Visitor from the North -- Amongst the Fun!

So coming into the later part of October, it was still hot though getting into the 60s at night and leaves were only hinting at changing still. However, little bits here and there showed signs of a coming fall, like the sale of cider and fresh donuts at a concert in Charlottesville to the fact that I actually could wear my leather leggings and furs at work and not be super uncomfortable. However, I was still adament about dressing for October and not for the weather at hand and was often made fun of for my wishful thinking.

A really exciting part of the month was when Jenny came down to visit for a few days. She came down on a Monday evening and we began a few days of extreme fun, complete with activity checklist. Tuesday we went to both Yorktown and the Jamestowns, complete with biker bar and a cookout in the evening. Jenny enjoyed bonding with Jack's new hedgehog Norman, who we apparently wore out with the excitement for days afterward. Wednesday we ventured to Berkeley Plantation (home of Col. Benjamin Harrison, signer of the Declaration of Independencen and father/grandfather of two US Presidents, site of the first Thanksgiving, site of the composition of Taps, and about twenty other firsts). A storm blew in during the middle of our tour of Berkeley and continued through most of our day trip through Richmond and movie outing that evening. The next and final day we spent seeing the final orientation video (in all, we'd watch a total of five museum orientation films in three days) at Colonial Williamsburg, a 1950s 45-minute VistaVision saga. After a quick visit at CW, we stopped at the home-cooking deliciousness of the Carrot Tree before taking Jenny to the airport. (photos: Me, Pocahontas, and Jenny at Historic Jamestowne; Jenny loves John Smith; Jenny and I beating that steadily beating drum; also later doing the horrid smell dance moves from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"; and Jack and Norman.)





(photos: The recycle bin at our house the morning after our cookout; me on the lawn of Berkeley Plantation; Jenny doing a kartwheel on the plantation lawn due to her excitement; looking up the terraced gardens to the main house; and Jenny touching a tree hundreds of years old!)





(photos: The bathroom sign at Colonial Williamsburg; showing our love to Thomas Jefferson in Merchant's Square; and Jenny in front of her favorite house in town.)



After Jenny's visit, I had to go to get cracking on assembling my Halloween costume since Lindsay's big Halloween party was the next night. I went as Tippi Hedren from "The Birds" and had to find both a 60s-esque dress and lots of fake birds. After work that Friday, we assembled our outifts, rendezvouzed at our house to carpool down to the party, and had quite a good time and we've still been piecing together stories weeks later. The night after the Halloween party, it was back to Don's house for another burger burn/haunted house expedition. The local Claremont-ites went all out on their haunted house, though after six days in a row working, plus the tremendous pace of Jenny's visit, followed by more work and active evenings, I was getting to be exhausted. Unfortunately, when my day off came around, I was to be heading to Urbanna for the Oyster Festival with work, but this time by boat! (photos: Heather and Morris as Jack Frost and some sort of WWI fighter pilot; David and Mark as Skeletor and Nacho Libre; Callie and me as Elastagirl and Tippi Hedren; Joe as Fabio (complete with goose and bloody nose -- an incident that happened at Busch Gardens Williamsburg); and Lindsay and Sally as Mugatu from "Zoolander" and Jessica Biel from "Flashdance".)





(photos: Jeff and Varia as Miami Vice and Varia; Callie negotiated a ride on a scooter from Lindsay's friend dressed as Hansel from "Zoolander"; and Jeff, David, Lindsay, and Varia.)

Oktoberfest in the Mountains

Early October was spent mostly waiting for Fall to actually arrive. First off, Kai and I went to a small town in the Shenandoah Valley to a winery for an Oktoberfest party. From all the descriptions, it was supposed to be quite fun with a polka band, German food, and all. We left early that Saturday morning and drove the three or so hours to the winery, beautifully nestled in the northern part of the valley. We were some of the first ones there, so we explored some of the vendors (German product booth, blacksmith, quilter, cheese maker, baker) and sampled some of the wine. Soon, after many of the dedicated Germans/German fans arrived (many in lederhosen and dirndls), the polka band started to play and we got our plates of yummy sauerkaut, red cabbage, and knackwurst. I very much enjoyed the band and their polkas, some of which they got the audience to sing along. At one point, a woman started to have an attack of heat stroke (since it was indeed that hot, even in early Oktober), though she was taken care of while the rest of us started to do the Chicken Dance (apparently not German, but Dutch). (photos: Our souvenir Oktoberfest cup, Virginia apples, and the German flag under the festival tent; me with my cup (note the tank top in October -- last year there had been the early snow storm on the Island); my yummy German food; the Alp horn guy with his lederhosen; and Kai in front of the festival site at the winery.)





Kai and I left in the early afternoon and decided to take the scenic route back home through the Shenandoah along Skyline Drive. Little did we know that, being Columbus Day weekend, everyone was out trying to get a taste of what they thought would be one of the last weekends of summer and the drive took forever. We did catch some great views of low-lying clouds coming over the mountains and at last got through Charlottesville and back onto out highway heading East. Instead of going home, we were actually heading to a burger burn at our coworker Don's house and were really trying to move to get back. At long last, we made it and I was thrilled to get out of the car, and a couple of hours later, to be on the ferry back home. (photos: A tree along Skyline Drive with the low clouds; a view looking North on the other side of the mountains from Skyline Drive; and the view looking South from the same spot.)



