[at-l] pttsburgh in shenandoah - part 2

[hike-usa@pocketmail.com (hike-usa@pocketmail.com)]

saturday evening -

dining at big meadows was a treat.  linen napkins, real butter, a menu that has wine suggestions for each entree.  unfortunately, the food quality does not live up to the hype.  the experience, though, is the thing.  the blackberry obbler ala mode was quite good, though...

the drizzling rain experienced at the end of our hike on saturday became a steady drenching throughout the night.  i remained mostly dry in my nifty little backpacking tent, but sue and laura fared much worse in the two person walmart tent that i supplied.  at one time the tent was waterproof, but i guess that all wears off after a while.  they were swimming.  fortunately for me they took it rather well...

sunday -

what a rainy, noisy night we had.  i generally wake up everytime i need to adjust my position, plus i was waking up each time the rain intensity changed.  so i must have awakened twenty or thirty times.  i do remember somes dreams now and again, so i did get sleep.  sue and laura claimed that they got little sleep.  probably true...

we gathered the wet stuff, and headed to elkton.  first stop was cuzz's for a breakfast buffet, then to a laundomat.  the rains had subsided, but had not ceased, so "plan c" went into effect, and we drove to world famous luray caverns.  it was a first for all of us, and we had a good time...

i had spoken with skyline earlier.  there had been a plan in place to meet up while hiking.  we were not hiking, so that idea had gone out the window.  so we now made plan to meet for supper.  after the cavern tour, sue, laura, and i still had four hors to kill.  we headed back to camp.  i drove, they slept...

lewis mountain campground was a ghost town when we arrived.  either the rain drove everyone away, or else this mass exodus happened every sunday.  it was probably a little  each.  we changed into our hiking cloths, and took a short stroll.  afterwards, we saddled up, and headed out to meet skyline...

to our surprise, dr. dick and his wife were coming to supper also.  we all met, than caravaned to a place called graves mountain lodge, in the shenandoah foothills.  what a great dining experience.  check this place out if you have the time and gumption...

we laughed and chatted and ate, ate, ate, and sue and laura got a dose of hiker trash.  afterwards, while getting ready to leave, dr. dick invited sue, laura, and i to spend the next two nights at his place.  we hemmed and hawed for just a short moment, then happily accepted.  dr. dick has an outbuilding that he calls the "shed".  turns out, it is a fully functional guest cabin.  we were very happy...

to end this long post, from a miserable wet start to the day, to the caverns, to a great dining experience, then to some awesome hospitality, we had a wonderfully diverse day...

pittsburgh

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