Island time

We were so tired when we went to bed last night that we got up a little later than usual (yes, even for us). While we were having our coffee, Bernie looked at the list that Miriam and Aram gave her with the things they need done in the house.

When we were done, we rode our bikes to their house so that Bernie could get some materials and ask them some questions.

On the way back, we did a little exploring, found a store, and rode our bikes to the water's edge. We met the next door neighbor who was kind enough to give us her password so we can use her wi-fi.

Back at the house, Bernie got started on some of the smaller projects on the list, while Mar cleaned up the kitchen and started unpacking.

We worked the rest of the evening, stopped to have a sandwich for dinner, and went back to work until bedtime.

To the island

After our first cup of coffee we started packing. We packed for hours. We packed all the groceries we bought yesterday. We packed everything we could think that we could possibly need for a week on a small island.

When everything was packed, we unloaded it all, plus our two bikes, onto the dock. Then Captain Terry told us where to go to park Bella. We drove around the block and parked. We opened the Damp Rid, closed all the windows, locked the doors, and paid the parking fee of $3 a night.

Once on the boat with all our belongings, we headed to Smith Island MD. The ride took 45 minutes and it was a bit chilly, so we sat inside most of the time.



As we approached the island we saw two people waving at us. Miriam and Aram had come to meet us and take us to their place. It was so close that we just rode our bikes there.

Miriam and Aram have bought a second house on the island to turn into an artist retreat. This is where we'll be staying and this is where Bernie will be working. The house was built in 1901 and there are tons of things for Bernie to fix and do here.

Once our stuff was in the house, we went with Miriam and Aram to their house. Aram took care of the happy hour drinks and Miriam cooked a wonderful dinner.

Lucky for us, they had some Smith Island Cake, which is the official state dessert and we got to try it. We liked it so much, they will be ordering us a cake to take with us.

After a great evening spent with our new friends, laughing and telling stories, we headed back to the house. We were totally exhausted by then, so after a quick shower we hit the sack and left the unpacking for tomorrow.

South and southeast

Today after running a couple of errands, we picked up our mail from general delivery at the post office, and then left Manassas VA.

We headed north towards Towson MD. As we were approaching Washington DC, Mar missed our exit (again) and we got a quick sight seeing tour of our capital. As we drove by we saw from a distance several of the monuments we visited last fall. It was a nice detour, except for the traffic.

In Towson we went to a sushi place we've heard about but it was closed when we got there, because they are closed on Mondays.

Our friend Kristin, who was meeting us for dinner, came by to pick us up and took us to Sushi Hana. We shared several rolls and all were delicious, this was really good sushi. We were glad to find a good sushi place because we haven't had sushi in a year, since we left Orlando. www.sushihanatowson.com

We said goodbye to Kristin and then drove southeast towards Delmarva. After a tunnel, a bridge, a couple of $2 tolls, and about an hour and a half later we stopped at a Walmart in Delaware to buy groceries.

After that we drove south another hour to Crisfield MD where we parked at the dock at the end of 413 where we plan to take the ferry tomorrow afternoon. It was already 3 am by the time we got here. We were both so exhausted we couldn't see straight. Good night!

Rainy Sunday

After a week of work, we are getting ready to leave today. Packing, cleaning, organizing, unhooking, unplugging, and getting everything back in its place.

This past week Bernie has replaced light fixtures, put down flooring, changed out outlets, painted, and done tons of other things, to get the house ready forsale.

Mar has done the laundry, started preparing the online classes she will teach this summer, and watched the Food Network to her heart's content.

The day has been dark and cloudy but at least it stopped raining long enough for us to get ready to go. We went to Staples to spend the night and get wi-fi. We just have to pick up our mail at the post office here in Manassas VA tomorrow, and then we'll be on the road again.

Happy Mothers Day

We were happy to find out, quite by accident, that the recital of the Luray Singing Tower was today. We just happened to be here when it started chiming its lovely 45 minute recital. The 177 feet tall tower was built in 1937 and it has a carillon of 47 bells. The largest bell weighs 7,640 pounds and the smallest weighs 12 pounds. www.luraycaverns.com

Then we walked over to the Luray Garden Maze. The maze takes about thirty minutes to do and it is $6 per person. As you giggle your way through you bump into dead ends with funny signs. Along the way there are other signs that trick you by telling you which way to go, and it always turns out to be the wrong way.

There is a mission for you to complete. There are the four stations you must find and each one has a stamp you stamp on your ticket. If you get all four you get a dollar discount in their gift shop. We didn’t use the discount but it was fun to find the four stations.

The maze is large and very well done, with flowering plants and plenty of greenery. Along the way there are benches, a large fountain, a cave, and a look out deck. This was a lot of fun. www.thegardenmaze.com

After Luray we drove east about an hour to Warrenton VA for Mothers Day dinner at Mojitos and Tapas. These are two of Mar's favorite things so it was the perfect place to celebrate motherhood. According to their website Mojitos and Tapas is the only true authentic Cuban-Spanish restaurant in the whole state of Virginia.

