Sunday, July 24, 2011

promised pictures

These are pictures from the musical instrument museum.  It's very hard to post pictures to the blog so other pictures will be on Linda's Facebook. 
Baritone Trombacello
Bombardon



Note carving in guitar hole!!!
Colorful Bugle!!








Double harp

Cool horn and case










Backs were cool, too.


Tandem horn.

\
Valve, sax shape, interesting!















Guitarish with personality




Guitar harp - or was that harp guitar!








Another guitar harpish









Violin Uke - we acctually own one of these.




Trumpet with heart

Double bell euphonium, I think!

Harmonica size!














Horn -  small with odd valves.

E flat alto horn - with attitude

Echo horn

Another version of a harp guitar

Johnny Cash's practice guitar

Tiny strings

music for Margie!!



See the soprano Sax in the sax on the left!!

One man band

Slide Sax












Tiny violin  - about 3 inches across
Trumpet with MANY keys

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Vanity Plates - THE END

Most of these come from Virginia, the vanity plate capital of the world. Some are pure poetry

FISHBWL LLY BEAN PURRLUV MINCSTR
PANCKE ICUR4ME DO4NOW JUKES
TEA5ER LV2STEP RESERVE JAVA
EQDENT BXCITED JBS GIRL BARNEYS 4
VAN4HIM LITRD 2 CLTSFN 5 LEASH
UNI4MS PNUTZZ RITZMIN GLDN PWR
GRIZ DAWG 3 SHADES ZEKE MI GSGT
BIG BOY HRNHNTR USTOREZ 2 SITI
I PUDDLE AKAROCKY DISPLAYS FERGIE 7
LV2BOOT FLG8ER DNACRES KURASZ5
KROOZ4 ME FRODO ALLIE 81 ZIGGY 9
TRANSP 2WSGRLS RAINBOW SING
FJINK4 HDHUNTR JUN BUG OKIE
MONCHOU BAIL 03 SONS BREZERS
HOYAOK YYY 13 AUG 88 NORWEGN
BELFONT PT MOM 2 TTOTLR BEMINE
MICAH68 AL VEDA 1 PINTWO WELOVBUG
TAYLR 2 HOT CPA 8 PEWEE GOLDFSH
URSUS A DWNOUT YAA BUT BASEBL 7
GUNG HO SCROOEY MAMAJOZ POETRY
4 HOKIES CSTNAWY GUID MSKETA
EVETTET WICK P9 KICKR GTAR
BIKEVA I CADDY 3ANGELZ LIVNFTH
02BNSNO FLYF22 RCKZEES IMAT
RYLVAN BNSOBR MINYME VOTERS4
KREMZ FN2 DRUM CON NOTE Y NAILS
PNCKES FLINT 14 YRS TET VN
SEA WIND 1BOSUN2 GO1F CRT NORWEGN
OCEAN11 FNNY GRL LIL COUP HUG TITE
XIMENA2 VMPYRE BUG ON VISUAL FX
JEERZ JMU FAN BORN UK A CUSTER
GOATS4U DUKZFAN DA CCCP IAM4WVU
NGHTRN PENSFAN EPIFNY ILVWTR
BKI BOOP 9TH PCT MSPRISS LIEDER
CEDAR JONKWL THS1SFAK PTCHES
PARS4ME At a golf course
IM4UI in Iowa
ILLVIL on a Caddy De ville
IAM4D on a Chevy pickup
RWILD on a Harley
RIXWNG on a Goldwing
SHEPS E on a Mercedes E Class
MTRHOME on a Mini Cooper

