Oh, Shenandoah.

One thing that keeps striking me about DC: all these famous Civil War era locations are just a stones throw away. This weekend's destination was the Shenandoah valley. It's only 60 miles from DC but it was a key strategic piece in the war, and man is it gorgeous.

We got off to a late and stupid start.

Late, because we both had work stuff to wrap up. (Nicole was winging the last few pages of a grant proposal and I was submitting my resume to a few dozen more openings.)

Stupid, because we somehow managed to take all the things we didn't need (namely, all our camping gear even though we knew we were staying in a hotel) while forgetting to take the one suitcase with all the things we did need (clothes, toiletries, shoes, etc.)

I don't know how this happened. Nicole doesn't know how this happened. It just happened. But it made for a fun moment in the hotel parking lot.

Me: Hey, you know what we forgot?
Nicole: Um, pretty much everything?
Me: Yeah. Everything.

Luckily, the lovely town of Front Royal comes equipped with a Big K, which met all our needs. And right next door to the Big K was a Dollar Tree. I don't know if this makes me a grownup or what, but at some point I became very impressed by all the deals at the Dollar Tree. Nicole's right there with me. Actually a little bit ahead of me. I was just browsing around with my jaw down (A pizza cutter is only a dollar? What country's kids made that?) and the next thing I know, she's prancing down the isle toward me giggling maniacally, eyes all dilated, whispering "A dollar! It's all only a dollar!"

Twenty bucks later we set off for a walk around Front Royal. We hit a sweet bookstore and got these two gems for 10 cents each. This Hunter book is the one where he goes underground after a radical on the run - and comes up with murder. That should be fantastic.


And if you can't tell why this book is awesome, well there's just no helping you. (America's fastest growing racquet sport! Man, I love that part.)


Once we hit downtown, there were lots of memorials honoring the fallen Confederate forces as well as the Confederate victories. Anyone interested in learning about what happened in the valley during the war should check out this site.

The next morning we returned downtown for breakfast at a wonderful little diner by the name of L'Dees Pancake House. And by wonderful I mean 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 pieces of bacon and 2 sausage links for $4.50. In DC that's like a $35 dollar breakfast. For those of you from Michigan, this was basically a Virginian version of Duane's... except at Duane's you can't get scrapple and at L'Dees, you're almost obligated to.

Front Royal (L'Dees is behind the white truck.)

The hike was gorgeous. It was about 10 miles long, with a healthy amount of elevation change, but nothing too crazy. The forest was open hardwood that had recently been thinned by a fire. The Overall Run stream ran over a rocky bed from the ridge to the valley floor. There was a beautiful overlook towards the end of the loop, and then a chance to swim right at the end. Awesome.

(It's the Overall Run / Heiskeell Hollow trail at the end of VA 630 if anyone is interested in replicating.)

Here are a few photos I took.







Two less-than-ideal events occurred towards the end of the hike. First, I developed some lovely blisters from my sandals. Second, I must have stepped on a ground wasp nest or something because I was stung by three wasps in quick succession. (I haven't been stung by a wasp in quite some time... that freaking HURTS!)

So we went on a brisk, arm-flailing, 5-minute jog to wrap up our hike. (I'm not above running from things that frighten me. I'm not. I have no shame about this.)

But then, in what may be some karmic swing, as we were driving away from the trail-head we saw a fox. It trotted across the road about 30 yards in front of us, and then stopped about 10 yards deep in the woods and stared at us as we stared back.