best thing you could get at a blackjack table: two aces.  I split my hand and won on both hands.  I was now up twice the minimum bet, so I walked away.

It was a nice amount of money, but, in my mind, I was actually up ten times the minimum bet, since I got back my original investment of eight times the minimum bet, which I was prepared to lose, plus the winnings of twice the minimum bet.  I then wandered around the casino with the rest of my drink, smoking my cigar.

Once I finished my drink, I headed out and walked to my grandmother’s place with the rest of my cigar, ditching it right before I entered the city limits of Ventnor.  It was all so familiar, the boardwalk, the building, the apartment.  Soon enough, I was inside the familiar apartment, and I was greeted by my grandmother and my parents.  We took some ceremonial pictures, said our hellos and goodbyes, and made our plans for the morning.

I then found a picture of myself dated June 1998 in the small bedroom.  Nineteen years ago.  I was ten.  I surmised that that picture had been there untouched for those nineteen years.  I then went out to the balcony, where I will sleep tonight, lit up my Ardor, and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish and get to sleep.

The Mid-Atlantic - Day 2 - Crossing the Delaware

8/13/17, “Crossing the Delaware”

En route, I-84 E, New York

Seven.  That’s the number of times we crossed the Delaware today as we zigged and zagged from the Lower Delaware all the way to the Upper Delaware.  From Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to New York, we spent almost the entire day crossing the Delaware.  It was an arduous quest, and, while we ran into our fair of share adversity, it was a success in the end, and all’s well that ends well.  In fact, I am happy to say that the entire trip was a success.

Visiting ten NPS units in two days is no easy task, even if they are only in the nearby Mid-Atlantic, but we made it happen.  This is the last such NPS run that I will do for the foreseeable future, the next one I do likely not being until I go to Alabama next year.  I have now been to 320 of the, I believe, 420 units of the National Park Service.  That leaves 100, but they are always adding new ones.

My readers are familiar with the goals I have set for myself by the time I turn thirty.  It is the inspiration for the URL for this blog.  I can now reveal that I intend to have visited every NPS unit in this country by the time I turn 40.  That is a very doable goal, and trips like this go a long way towards accomplishing it.

After I closed last night, I soon went to bed, and I woke up around 6:30 AM.  Breakfast would not be served until 7 AM, but we were hoping that we would be able to get an early start so that we could get on the road earlier.  However, they were strict about that 7 AM.  We were able to get coffee, but food was not for the taking until 7 AM.  I helped myself to a small bowl of fruit and a plate of hot food, a mere fraction of the two heaping plates I had been having at buffets throughout the summer in Iceland and Greenland and in San Francisco.

We were on the road around 7:25 AM, which was a little ahead of schedule, but I knew the schedule would be tight.  We were trying to hit eight VCs in three different NPS units, and the last one closed at 5 PM.  I also wanted time to do a hike at each NPS unit.  My reader will need to pay close attention, as each unit had the word Delaware in its name.

We stopped at the Maryland House service plaza, the third time I had been there this year, and we were at the first site before long, after crossing the Delaware from Pennsylvania into New Jersey at the Benjamin Franklin Memorial Bridge.  The first site was known as Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River, but it did not have any NPS facilities.  While the river itself was designated an NPS unit, all the land was owned by local authorities.

We first stopped at Washington Crossing State Park, the site of Washington’s famed crossing of the Delaware.  It was a bit of a process to find the VC, but I had my stamp around 10:30 AM.  Well, let me rephrase.  I had a stamp.  It was an Eastern National NPS stamp, but it was for a heritage area, rather than Lower Delaware NWSR.  I was very disappointed then, but they had the brochures, and an NPS stamp is an NPS stamp.  We drove a little closer to the water and made a tactical error, as there was actually parking right next to the river.  This was our first big mistake of the day.  I lit up a Fuente, and it was a fair walk to the river, where we took our ceremonial picture.  However, if we had parked there, we could have had a nice walk along the river instead.  That was things started to get interesting.