We were happy to find it because the mojito and the food were absolutely delicious. The beef empanada and the tostones rellenos were wonderful. Here you can design your own bruschetta by selecting three ingredients. We wanted the manchego cheese but they were out.

We had the mojo bruschetta with feta cheese and avocado and lechon. The bruschetta was excellent. In fact the lechon was so good, we got a pound to go. For dessert we had the tres leches cake with café con leche. By then we were so stuffed we felt like we needed a wheelbarrow to carry us out. www.mojitosandtapas.com

Then we headed to Bernie's next job. We drove east another 45 minutes to the house of Yvonne and Grace in Manassas VA. We met with them and Bernie was able to talk to them about the work they want done. They are selling the house so it needs the usual fixing up before going on the market.

Books and books

When we got up today we were ready to hit the books. We walked into the Green Valley Book Fair, a 25,000 square foot warehouse with over five hundred thousand new books.

Today was the first day of the book fair. They open for two weeks at a time and close down for a month in between. Most paperbacks are only $3 and most hardbounds are only $5.

We were in there for several hours and when we were done, our feet hurt and we were thirsty and tired. But we had a few new books. www.gvbookfair.com

Then we hit the road and drove north about 45 minutes to Luray VA. First we stopped at Walmart to pick up some groceries and then found the Luray Caverns, where we parked for the night. Dinner was hot dogs cooked on the engine on the way here.

Good chips

The sun was shining brightly in the sky when we got up today. In fact it was so sunny it was actually too hot! We were in downtown Front Royal VA. We took a quick look around the visitor center and then hit the road.

We drove south about 40 minutes to the Route 11 potato chip factory. It is a small business where they make 10 different flavors of potato chips. You can get free samples of as many as you want to try and they are pretty good. We got to watch how they make and bag their potato chips. It was fun and we left with a big bag of their lightly salted chips. www.rt11.com

Then we drove south another 30 minutes to the visitor center in Harrisonburg VA and then south another 10 minutes to Mount Crawford VA. There we found the Green Valley Book Fair and parked in their parking lot for the night. It is once again raining tonight. The book fair starts tomorrow. www.gvbookfair.com

Some sun

We woke up extra early hoping to be able to leave Waynesboro VA today. But it was still raining. We sat down to have our coffee and not long after that, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We hit the road.

At the entrance to the Shenandoah National Park we paid our $15 entry fee and entered the Skyline Drive. Here we were amazed at the landscape and the mountains. This is a more dramatic drive than the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at several of the lookouts and while driving were lucky to have several encounters with deer, beavers, and a few pheasants.

The sun was shinning bright for the first part of the drive. By the time we got to Skyland, the highest point at 3680 ft, it had started to rain again and there was some fog too. Thankfully, it didn’t last long and we were able to finish driving the Skyline Drive today. We really wanted to finish it before any more bad weather hit again.

After exiting the Skyline at the north end, we went to Front Royal VA. We went to the visitor center, which was closed, so we drove around a bit while checking out the town. We needed to stretch our legs so we walked around a shopping center where we went to get some groceries.

Then we went back to the visitor center to park for the night. There was a laundromat right across the street, so we got to do our laundry tonight.

Cabin fever

We are starting to think maybe Noah is around here somewhere building his ark.

It was raining again today which means we are pretty much stuck in the RV most of the time. Bernie is going stir crazy and really wishes she could get to her next job already. Maybe we need an ark too.

Bernie went in and walked around the Walton’s Museum today. She was very excited to see it because she was a big fan while growing up. www.waltonmuseum.org

Then we headed back to the Books A Million shopping center. There are several stores there and Bernie walked around for a while to shake off the cabin fever.

For a change of scene, we went to spend the night in a small farmers market near downtown and we can only hope the weather will be better tomorrow.

More rain

It was not raining when we woke up today so we thought we might be able to get on the Skyline Drive. There was no sun, it was quite cloudy, and so we went back to the visitor center to check.

When we got there we were happy to see they were open today and the friendliest lady was there to help. She said today was not a good day for the Skyline because the weather was like “pea soup”. Then she gave us several suggestions of things to do in the area.

We couldn’t decide what to do. It’s so difficult when the weather interferes with your plans. We picked one of the suggestions and drove southeast for about 45 minutes to Schuyler, VA. We found the Walton Museum and parked for the night.

We were pleasantly surprised to find free wi-fi here so we watched some tv on our laptop while listening to the rain. Yes, it is raining again.

More fog

It was raining when we woke up today. We went to the Rockfish Gap Tourist Information Center at the entrance to the Skyline Drive. The fog was already heavy by the time we got there and the visitor center was closed, probably because of the weather.

