a) Visit Paris
b) See the War Correspondents’ Arch
c) Walk the Appalachian Trail
d) Ride an automobile ferry
e) all of the above
Come on, give it some thought. We couldn’t go to WV because Hubby flew off to Chi-town this morning for a work thing.
Give up? You’ll never guess.
We did all of the above!
Our trip to Paris, Virginia was brief. So brief, in fact, that I didn’t take any pictures. But here’s a good one that someone else shot.
We were exploring Northern Virginia, between Leesburg and Winchester, for a possible relocation destination. Any move would be quite a ways down the road.
Since we love back roads, and I love cool, quirky stuff, Hubby plotted a route that took us across the Potomac River at White’s Ferry.
This is near Poolesville, Maryland, at mile 35.5 along the C&O Canal. There used to be around 100 ferries facilitating river crossings on the Potomac, but this is the last.
It is used by a variety of vehicles. We’ve been across it before, twice I think, on our motorcycles.
We passed a gazillion bicyclists yesterday (not one was chubby!). That’s our green car in the foreground. Hubby is behind the wheel, but you can’t see him because of the glare.
I think the ferry can hold about 21 cars.
It is actually quite efficient. I had just enough time to hit the potty and snap some quick pics before we boarded.
Notice the horse trailer? I told you it carries a variety of stuff.
Here come some bikers. It was a gorgeous, summer day. Too bad my bike is at the WV place.
This is the Virginia side of the river. It’s just outside of Leesburg.
This is a view of the river, from the ferry, looking northwest.
The area around Paris was gorgeous. East of there, towards Leesburg, is horse country. Lots of very large horse farms. West of there is the Shenandoah River. It’s sort of mountainous there, too.
On the way home, after crossing back over the Potomac at Harper’s Ferry (no longer a ferry), I saw a sign for Gathland State Park. It’s a Maryland state park I have never seen, and have always wanted to, so I said to Hubby, “Turn there!”
Of course he listened. He’s pretty good about humoring me.
This is the War Correspondents’ Arch. This is why there’s a Gathland State Park. If you really want to know more, follow the link. I don’t feel like recounting the history here.
I was sort of excited to see that the Appalachian Trail goes right through the park.
Since I’m sort of fascinated by the trail and anxious to hike on it (not the entire 2,000+ mile length!), I just had to walk on the trail.
We didn’t go far. It was sort of hot and VERY gnatty (as in bugs). But I did get Hubby to agree to return later in the year for a 12-mile hike! (Remember what I said about him humoring me.)
The arch is sort of cool, I guess. Again, one of those odd, quirky things. I suppose if we were Civil War buffs, which we aren’t, it would’ve been more interesting.
There were some picturesque buildings there (the remains of the summer home of the guy that built the arch). I like stone buildings.
Since I didn’t get to take any pictures in Paris, at least there was something interesting to capture images of to share with my blog audience.