We got back to the car and continued to what I thought was the next stamp location.  Once we crossed the Delaware, for the second time now, back into Pennsylvania.  We then saw a historic park that recreated Washington’s camp across the Delaware.  I thought the VC would have a stamp.  They did not.  Second mistake.  From there, we did continue to New Hope and went to the VC in town, which I thought would have stamps.  They did not.  They said the State Park might have stamps.  It was a short walk, but it was added time.  The State Park did not have any open facilities today.  Third mistake.  It should be noted that mistake zero was not figuring out in advance which places had stamps and which did not.

We then drove to Bull Island Recreation Area, once more crossing the Delaware into New Jersey.  They did not have stamps.  This was becoming very disconcerting.  We crossed the Delaware again, for the fourth time now, into Pennsylvania.  We then went to Delaware Canal State Park, which I had hoped would have stamp.  As I we drove, I decided to do the research that I should have done before we left on the trip.  It turned out that stamps did not exist for Lower Delaware NWSR.

The closest I would get was the heritage area stamp I got at Washington Crossing.  I also learned that there was a fourth unit I had not counted, called Middle Delaware National Scenic River, but that was actually contained within Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area, although they are two separate units.  Confused yet?  The State Park only had their own stamp, not an Eastern National stamp, so I got that on my brochure, to have something from Pennsylvania.  They also had the NHL Plaque there.

It was now 12:30 PM, we were done with Lower Delaware NWSR, and we had not lunch, but we had no time for it.  We hoped to have better luck with the Middle and Upper units.  I had a better handle on things now, and, I knew where to find stamps, but time would be a major factor.  We crossed the Delaware for the fifth time, into New Jersey and were soon at Kittatinny Point VC in Delaware Water Gap NRA.  I was almost out of water at this point.  Our bad luck would continue.

The parking lot was full, the electricity was down, and they had no running water.  We got the brochure for Delaware Water Gap NRA, and the ranger explained that there was no separate brochure for Middle Delaware NSR, but the water we could see right by us was the Middle Delaware NSR.  He said the stamp was at headquarters in Bushkill, but it was closed on the weekends.  No stamp or brochure that said Middle Delaware NSR, there would only be one way to claim the unit.  I would need to step in the scenic, Middle Delaware River.  I lit up a Perdomo, and we went on a walk along the river, cut short since we were worried about being parked illegally.  With my feet in the water, we took our ceremonial picture.  There were two more stamps to get in the park, and I needed water, badly.

We drove up to an area called Millbrook Village, and it looked abandoned.  Off in the distance, I spied a water spigot, so we walked there, and I was able to refill my water bottle.  I then saw a building that looked like it might be a ranger station.  It was.  Stamp number two.  This was going well.  We even allowed ourselves a few minutes to go on a nature walk before returning to the car.

We crossed the Delaware for the sixth time, into Pennsylvania and we went to the last VC, Dingman Falls.  There was a huge line to get into the VC, for parking, so I walked.  I got my stamp there, along with a pin, keychain, and cashews, as I was starving.  By the time I got back to the car, my mother had not even proceeded halfway along the line to get in, so she made a U-turn, and we headed to our last stop, the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.

We could get the stamp on the Pennsylvania side of the river at a place called Zane Grey Museum.  We were there before long, and they had it all: brochures, stamps, and pins.  It was a success.  I lit up a PDR, and we took our ceremonial pictures before walking around a bit and getting a very late lunch.  I got a roast beef and Swiss sandwiches and pretzels and soda to share, and we headed back to the car.

We crossed the Delaware for the seventh and final time, into New York, and I ate my sandwich as soon as we were across the bridge.  It would be about two hours to Scarsdale, and, as soon as we got onto I-84, I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close, along with closing out this very successful trip.  Next stop: the Jersey Shore and Great Egg Harbor River.

