Cheetahs

Over the years we have enjoyed benefits of having Cheryl and Dave work for the Smithsonian.  Our most recent special treatment was a visit to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park Cheetah Science Facility located at Front Royal in the Shenandoahs.  While part of the National Zoo, the facility, located on a former military base, is not open to the public but intended for research to protect at risk animals.  Cheryl arranged a private tour there for the five of us. 

Adrienne, a reproductive scientist who works with the cheetahs, explained the zoo’s care and breeding program.  The US population is not self-sustaining as there are fewer and fewer cheetahs bred in zoos so they must continue to acquire cheetahs from international zoos as well as from southern Africa.

Cheetahs bear two to three young in a three-month pregnancy; however females may seem pregnant (pseudopregnancy) for a couple of months and not be.  This gives the keepers only a month to be sure a birth is about to occur.  Since the program is aimed at making the cheetahs sustainable, other breeding techniques such as IVF and surrogacy are being studied.

 

Adrienne took us to the enclosures where we got fairly close to these cats.  The males and females are in separate sections and isolated from each other unless they are intended to breed.  To increase socialization most enclosures have two or three animals.  Sometimes responding to Adrienne’s call, the cheetahs came up to the fence where we were able to admire their beautiful markings and sleek bodies. 

As we drove through the facility we also saw cranes, rare deer, oryx and bison.

We were most fortunate to have this unique experience.

Shenandoah

Just an hour from DC are the Shenandoah Mountains, part of the Appalachian Range.  What a lovely area it is.  We parked the RV at Guest/Shenandoah State Park.  The park is only a few years old and is one of the best state parks we have stayed in.  Each site is long enough for the biggest motorhome yet removed from its neighbor.  Each site has a campfire pit and table fitted into a large gravel area surrounded on three sides by a wall, great for eating out and enjoying s’mores.

The first thing we did was stop by the visitor’s center where the most enthusiastic of hosts filled our hands with brochures on things to do in the area.  We took his first suggestion and drove through the George Washington National Forest, a small area between the Appalachians and the Shenandoah.  The area is well marked if you live there but rather vague for us travelers so we carefully meandered along enjoying the view and hoping we were headed the right way.

 Back in Front Royal we strolled the town checking out antique shops and enjoying a dinner by a chef who changes the menu eight times a week depending on what is available locally.

The next day Cheryl, Dave, Bennett and friend Jeff joined us in the campground.  Then we drove into Luray to hear the carillon play patriotic, religious and popular music for forty-five minutes.  Bennett enjoyed himself.

 

The sound of the seventeen year cicadas filled the air as we spent most of our time sitting or hiking.

 
Dave and friend Jeff went biking.  Later Cheryl and Dave went kayaking.  Bennett played at his water table.  We drove into the national park to enjoy the spectacular green scenery spread out two thousand feet below.

To enhance Bennett’s science education, we went to two nature talks given by Americorps workers.  The owl presentation used owl calls hoping to attract them to the pavilion.  The frog, snake, toad and lizard presentation let us touch the creatures as we learned about them.

For adult entertainment we went wine tasting.  DuCarte was worth buying but the other was not (remember, we are Californian’s). 

We ended our five-day weekend with a toasty campfire.

Bennett Is One-derful

The next few days centered around Bennett becoming one and he did a masterful job of it.  We started in a garden near the Hirshhorn Museum for family photos.  This year sees not only Bennett’s first birthday but Dave and Cheryl’s tenth anniversary and Jerry and Anna Lee’s 50th, so photos were the order of the day.  Jeff came from New York to join in our celebrations

The next day was Bennett’s day of celebration which he enjoyed with family and close friends.  He did all the right things, smiling when in front of the camera, babbling and giggling at friendly faces.  His best act was eating his own cupcake.  He found it tasty as well as good to smear.  He gave loving thank yous for all his wonderful gifts and good wishes.

On his official day, he went with Bubbe and Zaidy to Hillwood Gardens.  There he chased his Bubbe about and pushed her over while Zaidy took pictures.  It was a wonderful day of laughter for all three.

In the evening he enjoyed a birthday dinner at Masala Arts, an Indian restaurant that he rates four hand claps.  Yes, he does like Indian food.  Then he delighted his parents with his ever more amazing antics and just had a great time celebrating.

Special Days

On Mother’s Day Cheryl enjoyed doing her crossword puzzle and getting to relax while Anna Lee played with Bennett and the men made our breakfast and dinner.  Just good family time.

