Colonial Parkway (6/27/2014)

I usually don't post two photographs (or entries) on the same day, but what the heck.
I desperately needed a haircut, so decided to drive to Wiliamsburg to get one.  I love driving the Colonial Parkway between Yorktown and Jamestown; although I stopped in Williamsburg this time.
The Parkway is part of the Park Service and considered part of National Park System.  For us it starts out along the Yorktown and ends in Jamestown, along the James River.  Jamestown is one of the first places the colonialists arrived, in particular captain John Smith.  Our area is also called the historic triangle.
Both rivers used to be very rich with seafood.  Over-fishing and pollution has really lowered the yields.  Having done a lot of historic (environmental) research in this area, I was amazed to learn that in the time of John Smith you could walk across the James river on top of oyster beds.  I've seen photos on downtown Norfolk where, during the turn of the century, they would convert oyster shells into lime.  They would harvest the oysters and in a lot of cases, not even eat them.  Oysters would go into kilns with coal and lime would come out the other side.
In addition, I have collected fishing data for my job, and found that in the past 30 years the amount and the type of fish caught by commercial and recreational fishermen has changed drastically.  Fish caught in large amounts 30 years ago, have disappeared and now they are catching different species and we are eating them as well.  This past week the state has announced crabbing limits.  We are catching too many crabs and the stock is not rebounding fast enough.  The same is the case with the menhaden.
Enough said, driving the Parkway, I got my horizon and water fix.  I love it and try to drive the road at least once a day during my commute to or from work.  You often see water men and their boats taking care of their crab pots and harvesting these delicacies.  This photo shows one of those boats.  There were a lot of crab pots in this area (which are a pain when you are sailing, but obviously great eating in the future).

Norfolk (6/26/2014)

I was teaching in Norfolk on Thursday and driving back home that afternoon I had a stroll through memory lane.  See, I used to work in Norfolk and Virginia Beach and had to travel back every afternoon.  It is my understanding that the traffic in the Hampton Roads is the fifth worst in the country,  Actually we locals call it the great cul-de-sac: two tunnels going to what we call the south side and you can literally drive a circle.  In one tunnel and back through the other.
Well, the tunnels start backing up around 3 pm and going home yesterday afternoon, there was a 6.5 mile backup to the tunnel  Just like the good old days when I did this every day.  Back then, I figured out which of the two lanes goes consistently faster, and darn things have not changed there as well.  It also reminded me of the other blog post I wrote on traffic issues.
The trip home also made me think of that one time when my flight was diverted from Newport News Airport to Norfolk and we had to take a shuttle back to Newport News.  We were with three passengers: a lady 5 or 10 years younger than me, a U.S. Army soldier in his early 20-s, and me.  When approaching the tunnel and going down towards the hole the soldier panicked and actually opened the van door and was ready to jump out of the vehicle (we were driving 30 or 40 mph).  I was sitting in the front seat, so I could not do much, but the lady grabbed the soldier, pulled him back into the van and held him like a baby through the tunnel.  The poor kid had just flown in from Houston and never seen a tunnel before, and going under the water terrified him.  I still often wonder whatever happened to him.  In addition, I wondered if I should feel safe knowing he was defending our country.  Oh well.
I took two pictures going into the tunnel on Thursday.  The first shows the approach and actually a boat that was about to cross the tunnel overhead.  I love the approach when a boat or a submarine goes over the tunnel.  The second was somewhat enhanced by Google, but this was about the point where our soldier panicked, opened the door, took his seat belt off and had one foot out of the door, when the lady pulled him back.

Richmond (6/25/2014)

One of the photo blogs that I follow (Cee’s Photography) posted a challenge of wanting you to dig through your achieves and post a picture showing straight lines.  Working downtown Richmond this is not really such a huge challenge, with all those tall buildings.  So I decided to photograph some straight lines during my lunch-time walk today.  But nothing really stuck out.

Sitting behind my desk, it just occurred to me that I have a straight line overdose just looking out of my office window.  So that is my photo of today; the view from my office.  An oddball photo, but fun for a change.