The Mid-Atlantic - Day 1 - Back to Virginia

“The Mid-Atlantic”

8/12/17, “Back to Virginia”

En route, I-78 W, Pennsylvania

Another summer weekend begins, and so too does another weekend of seeing National Parks Sites in the northeast.  It is, after all, what I have been doing for four weekends in a row now.  However, on this weekend, there is no rental car, and I am a passenger, not a driver, which is what allows me to write this entry.

My mother and I are on our way to Virginia to visit what will be my last five NPS units in the state.  Tomorrow will be spent along the Delaware River, visiting the three NPS units on the river.  Next weekend, when we visit her family on the Jersey Shore, we will also visit the nearby site of Great Egg Harbor River, which will at last allow me to say that I have been every NPS unit in both the North Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic regions.

In further contrast, rather than leaving New York after work on Friday, we left early Saturday morning, which will get us to our first NPS unit in northern Virginia around 1 PM.  It is now 9:30 AM, and on a weekday, I would usually be sorting through my emails at this point, while having my first cup of coffee and my breakfast at my desk.  We are now two states over from New York, I am on my second (large) cup of coffee, and breakfast is long gone.

This weekend promises to be an epic adventure, and while this succession of road trips was not at all what I had planned for the summer, but I am glad I did it, as I will very much relish the day (a week from today) when I can proudly say that the nearest unit of the National Park Service I haven’t visited is in Ohio, that the nearest state capitol I haven’t seen is in Lansing, Michigan.

Okay, so, since I am starting this trip on a Saturday, properly on Day 1, the entry should actually start with Night 0, Friday night, which actually happened to be my movie night with the K-Man.  We went to see “Good Time,” an edgy crime film starring an almost unrecognizable Robert Pattison.  Raymond’s birthday was Thursday, so the plan was for him to meet us after the movie, and we would take him out for dinner.  About an hour in to the movie, the K-Man walked out.  I assumed he was going to the bathroom, but he never came back.  I assumed he just didn’t like the movie and was waiting for me outside.  It wouldn’t be the first time he did that.

After the movie was over, I had messages from both Raymond and the K-Man.  Raymond wasn’t feeling well, and the K-Man got an urgent message from his boss and had to go back to the office.  In other words, the evening was off.  The K-Man thought he might be able to meet me for dinner, so I biked back to my apartment, feeling like I was trapped in a “Seinfeld” episode.  I got back to my apartment and waited for the K-Man, finishing my Prensado cigar and packing for the trip.  I managed to fit everything into my small shoulder bag, and I was proud of my efficiency.

At 9 PM, I couldn’t wait for the K-Man any longer, so I went to CPK on my own.  Rather than my usual pizza, of which I knew I would only eat half, I got a pasta dish.  It was a shrimp scampi with a mix of linguini and sliced zucchini.  It was quite tasty.  After dinner, I had a VSG and got some stuff ready to put in the car in the morning to bring to Scarsdale.

I fell asleep before midnight and woke up around 6:30 AM.  I then got a call from my mother that she was rear-ended at a red light in the city.  We were delayed, but not significantly.  The car could have needed immediate repair to be roadworthy.  It did not.  When she was nearby, I went downstairs and discovered further complications.  Due to Summer Streets, a program in the city that restricted Park Avenue to bike traffic only during summer weekends, my block was closed off.  I would have to meet my mother on Madison, which made getting downtown even more complicated.  All in all, by the time she got there, we were only fifteen minutes behind schedule, and I had allotted an hour of Dutch Time.  We first went to Kossar’s Bialys on the Lower East Side for breakfast, and I got an onion bialy with lox and cream cheese, along with a coffee, and a bagel sandwich for later.

We had some traffic getting to the Holland Tunnel, but we were still only twenty minutes behind schedule at this point.  It was a nice drive across New Jersey, and we stopped at a gas station before we entered Pennsylvania for a rest break and to get coffee, water, and power bars.  By the time we got back on the highway, my navigation showed a 12:37 PM arrival, which was looking good, as my target arrival at the first NPS unit is 1 PM.  Once we entered Pennsylvania, I began writing this entry, which I will now close.