 Being in DC is a chance for experiences not found anywhere else.  The BARD Association of Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company presented The Pen vs. The Sword, a mock libel trial between the mother of Coriolanus and The Latin Herald.  The Tribune (judicial panel) included Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer and four federal justices.  The two attorneys are members of the Supreme Court Bar.  This was an evening of quick wits, intellectual puns (heinous Coriolanus)  and political humor (the 47%).  We plan to come back for this on an annual basis.

Anna Lee celebrated her birthday with family at Odeon, a very good Italian Restaurant near

The New

Shortly before they knew about Bennett, Cheryl and Dave won a rafting trip down a newly declared national river in West Virginia.  They postponed the trip until now when we could take care of the boy while they enjoyed the river.  It was a great idea because otherwise we would have missed a beautiful place and an interesting history lesson.

The New River Gorge River (not a typo) is actually one of the oldest rivers in the world.  Nature carved a beautiful gorge then man messed it up with a century of mining of coal but nature has won in the end.  For almost one hundred years mines were dug deep into these hills tearing out the coal needed to support the growing industries of the East and Midwest.  This mining has mostly ended now and the woods have reclaimed the area making it a destination for rafters, kayakers, hikers and rock climbers.

Before our family arrived from DC, we took the narrow road down into the gorge.  An excellent audio tour provided by the National Park Service gave the natural and human history of the area.

We stood under one of the longest single span bridges. 

We watched the rain swollen river rage past. 

We watched in awe as a climber went up the rocks.

The entire ride was filled with beautiful scenery and waterfalls. 

Jerry talked to a construction worker who recommended we visit Thurmond, an old mining town.  There was a lot of construction on the roadway and during one delay, we asked how far the town was.  The answer was, “Over there down the holler.”  Anna Lee thought she had been transported into an Adriana Trigiani book.

Seven miles, several narrow bridges, and a lot of bends took us to a ghost town whose remaining side road is leveled with coal. 

 The railway station/Visitor’s Center had a sign saying they would open in May but were closed.  The railroad track along the side of the main street is still in use but the remaining buildings are frozen in the turn of the last century.  The sign in the bank window advertised interest at 3% and said it was a bank for State, County and Ford Motor Company. 

This town represented the story of much of this part of West Virginia from coal mining boom to tourist attraction.

We returned to our campsite on the grounds of the water rafting company and waited to welcome Bennett and his parents.  He is every bit as wonderful as when we kissed him goodbye in February.

While Cheryl and Dave had to go rafting on the swiftly flowing water we enjoyed our time with The Boy.  We took him to Tamarack, a folk arts center where we again saw very good woodwork, ceramics, and glasswork.

Bennett found the outdoor sculpture tasty.

Cheryl and Dave’s trip was short due to the speed of the water so they were able to meet us for an excellent tour of the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine Museum.  The best way to sum up our impression is to say that Cheryl was so impressed she talked to the Director about how good it was (for those of you who do not know, both Cheryl and Dave work for the Smithsonian and Cheryl is a museum exhibit developer). 

After reading the displays in the main building, we all got on a tram for a ride through an old coal mine.  Bennett loved it. 

Our guide, a 28-year veteran miner, showed us the equipment used from the early days on to later and somewhat safer times. 

We then visited the three houses on the site, a small single room for bachelors (our walk-in closet is bigger) and a three-room home for families.  These homes were owned by the company who took rent out of each paycheck along with charges for the tools and uniforms worn by the miners and supplies for themselves and their families.  Nearby, the third house, provided rent free, was for the superintendent and his family.  It was nicely furnished and provisioned.

The schoolhouse we visited was for black children.  With the exception of the mine itself, life in the towns was segregated.

The barber shop, doctor’s office and post office are set up in the superintendent’s house for museum display.

The church also served as a meeting hall.

The museum had a outstanding traveling exhibit on the Civil War.  It had letters and interviews from former slaves.  Popular American culture toward both the war and blacks was shown in movies from Birth of a Nation to Gone with the Wind (Hattie McDaniel had to read her acceptance speech as written by the studio.) to Glory.

Jerry found the display on the judicial decisions regarding slavery to be very good.

At the end of the day we enjoyed an evening in the coach.  Bennett thought of it as a bigger toy area.

Artful Asheville

When we took our first major trip in our first motorcoach, we went to the Northwest.  Among the things Anna Lee researched to do was to attend the Sawtooth Mountains Women’s Craft Fair.  This was before we bought a tow car, so the RV was our only mode of travel to campgrounds, restaurants and places to visit.  The best thing about the drive to the Sawtooths was our stop at Craters of the Moon.  After that we could find little to do because it was hard to take the motor home everywhere.  But we kept looking forward to the Craft Fair; after all, what else did those women have to do during the long, long winter but be creative. 

