August 21, 2014 - Culpeper, VA - Streetscapes YRE

Wow! Culpeper is a wonderful little town with lots of history and lots of curb appeal. It is in North Central Virginia, about a 2 hour drive from Bethesda, but worth it. 

In 1749, 17-year-old George Washington was commissioned to survey and plot the town and county of Culpeper. In 1759, the town of Culpeper was chartered. During the Revolutionary War, the Culpeper Minute Men fought in a battle at Great Bridge. 

During the Civil War, Culpeper's strategic railroad location made it a significant supply station for both Confederate and Union troops. Culpeper County witnessed more than 100 battles and skirmishes during this period.

In the 20th century, construction of a highway bypass around the town pulled commerce and industry away from the once thriving town center. After years of decline, the town established a program to revitalize its downtown. In 1987 CUlpeper became a Virginia Main Street Community. Through hard work and dedication, Culpeper has become a vibrant town.

Our walk started at the Visitor's Center in the old Depot. The VC was well-stocked with helpful maps and other information and the staff was friendly and helpful, too. 

Many of the structures in Culpeper date to the late 1700's and early 1800's. The downtown Historic District features commercial many brick buildings of the vernacular, Italianate, and neo-classical styles. We started our downtown tour on Davis Street. What a great street! It ws full of restaurants, shops, inns, and even an old-fashioned hardware store. There was not a single chain store, restaurant or hotel downtown.

The Culpeper County Courthouse was built between 1870 and 1874 after an earlier courthouse was torn down.

Several veterans monuments are located near the courthouse.

One remarkable thing we noticed was how friendly the locals are. So many people said hello to us as we walked through their neighborhoods.

I have a lot more to say and a lot more photos, so I will continue this soon. Chec k back in a week for an update.

August 19, 2014 - Bethesda, MD: Cabin John Park YRE

Due to severe jetlag we opted for the 5k walk today. A 10k walk is also offered here.

The Start Point

The start point was at Aroma Espresso Bar in Montgomery Mall. In the winter or on a rainy day you can do this walk inside the mall. There are directions for it. It's a wonderful mall to shop in, too. We bought some sandwiches at Aroma to take with us on the walk. They were really good. I would go back there just for more sandwiches (or a salad, or a dessert, or whatever).

We didn't pay attention to the driving directions on the AVA website because we knew where the mall was. As a result, we didn't notice the very specific instructions about which mall entrance to use. Not surprisingly, we used the farthest possible entrance from Aroma, and probably walked another kilometer getting there and going back to our car.

The Walk

It is a short drive to the Cabin John Park and Ice Rink, where the walk actually starts. This is a terrific park, with woods, creeks, and trails; with indoor ice rinks and tennis courts; with outdoor ballfields and tennis courts; with a miniature train (we didn't see it); with a log cabin of historical interest; and with a very nice nature center and natural gardens.

We got onto a dirt rail about 5 minutes into the walk and stayed on dirt trails throughout the walk. The trails were rocky and rooty and hilly in places, making this walk a 2C. It was also rather buggy, but I had Off with me. The trails lead through pleasant open hardwood forest. The trails are well marked, with carved wooden signs and blazes on the trees. There are rustic bridges over the creeks and a few benches, but few other improvements. I didn't see much wildlife - a bluejay, some type of dove, and a few ordinary-looking brown birds. According to signage at the Nature Center, there are also some beavers, turtles, and harmless black snakes. I did see a small fish in the creek.

We didn't find the trail very busy on a weekday afternoon. We passed three dogwalkers, three or four joggers, a couple of mountain bikers, and a couple of other walkers. Dogs are required to be leashed and two of them actually were.

The Sycamore Tree Incident

About halfway through the walk we came to a lovely meadow with wildflowers and a birdhouse. The walk instructions told us to notice the beautiful large sycamore tree at the far end of the meadow. There were a couple of picnin tables and a small amphitheatre there. It was a lovely spot, except for the two underparented children, around 5 and 8, who had pulled one of the sycamore branches down. They were hanging on it and pulling leaves and seedpods foff. It looked as though they might break off the branch. I didn't see any adults around, although I could hear a strange cracking sound coming from the nearby woods, so I told them to let go of the branch because they were hurting the tree. They looked at me like I was from Mars. I repeated it. Nothing happened. One more time I said: "Let go of the tree," a little bit louder, and they reluctantly did. We walked on afew steps and then a man's voice started yellow at me: "Let go of the tree? Are you serious? Why don't you go back to your concrete building?" And so on. I was worried the confrontation would escalate, so we walked quickly away and I didn't get any photos of this magnificent tree, which was probably a couple of hundred years old. I felt very angry that some man would leave his children alone and then verbally attack me and accuse me of not caring about nature after he his children had blatantly disrepected nature. I also suspect that the cracking noise in the woods came from something he was doing that he shouldn't have been doing. End of rant.

Photos to be posted soon!

