Travels continue, Blacksburg and vacation in Virginia Beach (4/28/2023)

I wonder if some of you have gotten tired of my writings about my “great goodbye tour?” Well, it is almost over. After two days in the Blacksburg area, this week it is a welcome vacation week. So what the heck, I’ll report on Blacksburg and on my vacation. My vacation was spent in a cabin at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. Hopefully this combined post will make it a little more interesting; but don’t hold your breath.

The interesting thing that happened this time was that the vacation started of with a phone call and discussion with the social security office, trying to nail down my payments once I retire by the end of May. I had to interrupt my lunch, sit in the car and be submitted to an interview for close to an hour. Where was I born; when did I get married and where (how do you spell Gouda? Oh that’s just like the cheese, duh); what was the birth date of my wife; her maiden name; why did I not show any income between 1983 and 1989; you get the idea. But all good, I will get Medicare and social security. Rejoice, I can afford to retire!

We canceled one of my two classes in Blacksburg, maybe prematurely, but the boss Kevin, who we often call a nervous Nellie, was afraid that we were not getting enough attendants to make the class pay for itself. Oh well, at least I did get a chance to go there and say goodbye to the Virginia Tech campus, and one of my dearest friends, Chuck. Some of my students were pretty darn close to me as well, we had been going back at least 10 or more years (at the end of the class I actually got a hug from one of them).

I always look forward to having dinner with Chuck on one of the nights I am there and this time was not different. The first evening, dinner at Lefties that lasted two hours. The food was good, beer selection decent (I only had one), but the company and conversation exquisite. After dinner I stopped by Starbucks on the way to the Huckleberry trail where I walked a mile and a half with an Americano in my hand. Just a great evening to start my stay in the area.

The Huckleberry is a rails-to-trails park that used to be only 12 miles long, but has been lengthened over the years. I am not sure how long it currently is, but it is a great trail. I used to bike it when visiting the area; however, I am not able to make sure that I can pack my bikes in the State vehicle that will be assigned to me at each trip. I need to disassemble my bike to fit it in the trunk, and that still does not fit in some of them. However, walking parts of the trail is fun too, especially around nightfall.

The next evening, I walked the trail again, with my coffee. I did that after visiting the “Eastern Divide” brewery. This was my first visit, and the beer was good. They had some decent choices. I did not like the commercial building and, to tell you the truth, the restaurant that was built in with it was so, so. I found the food overpriced and not the best. They kind of have you by the you know what, since it is in a commercial/industrial area and there are no restaurants nearby. I, for one, need some food in my tummy when I drink alcohol.

As promised, a mixed bag today. After returning from this relatively short trip to the hinterlands, we celebrated my wife’s birthday, and took off for a few days in a cabin at First Landing State Park. We had walked the trails in the park some 5 years ago, so we thought we knew what to expect. However, I was still taken aback by the cypress swamps, and in particular by the mature loblolly pines and live oaks. One of the pines was recently cut and I took my time to count the tree rings and I came to at least 80 (probably more) which dated the tree to the time that the park was established (1936). The pines gave me an inspiration for the styling of my loblolly pine bonsai trees, which everyone tells me I am insane of even trying to grow as bonsai. What did we do at the park? We hiked, ate, read (NPR’s This I believe), and rested. On Tuesday I logged more that 20,000 steps on my Fitbit, and boy that steak on the BBQ tasted mighty fine! This is another State Park in the long lit of State Parks that I visited that I would recommend. Actually, there isn’t one that I did not like, but maybe Claytor Lake is the least!

Ok, this became another travelblog, again with little substance, life philosophy or teaching (actually maybe a little teaching in the captions of the last photograph below). I promise that I will get back to that eventually in my blogs. That these blogs will become more edgy. As I mentioned it feels like the closer that I get to retirement, the more nostalgic and inwards I am becoming. But this shall wane! I shall rise from the ashes.

Eastern Divide Brewing Company beer selection.  Good beer, so, so food, a very big place.  I usually do not like establishments with a huge beer selection, because it usually means that they have no specialty and do an average job on all beers.  This was an exception.  Their beers were good.

My IPA with a view.

First Landing State Park.  Just a small live oak among the loblollies.  I just enjoyed this evening walk.  

Bald Cypress knees, also known as pneumatophores.  Pneuma is from the word lungs and the original thought was that this is how these trees were able to transport O2 to their roots.  I have read somewhere that this has been proven to be incorrect.