One of my favorite series of novels of all time is The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. From this I got the term "hellride." Because I refuse to fly, I tend to do a lot of these: trips of over 12 hours (by car) through unfamiliar landscapes.
The other advantage to driving by car is seeing the landscape change -- watching the "shadows shift" around you as the day progresses from morning and the familiar to evening and the strange. You don't ignore the land; you become part of the land. You record it on your brain as you pass through the pattern, like a record needle riding along the groove on an old LP.
My wife and I traveled all day Saturday (the 9th), from Gainesville, FL to Shepherdstown, WV. Hannah had a friend there, who wanted us to see the town. Since we were on the way to Baltimore, we left a day early and stayed with her overnight.
Shepherdstown . . . it was beautiful, with its own distinct personality. It seemed to me like one of those towns out of a Stephen King novel, before the bad guy, monster, killer clown, or whatnot shows up. It was a place that was a character in its own right.
Fortunately, I took a few pictures.
The first one you see [hmh06.jpg] is the café where we had breakfast, the Blue Moon. On Sundays, they serve breakfast -- not just any breakfast, mind you, but totally vegan. I've been a vegetarian since 1992, and this was the best breakfast I've ever had prepared in that style.
One of the unique features of the town is "the run" [second photo, hmh01.jpg], a tributary to the nearby Potomac river that, according to our host, has never flooded or run dry. It winds throughout the town, and even ran past the outside table where we had breakfast.
The third photo . . . well, I think its obvious by now that I like taking photos of strange things, and this one wins the prize. That little house in the third photo [hmh04.jpg] is not for Frodo or some other halfling -- believe it or not, its for kids. It's a supersized doll house. It was built so that student teachers (from nearby Shepherd University) could watch children play in a, er, "laboratory setting."
Cute house. Strange concept.
Creepy, actually. Reminds me of that weird episode of the Avengers where Emma Peel gets trapped in a mechanical house.
Anyway . . . .
We took a brief tour of the town on Sunday morning, but it was such a beautiful day that we decided to try out some of the nearby national parks. Looking on our area map, we saw something interesting . . . Shenandoah National Park. This is where I'll be taking you tomorrow.
UPDATE: The photo link to Flickr is back in working order. Thanks, Kelly!
[ See, the airline companies take your money up front, and refuse to give you any respect once you're in their power. A car ride is getting increasingly expensive, but hey, no snooty ticket counter dingbat is going to "bump" me out of the driver's seat, or force me to stay in a carport overnight, or cancel my vehicle at the last moment and make me beg for another. Then, in the modern world, you get the added benefit of being treated like a criminal the whole time . . . sort of the rotten cherry on top of the whole mudpie. ]
The other advantage to driving by car is seeing the landscape change -- watching the "shadows shift" around you as the day progresses from morning and the familiar to evening and the strange. You don't ignore the land; you become part of the land. You record it on your brain as you pass through the pattern, like a record needle riding along the groove on an old LP.
My wife and I traveled all day Saturday (the 9th), from Gainesville, FL to Shepherdstown, WV. Hannah had a friend there, who wanted us to see the town. Since we were on the way to Baltimore, we left a day early and stayed with her overnight.
Shepherdstown . . . it was beautiful, with its own distinct personality. It seemed to me like one of those towns out of a Stephen King novel, before the bad guy, monster, killer clown, or whatnot shows up. It was a place that was a character in its own right.
Fortunately, I took a few pictures.
The first one you see [hmh06.jpg] is the café where we had breakfast, the Blue Moon. On Sundays, they serve breakfast -- not just any breakfast, mind you, but totally vegan. I've been a vegetarian since 1992, and this was the best breakfast I've ever had prepared in that style.
One of the unique features of the town is "the run" [second photo, hmh01.jpg], a tributary to the nearby Potomac river that, according to our host, has never flooded or run dry. It winds throughout the town, and even ran past the outside table where we had breakfast.
The third photo . . . well, I think its obvious by now that I like taking photos of strange things, and this one wins the prize. That little house in the third photo [hmh04.jpg] is not for Frodo or some other halfling -- believe it or not, its for kids. It's a supersized doll house. It was built so that student teachers (from nearby Shepherd University) could watch children play in a, er, "laboratory setting."
Cute house. Strange concept.
Creepy, actually. Reminds me of that weird episode of the Avengers where Emma Peel gets trapped in a mechanical house.
Anyway . . . .
We took a brief tour of the town on Sunday morning, but it was such a beautiful day that we decided to try out some of the nearby national parks. Looking on our area map, we saw something interesting . . . Shenandoah National Park. This is where I'll be taking you tomorrow.
UPDATE: The photo link to Flickr is back in working order. Thanks, Kelly!
hmh06
hmh01
hmh04