We went back into town and tried the Waynesboro Office of Tourism in downtown Waynesboro VA. The person responsible for tourism is out of the country but we were lucky that Rick (who works in another department) was in. He was very helpful with information about the weather and tips about the town and the Skyline.

He recommended a local bookstore with wi-fi and called ahead to let them know we were coming. We headed to Stone Soup Books, just a few blocks away, where we were met with smiling faces and a friendly welcome.

The bookstore is located in an older two story home that has been nicely redone. They only use natural ingredients in their kitchen. www.stonesoupbooks.net

We were happy to try the black bean and corn wrap and we got the last of the vegetarian chili. Both were good and filling. We stayed until they closed at 6 pm.

It was still raining and with no other plans, we headed back to Books A Million. We went inside and spent the rest of the evening scanning magazines and browsing books.

When they closed, we went back to Bella to spend the night in their parking lot. We found that if we park around the side of the building, we can get free wi-fi.

Thick dense fog

It was raining when we woke up today so we couldn’t walk around downtown like we had planned. Instead we decided to do some drive by tourism. We saw huge old fashioned advertising painted on the side of a brick building, and an old bank, solid and majestic.

Then we stopped at a small fountain where the water comes out of a dog’s mouth. Legend says that whomever drinks from this fountain will return to Roanoke or never leave. Bernie decided to get a drink.

Downtown was almost empty and the market place was dead. Either everything here is closed on Sundays or the rain kept people away.

We got on the Parkway again and a little while later we hit very dense fog. We could not see even ten feet ahead. We drove very slowly hoping it would lift. However our hopes were dashed and we left the Parkway when we could.



From there we went to see Foamhenge in Natural Bridge VA. Foamhenge is free and pretty cool. It is a full size replica of Stonehenge in England, but done in big foam boulders. It was raining and we didn't get to go explore but we were glad we got to see it. http://www.naturalbridgeva.com

Then we continued to a Walmart in Lexington VA to get milk and water. Next we found the Books A Million in Waynesboro VA so we could use their wi-fi because Mar needs to turn grades in for her classes.

However, this store is brand new and they don’t have wi-fi yet. They told us the hotel next door has wi-fi so we went there to spend the night in their parking lot.

We still have eggs from the chicken farm so Bernie made pancakes with eggs Benedict for dinner. This was Bernie’s first time making Hollandaise sauce and it was delicious. We love having breakfast for dinner.

Mayberry

We hurried up this morning to get ready to go. We had to make it to Snappy Lunch before they closed. On Saturdays they close at 1:15 pm and they’re not open on Sundays.


As we approached the restaurant we noticed there were people standing outside, there was a long line of people waiting for a table. Bernie jumped out and got in line, we were not going to miss this twice.

This place is famous for their pork chop sandwiches. They fry up the pork chops right next to the register. Bernie got our sandwich to go. People were still waiting in line. www.thesnappylunch.com

From there we went to the Andy Griffith Playhouse and saw some of his collection on display there and the old fashioned police cars giving tours to the tourists. www.visitmayberry.com



Then we got back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at Mabry Mill, the most photographed spot on the Parkway. Built in 1910 it was a blacksmith shop, a sawmill, a grist mill, and a woodworking shop. The buildings and displays give you a glimpse of pioneer life. Now there is a restaurant and gift shop. www. blueridgeresort.com




We got off the parkway at milepost 120 and went into Roanoke VA. The visitor center was already closed when we got there. Bernie spotted a catholic church and decided to go to mass, she was right on time. The church was magnificent, the interior was small but gorgeous.

Then we drove a bit around downtown and then found a public parking lot that is free on the weekends. We decided to park in a corner under a beautiful oak tree and spend the night.

Wrong detour

We got up extra early today because we wanted to make it to the Snappy Lunch in Mount Airy NC before they closed at 1:45 pm.

To make good time we even had our coffee on the go. We entered the Parkway only to find a sign that indicated another road closure. We figured we would just follow the detour signs like we did yesterday because the signs had been very helpful.

When we got to the blockade we saw the sign that said detour. There were no arrows so we took a right turn off the Parkway, the only way we could turn. This took us to a lonely, narrow, unpaved, hilly, curvy road.

Driving at 10 miles an hour we finally got to the first intersection and decided to listen to our GPS who kept telling us to do a u-turn and turn back. We had not seen any other signs after that first one.

We drove all the way back, now mostly uphill, on this curvy road and got back to the Parkway. We don’t know how we got so lost but we agreed that from now on we should have our coffee before we drive. What a difference caffeine makes!

This "detour" made us late so we didn’t’ make it to Mount Airy before the Snappy Lunch closed. This made us a little unhappy.

We went to the visitor center and asked for directions to a laundromat. We did four big loads of laundry and chatted with the friendly locals.

Then we headed to the Walmart less than two miles away. On the way there we saw a Staples and decided to stop to try out their wi-fi. It was working so we parked here for the night.