Retirement Travel and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff
And taking pics of oneself alone and/or with one’s family/friends/pet/motorcycle, etc. is a fun thing to do.
The video collage posted below was done by a guy — Alex Chacón — who took the selfie to a different level.
I forget where I stumbled across it, but, in addition to being the best selfie ever, it’s the stuff daydreams are made of.
If you’d like to learn more about Alex, he has a Website, which you’ll see mentioned in the video, The Modern Motorcycle Diaries.
I mentioned in that post that Seattle doesn’t see much snow. Well, this is how Friday morning greeted us.
Lucky for us, schools were still open. About 1/4″ more and they probably would’ve been closed. They’re not used to snow there. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Amy and TJ live on top of a mountain. It’s a mountain covered with homes, roads, etc., but it’s still a mountain. There are only two roads up/down. File that away, okay?
Saturday, started off quiet. By that I mean, with not much activity. The two oldest grand kids had sports tryouts. Joey stayed at home and entertained us with some WII football adventures.
Amy and I finally had time for the painting lesson I’d been promising her. As we were gathering supplies the previous afternoon, I’d asked her if she had a tarp or something we could lay down under our workspace. She said she did. I cracked up when she brought that “something” out.
It seems TJ found this old packet of info-sheets/workplace notices at his office. It’s nice, heavy paper, but the content is what amused me.
Amy has several items she’s been wanting to paint, but our time was limited. So I recommended that she pick one with detail. Since we didn’t have a lot of time, I wanted to explain as many tips/techniques as possible.
She chose this oak end table. Structurally, the table was fine. Oak is just dated-looking. She said she wanted to use red on the base and black on top with some red showing through. We were using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP), of course, which requires no prep work beyond blowing/brushing off any existing dust. So we jumped right in.
She was having fun, honest. She’s just concentrating.
I’ve always said that ASCP projects evolve as you go. What you might think you want to do at the beginning will often change as you see how the paint transforms your piece.
Our initial plan was to do a solid layer of Primer Red topped with a solid layer of Graphite then distress the edges. Once the red had dried, however, I decided we should apply the Graphite (black) slowly using the dry brush technique.
We both loved the way the dry brushing grabbed the grain in the table legs. There were a couple spots with a little too much paint, but, as I explained to Amy, leaving those spots there would add character.
If she decided later that she didn’t like it, she could just paint right over the wax.
We still had some paint left in our bowls, so she painted a shelf, too. You’ll get to see that later.
After the paint had dried (about 20 minutes per coat), we moved into the dining room for waxing. TJ needed the kitchen to make dinner.
The original plan had us using Dark Wax only. But after seeing the cool detail on the legs, I recommended a coat of Clear Wax first followed by a thin skim of Dark Wax. We wanted the grain/detail on the legs to emerge.
Because we felt the top would look good slightly darker, we didn’t put Clear Wax on the table top.
Notice that the side panels on the table were still just red? We thought that might be a cool look. So they got Clear Wax only.
Then we decided those panels looked too pink. Remember what I said about a piece evolving?
Soon enough, we were finished.
Two pieces painted and waxed in one short afternoon. Not bad, eh?
Then it was time for dinner, more visiting, and a special treat.
At some point during the afternoon, it had started snowing. Again. With our flight due to depart at 7:00 AM the next day, we were a little concerned. But a look at the weather told us the flurries should taper off soon.
After dinner, Shannon, Amy, and I headed out for a quickie girls night. That’s the special treat. We all miss our monthly Thirsty Third Thursdays, which ended when Shannon moved to San Diego a few years back.
It was still snowing when we left the house, so we decided to stay on top of the mountain. Even though we were pretty sure it was going to stop.
It was so much fun hanging out, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Lord, how I miss having those girls close by…
A couple of inches had fallen by the time we left the bar. We drew a snow family on the windows of an SUV, which, as it turned out, belonged to a woman from Baltimore. Small world…
A guy headed into the bar as we were leaving said, “You’re not going off the mountain are you? The roads are TERRIBLE. And I’m from Maine. We barely made it up. These people do NOT know how to drive.”