A couple of days later on that holiday Monday, some of us had decided to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving at the home of our resident Canadian couple, Heather and Morris. I made a fantastic apple pie and some mashed potatoes to add to our actual turkey, stuffing, and even poutine. Morris had prepped their apartment for us that day by getting out anything Canadian that they had, including their Canadian action figures and also by his alternating between his two Canadian shirts. (photos: The Canadian action figures; Stephanie excited for poutine; Morris carving the turkey; more of Morris' holiday decorations; and the final array of Thanksgiving food.)





The following weekend, I went up to Richmond for their final year of the National Folk Festival. I had a ton of fun watching everything from a family of Guatemalan marimba players, amazing blues music, African dance, all sorts of bluegrass, a DC go-go group, and apparently a revolutionary of autoharp music. A day in the sun (yup, still hot in mid-October) with marvelous music, food, and Guiness. October was a busy month, and the first half was full of weekend trips, hanging out (as always, and of course work. (photos: Some Ivory Coast dancers at the National Folk Festival; a dancer dressed as a traditional god come to give his blessing; part of the Richomond skyline over the festival; the Holmes Brothers playing some of their terrific blues music; and leaving the Folk Festival.)





(photos: Jeff, Varia, and me from an evening hanging out in the 'Burg; fun artwork; more artwork; even more fun artwork; and me from when we went to see "Superman: The Musical" at William & Mary.)

George Washington + Marines = Gypsy Fun! More life on the road...

After Onancock, we were home for a couple of days before turning around and heading right back on the road. While home, Steph (the other one) and I went to the Virginia Living Museum for an afternoon. I was actually really impressed by the quality, simplicity, and relevance of the exhibits and we all particularly enjoyed the Survivor: Jamestown exhibit where you have to go through a maze of challenges to see if you can survive Jamestown 400 years ago (we both did!). I also really liked the beavers and otters in the outdoor exhibits and the cute little owl inside. Nature is just so cool! (photos: Sturgeon, a super cool dinosaur-esque fish; ah, the James River... the superstar of so much of our interpretation, etc.; the outdoor animal exhibits at the Living Museum; beavers!; and otters, too!)





(photos: While trying to survive Jamestown, we had to complete tasks like choosing our water source; Steph showcases her survival plaque while learning how to utilize wildliffe to survive; also learning to wrangle a giant sturgeon; and this doesn't look that odd, for some strange reason...)




That Wednesday, it was back out on the road. We first went to Hampton to do a lunch presentation about Jamestown and wastewater at a wastewater treatment conference. After a yummy steak lunch, we were on the way to Mt. Vernon to meet the ship. I was particularly excited to be working at George Washington’s estate for the weekend, and we actually were staying on site. The staff at Mt. Vernon was extremely accommodating and actually allowed us to wander around the estate a bit at night, including on the front porch of the main house while listening to the cows across the river in Maryland. The sheep on site also made sounds that I’d never heard from sheep before (if you’ve seen our crafty hoodies from a few years ago or the photos from Europe, you’ll be familiar with my fascination with sheep!) – the videos will soon be posted on my YouTube page. We also got to see the new museums at Mt. Vernon, which were pretty decent and very flashy, though definitely catering to the casual history/museum crowd. After work, we definitely played a lot of cards and chilled with both the crew and Maria Spranger (she came down for an evening!). All in all, it was indeed a fun port and a really unique opportunity with lots of history, sheep, and card playing at night. (photos: My little room at Mt. Vernon, actually on the property!; George's front porch at night; the Potomac in the morning with a bit of mist over Maryland; looking down the Potomac in the morning; and Maria and I in the morning at the Metro station.)





(photos: Felt a bit like Tippi Hedren here; the super hilarious sheep -- keep checking my YouTube page til I post those videos!; the Godspeed at Mt. Vernon; the lifesize statues of George, Martha, and their grandkids at the visitor center of Mt. Vernon; and the outside of George's house.)





Saturday night we left for our next port, Quantico. We stayed just off the marine base, but had to go on base to get to the town of Quantico, now completely surrounded by the base. We had a busy couple of days with an interesting audience with all of the marines and their families. Sunday night the event staff hosted a reception for us at the new Marine Corps Museum. Holy wa, were the hors d’oeuvres and the museum fabulous! The mannequins were some of the most detailed and realistic that I’d ever seen and the immersion galleries of various conflicts were also extremely impressive. I also particularly enjoyed the really cheap prices of the restaurants and such, which were really just that cheap. On Tuesday, we were off to Jamestown again, making a stop in Richmond for lunch at Poe’s, our old hangout from the Richmond leg of the trip. (photos: The Godspeed coming into Quantico, starting to bring in her topsails; the marching band at our arrival at Quantico; the outside of the Marine Corps Museum; the main lobby of the museum; and the inside of the top of the main lobby.)





(photos: Mannequins in the Marine museum; one of the gallery hallways in the museum; impromptu poutine; a sign on a house near the marina; and it felt good to be back...)





Once back to the Burg, it was back to the normal work at Jamestown and such. Last weekend the annual Scottish festival was in town and a few of us went for tunes, beer, and dancing. I’ve also started a new effort to ride my bike to work now that the weather is getting cooler (despite the last few days being in the 90s… ugh…). Tomorrow, however, I’m heading to the mountains for an Oktoberfest and Monday brings Canadian Thanksgiving. Should be an internationally good time! (photos: the Williamsburg Scottish Festival ceilidh; James and Kai; and Scott and a not-so-unusal facial expression.)