Along I-81

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A few weeks ago we journey'd down to Radford, VA to visit Shelby (Guy's youngest daughter)for Parent's weekend.On the way we stopped in one of the small towns that is along I-81 (I wish I could remember the name) for breakfast and shot these as the fog was lifting over the James River.
   I love fall in Virginia, the landscape is ever changing.

Belle Isle State Park - IV Old Lancaster

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Waking up on Saturday we decided to head off the campsite and see what we might find in and around the area. To get anywhere you drive down Rt. 3 through Lancaster where we saw the Old Lancaster Jail was open and you could walk through it.  We decided to stop and take a look-seeBuilt in 1820 the old jail was just two rooms on the lower level and another two on the upper level.  Each had a fireplace for warmth and actually were rather large in size. While the rooms only had one window on each side, they are larger than some I have seen in other historic jails. I wanted to find out more about the significance of the jail but a Google search provided very little history about its use and if there is any prominent Virginia history linked to it. I am assuming not as in Virginia anything with historical significance has much information available on the web.Still it was an interesting building that I enjoyed seeing.I hope we always take advantage of the area we are in and explore as this is one if my favorite things to do.

Belle Isle State Park - Part III: Boating on the Rappahannock

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Not all state parks rent boats so when we found out that this was one of that does we decided to go ahead and explore Rappahannock River from the waterside. You go to the camp store to pay your rental fees, get your paddles and life jackets and then follow a park ranger to the boat launch where the actually trailer it into the river for you and tie it to the dock.This is where the funniest event of the entire weekend happened.  After the boat was in the water and tied up we climbed in.  I sat in the front area and Guy sat in the middle as this boat had a middle console for steering.  The seat for the driver is actually a metal cooler with a cushioned seat.  It is suppose to be welded to the base of the boat, but in this case it wasn't and before we even unhooked from the dock Guy had sat down, leaned back and bang, he is on his back, with his feet up in the air.  Poor Guy was so embarrassed and I didn't help matters because I just could not stop laughing, my sides were sore from laughing so hard and I believe there was a threat to throw me overboard. The look on the park rangers face was priceless, I am not sure he felt at all safe letting us take the boat out.After we composed ourselves we had a wonderful few hours on the river.  The water in the inlets was silky smooth and like glass but the main river had a breeze blowing and was very choppy. No worries though as the bouncing of the boat and the spray of the water on my face is one of the many things I love about boating.
A few videos:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4A2n9SsaFw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-rQEYW1TKA   Not bad right?  It was a perfect way to spend a morning!

My Last Photo

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This is the very last photo I took with my Olympus E3 before packing it up and trading it in for my new camera.  I still stand by the fact that Olympus makes great cameras and awesome glass, unfortunately they are focusing mostly on mirror-less cameras now and I didn't want to go that route so it was time to change to a new manufacture.Have a great week, I sure hope the sun keeps shining.