As we were headed back to the house, we saw that one of the roads off the mountain was indeed closed. GULP.
We were supposed to leave the house at 5:00 AM!
It’s a good thing we didn’t have far to go!
Lucky for us, the snow did stop. But only after about five inches had fallen. We did manage to get off the mountain, thank goodness. And made it to the airport with very little time to spare.
We sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting for the snow and ice to be removed from the plane. A first for me, by the way. Seattle doesn’t have nearly as many de-icing machines as airports that are accustomed to snow.
After a very quick stop-over in Minneapolis, we made it back to BWI. And this is what we saw…
Ugh. Enough with the snow already!
Once we dropped my MIL off and headed south, the snow turned into rain.
After a very long day, we were home.
TJ and Amy, thanks again for the Best Birthday Weekend Ever! We love and miss you guys!
Hubby clocked more miles, but only because he rides his bike to and from work when he’s required to go to the office (he usually works from the house like me).
We’ve both been missing our weekend getaways, which were always very special to us. So this year I am determined to schedule some actual trips. Overnighters instead of simple, ad hoc day trips. Which usually means at least two days of riding. But where to go?
I’ve been telling my Aunt Bertha for two years that we need to do a group ride in Pennsylvania. She and I did manage a short ride together last June, which was fun. But we’ve been wanting to get the rest of our motorcycle-riding family members together since she bought her Spyder.
My cousin Bob rides a large Harley Davidson. Bob’s brother-in-law, Jeff, married to Bob’s sister, Maryanne, also my cousin (duh!), rides a Honda Goldwing. Jeff and Maryanne have traversed the US on that thing. Bertha’s cousin, Amos (my second cousin or great cousin?), rides a Goldwing trike. I think another cousin (Rod, maybe?) who I haven’t seen in years rides, too., but I’m not sure what sort of bike. A good friend of Bob’s rides a smaller Harley.
Of course, Hubby and I have our matching F650GSes. Can you picture this motley crew of bikes?
There are two motorcycle bloggers in New York that I befriended years ago. I’ve met Ralph in person, but haven’t met Rachel in-the-flesh yet. We had a meet scheduled for Fall of 2012, but things came up and it didn’t happen. I’m really hoping 2014 is the year for that. Of course, I’ll be riding my bike north so we can log some miles together.
In late-2010, Hubby and I took our final trip on those big-ass cruisers we used to ride. We headed south through West Virginia and west into Kentucky before heading back north and east through West Virginia again. Our second day of riding took us past Breaks Interstate Park, a place I’d never heard of before that day.
Which is no surprise considering how far away from us and remote the place is.
Anyway, we’d stopped for lunch at a Hardee’s in Grundy, Virginia, and a nice, chatty older guy told us we should go there. Not knowing anything about the place, and since we were sort of tight on time, we didn’t listen. Later, at our hotel, I looked it up on the Internet and wished we had stopped.
According to their web site, the 4,600-acre park, which the Kentucky/Virginia border, encompasses a five-mile gorge, carved by the Russell Fork River, that plunges 1,650 feet. The area is known as the “Grand Canyon of the South.” Sounds perfect, right? I’d really like to squeeze that one in, but it’s a good distance away, so will require multiple days. We’ll see…
There are quite a few places I want to see that are closer, which means we’re more likely to get there. They are…
To be honest, though, our rides are typically about the journey, not the destination. So we’re just as likely to head down into Wytheville just to enjoy the rides mentioned in my Horn of the Cow post, as we are to go anywhere specific. Although, since Wytheville isn’t terribly far from Breaks Interstate Park, we could tie one of my to-be-seen destinations in with some of these to-be-ridden roads. Which is usually what we do, anyway.
Wow, I could daydream about upcoming rides all day, but I really need to get to work.
Are there any must-see places or must-ride roads in Virginia/West Virginia that you would recommend?
Despite having a four-wheel-drive vehicle, we decided to play it safe and walk from the road to the house rather than chance getting stuck in the driveway. Our house isn’t exactly in an easy-to-reach spot. It could take MONTHS for a tow truck to find us.