We arrived at the fairgrounds in the late afternoon when everything was being set up.   We decided to preview and plan for the next day.  What we saw on display was the equivalent of a beginning craft class for children or the aged, no art, no creativity, just boring stuff.  Anna Lee lost her cool and wanted to be taken to an airport to fly home.  Jerry would be left to deal with the RV on his own.  Well, you know that didn’t happen but we still like arts and crafts.

Asheville is the antithesis of the Sawtooths.  It is a center worthy of international acclaim.  We mentioned our visit to the Blue Spiral Gallery.  That was but a preview of the rest of our art experience.  During a break in the rain, we took a ride up to the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Folk Art Center run by the Southern Highland Craft Guild.  These talented artists work in many techniques, woodwork, fabric arts and quilts, metal, basketry, and more.  Members of the guild are in the entry displaying their work and explaining their technique to visitors.  The Center is like a museum but everything is for sale but not for photography.

While we waited for the time for our repairs, Paul and Carol offered us a real treat, a trip to the River Arts area of Asheville and to the River View Station, a complex of dozens of artists’ studios.  The artists were most welcoming.  Beyond the tour of their studio, we got private demonstrations of them at work. 

One of the artists explained a painting technique that was new to us.  It is encaustic or hot wax painting.

Jerry in particular enjoyed watching and talking to the wood turne

 We were all tempted to return for classes after talking to two ceramicists.  One took us to see the kilns and explained the raku kiln and Big Bertha.  She said that she knew by sight, sound and soul when her pieces were ready, the soul being her expertise and feeling about the work.

The man weaving baskets caught our attention and one of his works will be on display when we return home.

Asheville is a town to thrill any art lover and is worth repeated visits.  

Asheville

We left Buford in a heavy rainstorm that brought flood warnings to the Southeast.  We headed to Asheville, NC.   When Cheryl was at Duke University and worked in Raleigh, we spent several vacations touring this beautiful state but the one place we had not visited is Asheville.

The cool air and grey sky failed to stop us from a walk through the small botanical garden on the campus of UNC Asheville. 

 These hands now hold a rusty pail in an untended pond.

Then we walked along Main Street where the building facades remain as they were in the early 1900s.   This one had grapevines growing basketballs.
 

Occupying these buildings are galleries, pubs, shops and restaurants.  We went into Blue Spiral Gallery whose outstanding quilts and indescribable aluminum paintings made us wish we had won the lottery (Jerry keeps saying we need to buy a ticket to win).  There was street art all around us.

We warmed our chilled bodies with Asian soup at Doc Chey’s Noodle House.  After dinner we continued our walk going by Melow Mushroom whose patio art made us curious about what the “mellow” product might be.

Heavy rain kept us indoors most of the next day.  Happily, friends Carol and Paul, who we last saw in Austin, are in the same campground.  We all braved the weather and went out for a wonderful dinner at Nine Mile, an eclectic Carribean, seafood, and vegetarian restaurant frequented by locals and those lucky enough to find it on Trip Advisor.

The next morning out came the sun and off went our connected electrical power.  After a sidetrip to Camping World, we went to the biggest privately owned house in the US, the Biltmore.

It is still owned by the descendants of George Washington Vanderbilt II and now open for touring.  This 250 room house once welcomed the ultra-rich and famous of the early 20th century.  Today we tourists enjoy an audio tour that tells of the life of a Vanderbilt.  We have been to the homes at Newport, RI but this one makes them look like little cabins.  Vanderbilt collected and read thousands of books.  He traveled the world collecting art objects.  What he didn’t collect he commissioned to be made for his home.  He started doing all this as a bachelor but later married and raised a daughter in the home.  Two more generations lived here until the current heir made it into an elegant tourist attraction.  Again, no photos inside allowed.

George hired Richard Morris Hunt as architect and Frederick Law Olmsted as landscape architect.  Their results must have pleased him since he commissioned life-sized portraits of the two men, Olmstead’s by John Singer Sargent. 

After a quick lunch, we took a 6K volksmarch through the gardens and onto trails leading to Bass Lake.  The heavy rains have flooded some of the area restricting our wanderings.

We next went wine tasting at Antler Village where the wines where surprisingly pleasant.  A couple have now been added to our “cellar.”

Our lovely day ended in a puff of smoke.  We entered the motor home and turned on something that made a loud pop.  The result was a total lack of external power, a day with several calls and visits by an RV electrical repair company, and a wait for next day delivery of a new invertor that we hope solves the problem and lets us continue on our way.