Walk Route: B 

There was more to see here than I expected.

Walk Instructions: A

Extremely clear and specific directions, keyed to the map.

August 3, 2014 - Haines, AK (Seasonal)

The weather was fabulous. It was shorts weather, at least for these Alaskans. So we put on sunblock and headed off the ship at 7:30 am. Today the Haines Skagway Fast Ferry was operating on its more limited Sunday schedule, so our plan was to take the 8 am ferry over to Haines and come back on the 1 pm ferry.

The ferry is a catamaran that travels at a speed of 22 knots.

It has its own dog (Lulu), a small crew, and free coffee. One of the crew members, Jess, welcomed us on board with singing. He entertained us during most of the 40-minute trip by singing sea chanties, pointing out waterfalls and other noteworthy sights, explaining the natural history and social history of the area, and teaching us a few words of Tlingit. The scenery was beautiful, too. The ferry ride was not so much transportation as a tour.

Upon arrival in Haines, we began our 5k volkswalk at the dock. The options were a 5k loop and a 9k out-and-back. These walks were sponsored by Dairyland Walkers, out of Wisconsin, and will probably only be available during the 2014 tourist season. The chance to walk in Haines is much appreciated. 

We started out walking along Beach Road, which followed the shoreline. The beach was full of tents, as the Southeast Alaska State Fair is going on in Haines this weekend. We came to a little park overlooking the water, and there were more tents and a camper park. On the other side of the road was an old cemetery.

We turned up Main Street, where the directions said we would find the Sheldon Museum and Cultural Center and the Hammer Museum. It was early and the Sheldon Museum was closed. I thought maybe the Hammer Museum was an art gallery and hoped it would be open. Well, it wasn't open, and it wasn't an art gallery. It was a museum devoted to hammers - as in tools. I would have paid the $5 to go in if it had been open.

We proceeded toward the Visitor Center ( open, and with public restrooms) and at this point we realized that the written volkswalk instructions and the accompanying map had diverged at the intersection of Beach Road and Main Street.

Back to that intersection, adding another kilometer to our walk. We proceeded for a few uninteresting blocks and then climbed a steep hill into a modest but tidy residential neighborhood.

We walked to what seemed like the edge of town, and then zigzagged through a more typical Alaskan residential neighborhood where you could see a lot of junk in yards, a lot of blue tarps, and a lot of houses that needed serious TLC to be rendered habitable.

Arriving at Main Street, we walked through three of the four blocks of downtown. There were some cute shops, all closed on a Sunday morning. The quilt shop was called Material Girls, and the book shop (which I was a little surprised to see here) was called Babbling Book. The IGA grocery store was closed, but it was going to open in 10 minutes (and there was already a line). We decided to buy some snacks there because we were not sure if we would find any place to get food on the remainder of our walk. (We were wrong.)

Main Street: You could shoot a cannon down the middle of the street and not hit anything

Back down the road toward the Visitor Center and onward toward the American Bald Eagle Foundation. Haines is the Bald Eagle Capital of the World. We didn't go in. Not sure if it was even open.

We shortly arrived at Fort William H. Seward, on a hill overlooking the water. It was built starting in 1903   during a time when there was tension between the US and Canada over the border. The buildings were all the same style and the fort was carefully laid out. The result was an installation that is much more attractive than most Army bases. All the buildings were white clapboard with red, blue, or green trim and shingle roofs. They were arranged in a square around a 6-acre parade ground. The officer's houses were really nice vaguely Victorian structures on the highest ground and facing the water. The officers got to bring their families and they could hire enlisted men (cheaply) to work as servants. Their duties consisted mostly of guarding and firefighting. Because it was very remote at the time it was considered foreign duty, so they got extra credit for their "deprivation." The Alaska Indian Arts Center is now in one of the buildings, and there are totem poles and a spirit house in the parade ground area. There were also more tent campers here.

At the end of WWII Fort Seward was decommissioned, and the entire cemetery was moved to Sitka. In 1947 a group of five WWII veterans bought the fort (85 buildings and 400 acres), sight unseen, with the intention of preserving it, living there, and operating small businesses there. Some of these families still live at the fort. These families contributed to Haines by starting what later became the state ferry system, Haines' art galleries and theater, the Hotel Halsingland (located in former officer's quarters), and  and Alaska Indian Arts (located in the former hospital).

It was not far back to the dock. We decided to forgo doing part of the 9k walk and just sat in the sun until it was time for the return ferry. We watched some of the beach campers go swimming in the ocean (Lynn Canal, to be exact). It was a warm day, but it wasn't warm enough to heat up the water much above 40 degrees F. I guess they just wanted to show off all their tattoos. 

The ferry trip back was extremely pleasant. Jess had a whole new act for the return trip. We passed the state ferry, the Malaspina, on the way back. It would seem to be the slow ferry.

The Malaspina

Walk Route: B-
Walk Instructions: F