Okay, maybe not months. Or even days. But it would have certainly required more time than we wanted to waste. Especially since we were both hungry.
It was comforting to see that it’s drying out quite nicely inside.
Compare the image above with the following shot, which was taken a week ago, and you should be able to see the difference.
All the bits of fiberglass insulation that had been frozen to the saturated boards was easy to brush off.
There was no need to hang around — yay!!! — so back down the driveway we went.
You can how busy the deer have been.
We decided to take the long way home so we could grab lunch at the Star Mercantile in Wardensville, West Virginia.
I’d happened upon this cute little restaurant about a year ago on the way home from a ski trip with my son, Eric.
There’s not a lot to Wardensville (population ~300), but I’ve always had a soft spot for the place. I only recently learned that it’s referred to as the “Gateway to West Virginia,” apparently because of it’s location about six miles west of the VA/WV state line on WV-55. Wardensville is only about 20 miles west of I-81 at Strasburg, Virginia.
Motorcyclists take note… WV-55 is one of my favorite motorcycle roads in Hardy County. About nine miles west of town, WV-55 turns into a superhighway (now labeled US-48), but Old WV-55 parallels the new road, snaking along the Lost River, under the very high overpasses, wending among impressive outcroppings of rock. The multiple twisties and elevation changes make for a FUN ride.
But back to lunch. There’s a story behind the Star Mercantile, which serves up some mighty tasty comfort food…
The food is good, the atmosphere is welcoming and friendly. They even have live music sometimes. We just happened to be leaving as musicians were setting up for the Saturday afternoon jam session.
There’s all sorts of stuff adorning the walls, some of which is for sale. In fact, it really is a general store of sorts, and quite a bit of stuff is for sale. They feature locally made crafts and food items as well as a wide assortment of other treasures. There’s a giant bear just inside the front door, too.
Hubby ordered a cheeseburger and I got a steak and cheese sub.
The only negative was being served crinkle-cut fries. Neither of us typically care for those. But these were perfectly cooked (they’re usually served limp and half-raw), so I can’t really complain.
Neither of us had room for dessert, but we got two helpings of Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce to go.
Hubby didn’t care for his dessert (more for me!), but I really like their bread pudding.
All you local peeps… if you ever feel like going for a drive, Wardensville is slightly over an hour from Warrenton if you take US-17 west to I-66, I-81, and then WV-55. It’s slower if you go through Front Royal and/or Strasburg.
And if you like seeing unusual stuff, a couple miles west of where the old and new roads split is a sign near where the Lost River literally becomes lost. Really. It sinks into an underground channel and then re-emerges a short time later as the Cacapon River. Weird, huh?
Other than the sign, there isn’t a whole lot to see near the road. But if you’re needing a bit of fresh air, the Trout Pond Recreation Area is a mere 13 miles outside of Wardensville. It’s a nice place for a short stroll.
If you have more time to burn, you could also visit Lost River State Park , which itself is a lovely place, but that’s 26 miles SW of Wardensville. Just remember to circle back to the Star Mercantile for some good eats.
I am constantly amazed at all of the natural beauty that can be found such a short drive from our new home.
There are some technical glitches to be worked out, which I can’t do until a certain look is live (meaning you can see it).
You may notice some drastic changes for a while while I experiment.
But, instead of doing no post at all, I decided to do a quickie.
Installment 1 ended with our Monday arrival in Portland after dark. Annelies and I were both disappointed that we didn’t get to see the house in daylight as we’d both been very excited to see the place.
She and I put a TON of time into planning our trips, and we both thought this place, which she found on TripAdvisor, would be a real gem.
It was. I never did take any interior pics (follow the TripAdvisor link above if you are curious) of the house we came to know as the “Portland Victorian.”
I did take a walk through the neighborhood on Tuesday morning. I even captured some shots of the pretty flowers in our Victorian’s garden. Those images just happen to be the subject of this quickie post.
Sorry if the flower shots bore you.
My next installment will cover our trip into the City of Portland.
Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)