Richmond (6/24/2014)

The weather is still unbelievably nice for this late in June.  Temperatures at home are in the low 80s or in European terms in the high 20s centigrade (my blog has a lot of visitors from Russia and Germany).  In Richmond it is a bit warmer, but still very bearable.  People you talk to mention that sooner or later “we’ll have to pay for it.”  While I do not think the weather gods act like that, we all know that weather is all about averages and that over the years these averages have been going up.  So yes, the statistics tell us that we will have to pay for it; although I do not think that is the reason we called it “sadistic” in grad school.

Anyway it was just nice to go for my lunch-time walk.  Downtown Richmond is a great place to get some exercise and clear the brain fog.  I either walk along the river or try to hit Capitol Square.  Going to Capitol Square you see all kinds of things: lunch carts, beggars, street musicians, business women and men, and yes a lot of government employees. 

Yesterday, the steps of the Governor’s mansion were full of people for a photo-op.  Today there was just a black SUV parked in front of the steps.  The Governor was either on his way out or in, probably a good thing.

Politics in this state are a mess; very much like what is going on in Washington, DC.  There is just too much polarization and too little cooperation and compromise.  It still amazes me that ordinary people allow politicians to do this, basically to their long-term detriment, but to the benifit of their deep-pocketed donors.  Oh well.

So my walk today took me to capitol square, where I took this picture.  It does not symbolize anything; I just thought it made a pretty shot.  It was just nice to get out.  And yes, I had sun screen on!

Lizard's Tail (6/22/2014)

What a great name for plants that look like this.  We decided to take the bikes out this wonderful early summer day, and bike the tour road in the Yorktown Battlefield National Historic Park.  Stopping on the bridge over the Beaverdam Creek we saw this gorgeous looking plant in the water and we had to stop and take some photos.  Lizard’s tail or Saururus cernuus is an aquatic plant that grows in the water.  It seems when the flowers dry up, the green seed heads look like lizard tails, hence the name. 

The tour road on the battlefield is one of our favorite bike routes.  It is approximately 10 miles and mostly has a number of memorial plaques that tell you the story of the battlefield.  There are a number of nice vistas; tow places with canons; a memorial cross; and a big round-about marking George Washington’s encampment.  It is very nice; however, I can imagine that tourists who are used to the other battlefields will be kind of bored driving this route.  It is therefore very quiet and great for biking.  My wife and I often wonder if the park should consider erecting more statues etc, to make it more attractive to tourist; but then, it is our road!  Surrender Field is a different story; that area is very attractive and very impressive! 

Sunday was a great day to bike and get some exercise.  We had a quiet ride; a fitting closure to a action packed weekend.

Seaford Yacht Club (6/21/14)

This may be a lame picture for some of you, but it signifies progress to me.  As some of my readers will know, I am trying to restore (and sail) a 1979 Catalina 25 for the past few years.  Being people of modest means, we have to do it slow.  This is fine; we enjoy the sailing, although going to the bathroom on a Home Depot bucket is getting old for my wife.  We guys have it a bit easier I guess.  This year I have already replaced two of the 6 windows in the boat, and I feel comfortable now that I can finish the head (toilet) on the boat, so my wife gets something better. Last week's sail to the eastern shore with my friend gave me the idea of how to install our camping stove in the boat.  Yesterday I vacuumed the boat, in preparation for us sleeping on the boat last night.  This photo is just me trying to see if my camping stove fits on the location I think I want to mount it.  I will need to make a (removable?) shelf in that location, but that should be easy.  I'll post a picture once I have completed the job.

Seaford Yacht Cub (6/17/2014)

Today I had to post a picture of my own sail boat.  We had our monthly dinner meeting at the club, and after dinner we took a walk to the dock to look at the boats.  Mine is the first one; which may be the right thing to do the shame me in fixing up the boat.  It is going way too slow (the fixing up), but as a friend of mine told me, “you have to enjoy it also.”  I agree, otherwise fixing things up becomes such a chore.  But then safety first, and I do feel safe when sailing.

The yacht club is fun.  There are a lot of social things going on, sometimes (or should I say often) with a lot of drinking.  It is something to watch out for, and I generally try to behave myself. 