Vienna, Virginia (Tysons Corner, Virginia)

At least Edgewater, Maryland gave me a good establishing shot.  The same cannot be said about this section of Virginia often called Tysons Corner, an area shared between the communities of McClean and Vienna, where I am now.  To think that I actually was worried about getting to the hotel in time for a day-lit establishing shot.  I cannot imagine that this view would in any way be enhanced by sunlight.  It has been a hectic and chaotic day, but it was a success, and we had incredible luck with the weather.

After I closed on I-78, we soon entered Maryland, for 11 miles, followed by West Virginia, for less than 25 miles.  That brought us to Virginia.  Three weeks after I left this state, I was back, this time to say, “Virginia Complete.”  To do that would require visiting four new National Park Sites, plus revisiting Shenandoah, which was not strictly necessary.  The limiting reactant was getting to the VC at Prince William Forest Park by 5 PM.

It would be a tight schedule, but we pulled it off expertly.  Usually when I travel with someone, they slow me down.  The same could not be said of my mother, who is well-experienced in doing these NPS runs with me.  Instead, she actually saved time, by driving while I was posting or getting coffee while I gassed up the car.  The only manner in which she could not keep up with me was the hiking, and I was shocked that I was able to fit two hours of hiking into our packed schedule.  On that note, I will have to relocate to get out of the rain.

Well, this view is even worse, as this establishing shot shows, but I am relatively sheltered from the rain, and that’s what matters.  Due to formatting when I post, I actually have to put in a few more sentences to allow the text to round out the establishing shot.  While this is a very nice hotel, its location, along the busy highway, with no good establishing shots, makes it much worse of a place for me than some of the dumps I have stayed at with wonderful establishing shots.  Okay, that should be enough text.

Our first stop was a National Historical Park called Cedar Creek and Belle Grove NHP.  Cedar Creek was a rather significant Civil War battle, and the Belle Grove Plantation served as headquarters for the Union general.  They were combined into one NPS unit.  There was an unusual amount of traffic, and, when I got to the Visitor Contact Station, I learned that it was the result of a 43-mile yard sale.  That is not a typo.  43 miles of yard sales.  I did my business at the VCS, and we drove to Belle Grove Plantation, where I lit up a Partagas, and we took our ceremonial pictures.  It was a very nice manor house, and it made for a good picture.

I put the cigar back in its metal tube, and we drove to Shenandoah National Park, which I had previously visited, but it seems we never took any pictures.  My old brochure had the stamp at the southern VC, so we went to the northern VC, Dickey Ridge, this time, and I added that stamp to the old brochure and also got a new one.  The design had changed in the past 12 years.  We went on a little nature walk with the rest of my cigar, then took our ceremonial picture by the VC with a great view of Shenandoah Valley.

It was before 2:30 PM by the time we were back in the car.  This was excellent timing, giving us a tentative 4:30 PM hard arrival at the VC for Prince William Forest P.  My reader will recall that I said that that VC closed at 5 PM.  From there, we headed to Manassas National Battlefield Park, home of the two famed Battles of the Bull Runs.  We both thought that we had been there before, but we had neither photos nor stamped brochures to support that claim.  I ate my bagel as we drove, and we were soon at the VC.

I did my business there, and we walked a bit along the battlefield to get a ceremonial picture, lighting up an Aroma de Cuba for the walk.  Their victory in the Second Battle of the Bull Run, could be considered the apex of the Confederate war effort.  The tide would soon turn after that battle.  We were still looking good for our hard 4:30 PM at the Prince William Forest P VC, but I got a scare when Google Maps told me the VC closed at 4 PM.  However, the NPS website confirmed that it was opened until 5 PM in the summer.