back home

  Our Sat didn't go quite as planned.  We actually slept late which hasn't happened much while away.
  We skipped the disc golf in favor of heading to Harrisonburg.  First we went to a "flea market" where they didn't even have any fleas, nor much of a market.  It appeared to be leftovers from yard sales and floods.  Honestly, we were amazed there was actually a business! 
  Then we went to a Quilt Museum, expecting to see historical quilts or at least a wide variety.  There were 2 complete old quilts and 2 partials.  The old hand sewn and quilted pieces are so amazing.  The rest of the quilts were by one woman who had some interesting ideas.  It was worth the entrance fee for one but Al's choice to look around elsewhere was a good idea.  A farmer's market was nearby and it did NOT have Virginia peanuts, which was pretty amazing.
  From there we stopped for lunch and went to a real antique mall.  Interestingly, it was pretty much the same as any antique mall we've ever been in - lots of glassware, jewelry, books etc. 
  We did another round of mini golf and Al won quite handily.  We followed a family of 5 who was following a family of 5 so ended up playing some holes twice (and taking the better score) and talking to the family of 3 behind us.  We were quite exhausted (???) so just had to have ice cream - soft serve Edys!  Quite interesting. 
  Sunday came too soon - time to pack up and head home.  We're pretty sure we got everything in the car but Linda always has a feeling that something has been left behind.  (editor's note: This time it was only a feeling)
  It was a short drive, mostly up, to Skyline Drive.  The views are incredible.  We did about 50 miles and probably stopped 10 times.  It's all 2 lane road but there are no trucks and little other traffic.  The park ranger said they knew we were coming so they had done road work. 
  Then it was on to Luray Caverns.  The natural wonder of the cave is amazing.  We took a lot of pictures and will post them later. There is also a museum of antique cars, including some "only ones made."  Very cool.  Most early cars were custom and have survived.  Leather seats, gold (really) trim, and whatever else could be put into them was done.  The more ordinary ones, like those made by Sears, were using a motor to propel a horse drawn carriage. 
  The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful until we got past Baltimore.  The overhead sign said there was a bad accident ahead so we bailed and took a side road.  Moral of that one - have a GPS and a map! We skated past the mess on a US rte and reconnected above the accident, but in sight of the pretty flashing lights.
  Home looked pretty good. Call this a wild guess, but it appears there had not been much rain. We hadn't seen any rainy days in the last 2-1/2 weeks.  The journey is finished, inch-by-inch. However, there be one more thing to relate. See the last entry.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

nearly on our way home

Our days of doing whatever we want are drawing to a close.  It's been very good to be away but we are almost ready to get back to "normal," whatever that is. 
We'll post pictures after we get home so if you want pictorial evidence, keep checking!
The plan for today is to play disc golf.  We've done it on Weii so we should do fine - right???   After that, we're going to explore the nearest town. 

Friday, July 15, 2011

7/15 - Some people never learn

  When we arrived at the Massanutten resort we thought we would hike up the mountain to the observation point. The peak is a quarter mile above us and the road is a mile long, so we did it. We relearned an old word on that trek - steep! We persevered and made it to the top on a 90+ degree day. Not to be confused with rational humans, we decided to do the hike again this morning when it was 59 degrees outside. We're starting to like this hike up the mountain stuff. Who knows where it will lead. Kilamanjaro? Everest?
  Please do not tell Al's mother, who believes we are idiots for doing the first one. And yes, the view is worth it.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

7/14

We are doing some of the targeted relaxation - and a few other things. 
Linda went horseback riding today.  Don't get excited, it was a trail ride, very slow, her horse was very slow, and it was unexciting, but relaxing.  There are signs posted all over that Virginia law prohibits holding the resort responsible for any injury you might suffer doing an activity that might be dangerous.  It kind of makes sense for horseback riding but it was also posted for mini golf.  We survived 18 holes without incident. 
The temp is finally bearable.  It only got to the low 80s today.
We have taken pictures but they may not appear until we are home.  Sorry.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

7/13 - Quiet time

 We spent yesterday mostly reading, catching up on old emails, and writing. How nice to have an agenda with but one task: Relax. Linda's computer did a deep-six, which raised stress levels a bit, but her sherlockian talents soon uncovered the cowering culprit. Assisted by her Watson, she recharged the insidious device's dead battery with Al's converter and restored a heartbeat to the devious device. Case solved. We will share a converter for the duration. A new one should be awaiting us upon our return.
  Today holds a bit of adventure; however, we shall not reveal the path just yet.
  Just returned from a mountaintop hike on a rocky path amid the hardwoods. No sprains or breaks. On the way up to the top we were visited by four lovely gray fox. The trees were quite thick so we didn't see much of the mountains, but even the rocky trail was beautiful.
  Then, being of unsound mind, we rode a ski-lift nearly to the top of a mountain, hiked some more around dangerous rocks and ledges, then rode it down. We were fine until the lift froze. After about 20 minutes of dangling, the diesel backup got fired up and brought us down. We then had the fun of taking our rent-a-car into town for an oil change at the most efficient and friendly jiffy-lube on the planet, so says the plaques in their office. I have no reason to disagree.
  Al beat Linda at Gin Rummy and the series is now tied 2-2, pending the next round in which Linda will be trounced once again.