As you can see from the photo, the weather was absolutely delightful.  It was hot and humid, which I like.  It was still, as you can see, the river was glass; but there were no bugs, which was amazing. 

Sitting there talking to my wife and father-in-law was absolutely delightful.  One of the boat owners (an older gentleman) came over to let his dog off the boat and walk it.  The dog, a friendly white Scottie, was all over us; I think he was happy to be of the boat.  On our way back to the car, another  gentleman came over to make sure the dog walker had not hurt himself and fallen off the pier.  As you can see a social club, but we all watch out for each other.

The smooth water was disturbed by one of the members whose home is across the creek and came to the meeting in his small power boat. He left, but first went for a short ride, after which he returned home. Very considerate, you could hardly hear him start the engine, and he left very little wake. Not hot dogging for him, just enjoying the moment and being on or near the water.

Chesapeake Bay (6/14/2014)

A friend of mine invited me to go sailing on his boat, destination Cape Charles on the eastern shore (and back), something I have wanted to do for a long time.  It is the first (overnight) cruise I want to take with my boat, and now I know it is doable and really not that difficult.   You basically sail out of the York River, make sure you avoid the shallows on York Spit and set a course for 90 degrees or due east.  It probably helped we were sailing near high tide in the area with the biggest current, but we left at 9 and we were at the entrance to the Cape Charles channel by 2 pm.   Leaving the marina we were accompanied by a pod of dolphins.  It was great to see them, knowing we had such a large die off this past winter.  On the eastern shore we were chased by a couple of rays.  It was neat to see them almost come out of the water and chase the boat.  Other days that we sail we often see a lot of floating trash in the water, but this time it was relatively clean.  Not much trash at all. 

There was a large freighter anchored near the entrance to the channel into Cape Charles harbor, and we sailed passed it, before turning around and sailing back home.  Now it was mid tide and the water was flowing out of the entire Chesapeake Bay, and although we set the course on 270 degrees, or due west, we were slowly pushed more to the south, which was no real problem, but just fascinating to see how the currents work.  It kind of threw my friend off when we passed York Spit light on the other side compared to when we left the river; but then you always hear stories about people being turned around.  Unless you know your shore, a lot of the shore looks alike and you could get easily lost or miss an inlet.

On the way over we had good wind and 2 to 3 foot waves.  It was interesting to see that when you are on top of the wave you could see further over the horizon, then when you were at the bottom.  It was also fun to see the freighter that was anchored near Cape Charles come up from below the horizon.  On the other hand it was so clear that even in Cape Charles we could see the smoke stacks of the power station in Yorktown, and we could see what we call the NASA drop area on Langley Air Force Base.

I was using a great navigation app on my tablet (a Nexus 7).  I paid $6 or $7 for it and it worked great.  It’s called MXMariner  and it is outstanding.  My friend had a few I-Book apps and mine beat them hands down.  I have a few minor beefs with the program, and have contacted the developer about it.  We’ll see how they respond.

The photo below shows the freighter that we saw near Cape Charles.  It was anchored, probably waiting for an assignment or a spot in Baltimore harbor.  They were blaring music from our local classic rock station.  Also interesting was the escape capsule that was mounted on the back of the ship.  Neat to see it.  By all a great day!

 

Virginia Wines (2) (6/10/2014)

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about some of the wineries I visited in the Tidewater of Virginia.  Wineries like Dog and Oyster claim they have a similar climate as the Bordeaux region in France and that they should therefore be able to rival them.  We'll see it that happens in my life time.

Today I want to deal with the wineries I visited in northern Virginia, and rank them as well. Rappahannock Cellars was the first of the wineries I visited in Virginia (2003).  While I already was a wine enthusiast and had tasted in Missouri, this was a fun first experience, and my very first impression with Virginia red wine, which I found very below par at that time.  Things have changed in the past few years, and I can tell you the reds made by Chester Gap Cellars just a few miles up the road are among some of the best Virginia reds I’ve tasted lately (2013 and 2014).