We got there around 4:30 PM and had enough gas to make it to the next gas station, too, which was a concern.  I did my business at the VC, getting an additional brochure for the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, which I had not previously included in my count.  This allowed me to jump my count from 313 to 315 units.  I was concerned I wouldn’t be hungry for the 6:30 PM dinner we planned, but I figured I could work up an appetite by then.  I relit my cigar, and we went for another nature walk, the destination being a bridge that was about half a mile away.  My mother stopped about 1000 feet from the bridge, and I told her I would catch up with her if she went back to the car.

I made it to the bridge, which had a great view, crossed it, turned back, and made for the car with all haste, catching up with my mother just as we got to the parking lot.  We had one last stop: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, where we were scheduled to see an outdoor concert at the Filene Center.  Rain was forecasted, and we had been lucky to have escaped it so far.  I’m sure my reader can guess what would occur.

We stopped for gas and were at Wolf Trap a little after 6 PM.  The ranger station would remained staffed until the concert ended, so there was no real time concern, but the concert began at 7:30 PM, and we wanted to do our walk and have dinner before the concert began.  We parked and walked to the Ranger Station.  One problem.  No brochures.  I kept getting the runaround from a nasty volunteer who was staffing the RS, but I found a proper Park Ranger, and he told me he could get more from the office.  I thanked him profusely when he brought me a brochure, and then I got my stamp.

We went to claim our spots on the lawn with our chairs, and then we went for a walk.  My mother was spent, and I still didn’t have an appetite.  The concern was not so much missing out on dinner, but rather that, if I didn’t eat now, I would be hungry later, which would be a problem.  I lit up a PDR, and we took our ceremonial picture from a nice spot behind the Filene Center.  That was it.  Virginia Complete.  Finally.  After all these years.

It was now about 6:30 PM, and we made arrangements to meet at the buffet for dinner at 7:10 PM, unless we decided to call an audible.  I went on a pretty aggressive walk to build up an appetite, and I found a great view of the river and saw a family of deer.  It was very scenic, and the walk restored my appetite.  I calculated that I must have burned at least 1500 calories on my walks today.

We met at the buffet, and I helped myself to a plate of modest portions of the items that looked most appealing.  There was next to no service, and it took forever to get a seltzer, which was flat, anyway.  My cigar had gone out, so I was able to keep it with me.

After dinner, I relit my cigar, and the plan was to meet back at our seats.  That’s when the rain started.  Before it got too bad, I headed to the gazebo at the bottom of the hill, which I knew would shelter me from the rain.  My mother went back to the buffet to get out of the rain and went overboard on dessert while I smoked my cigar.  The concert had already begun, but we could hear it from where we were.  It was absolutely pouring, but it was the kind of rain that never lasts.  I was almost done with my cigar when the rain broke, and we met up at the top of the hill.

I ditched my cigar, and we returned to our seats, which had blown over from the wind, but that actually kept them relatively dry.  We stayed for a few songs, but my mother was afraid that the rain would come back.  We packed up our seats and went to leave, but the ushers convinced us to stay saying that the rain had passed and wasn’t supposed to come back.  We set up our seats again and decided to stay until dusk.

A little before dusk, Lucinda Williams sang a politically charged song, particularly relevant to today’s events in nearby Charlottesville, which had actually been on our original agenda for today, before I wound up going to Monticello during my trip three weeks ago.  The trade-off was that we would visit these sites today instead of going to Monticello.  It was good that we made that decision.  Today would have been a very bad day to go to Monticello.  However, it wasn’t the politically charged song that bothered me, but rather the audience’s self-righteous reaction to her anti-Trump lyrics.  After they cheered in response to her singing that we needed a world without walls, I said that it was time to go.

We were at the car before dark, and it was good timing, too, as it started to rain again during the short drive to the hotel.  We checked in and resituated ourselves in the room.  My mother then went to bed, and I went outside to the bench in one of the smoking areas, where I sat down, lit up an Ardor, and proceeded to write this entry, relocating once the rain started, which I will now close so that I can publish and get to bed, as we have an early day tomorrow.