Here is my review of the wineries I visited in the northern area (the date in parentheses is the year I visited the wineries):

Old House Vineyards  (2013) - 4 stars - Interesting place with some interesting grape varieties (barberra).  Inexpensive to taste.  Great place for weddings.

Rappahannock Cellers - (2003) - 3 stars (this rating is probably out-dated) - My first tasting in Virginia.  It was fun, but I remember a very touristy tasting room.  I still own their tasting glass and drink wine from it every day.

Chester Gap Cellars - (2013 and 2014) - 5 stars - A great secluded winery with the produces some outstanding reds.  Try their Merlot.

Fox Meadow Winery- (2013) - 5 star - Location, location, location.  Love the place, good wine, I was impressed by their Riesling.

Aspen Dale Winery at the Barn (2013) 3 stars  A very charming place, wine was so, so.  Live music was too loud to really understand the host.  This winery was the first that served wine paired with food.

Glen Manor Vineyards (2013) 2 stars  Great location and very scenic looking towards the National Park.  Wine was mediocre

Breaux Vineyards (2014) 1 star  Rude staff, crowded and expensive.  See my review of last month.

The picture below was taking at Chester Gap late April of tis year.

Fort Monroe (6/6/2014)

D-day!  Actually there was a 70-year anniversary celebration concert at Fort Monroe.  In addition it was our 37- year wedding anniversary that day as well.  So what better reason to celebrate and listen to some good music, on the lawn.  It was a concert by the USAF Heritage of America Band, and it was fun.  We had a good time followed by a late dinner.

The photo below shows the Hampton Roads.  A ship is going over the tunnel while there was a guy in a fishing kayak in the foreground.  He had a hard time paddling, the current was very fast that evening.

Richmond (6/4/2014)

We had meeting in Richmond on Wednesday, and I went for a brief walk during lunch.  It was a nice day, but amazingly quiet downtown.  You would think more people would want to get out and enjoy the outside.

Yorktown (6/2/2014)

Early in the morning it was time to pay some bills and stick them in the mail box in Yorktown.  Coming down the hill there was cruise ship, a big sail boat, and a number of replicas of older sailboats docked in the harbor.  I took this picture from my sunroof, while driving down the road.  Just an idea of what was there.  Not the best picture I realize, but it gives you a good idea of an early morning in our sleepy little coastal town.

In that day, Yorktown was preparing for the arrival of the French.  This was a celebration of the Independence war and the help of the French with the war (La Fayette).  It seems that a French Navy vessel was going to stop by that day for a ceremony and a 21 gun salute.  Pity I missed it, being a working stiff and having to get going to Richmond.

Northern Neck (6/1/2014)

On Sunday morning we decided it was time to get the h… out of Dodge and to go explore something.  Sailing was not an option since it was blowing pretty stiff and it was actually cool.  So we decided to go explore the “Northern Neck” of Virginia.  On the way up we stopped in Mathews County at “Fort Nonsense”, or what we might call now “Fort WTF.”  It seems to have been a fort built by a local brigade to stop the advancement of the Union soldiers on their way to Richmond.  The problem was they never came; the Union soldiers went up the peninsula (Williamsburg etc).  So they never saw any action there.  Oh well.  I think I could have predicted that, the shortest way from Fort Monroe to Richmond does not lead through Mathews; hence the name “Fort Nonsense.”

We continued our trip to White Stone and we had lunch at Willaby’s café.  Really not bad, maybe with the exception that my poached eggs were poached a little too long and were more like hard boiled eggs.  After lunch we drove to Windmill point to walk the beach and take a look at the marina (a possible destination in our sailing adventures).

We ended our day in the Northern Neck with revisiting the Dog and Oyster Winery in Irvington for some tasting and relaxing.  In a previous blog posting I had given this winery 2 stars, and thanks to this visit I am going to revise it to at least 4 stars.  I wish I could make it 5 stars, but the wine was very expensive.  It was definitively good, in particular their Merlot, but I could not get myself to pay $45 for a bottle; which is the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5.

The photos posted here are from our visits, a shot from the restaurant, of Windmill Point and the entrance to the winery.  A fun day in just a small section of the Northern Neck.