We were recently gifted a bushel of farm fresh apples. So Yummy.
So far I have dried 2x 1/2 gallon jars. Made 6 apple crisps, 4 now in the freeze, Tom made an apple pie, and we have given lots to friends and neighbors.
We have about 15 apples left and as I was trolling Insta I came across some ideas,
So this a.m., while Tom was making his brekkie, I decided to make some spicy pickled apples.
Heating the brine. Water, vinegar, salt, dehydrated jalapeños, dehydrated bell peppers, mustard seed, turmeric, mustard oil, and a bit a sugar for balance.
1/2 gallon of pickle, and 1/2 gallon of extra brine for other fun things.
Can’t wait till at least Monday to give them a try.
We almost never plan ahead too much when we travel. However this trip I had arranged ahead of time with the owners of Honah Lee to be able to park there overnight.
They host Wine Down Wednesdays, during the nice weather. This night was the last of the season.
In addition to their wines, which Tom and I like very much, they have music, and food providers.
We rolled in around 4. Parked, got set up, and bought some wine. Then down to the big tent to await music, and food. It was a beautiful evening, very temperate. Really good music, and good food.
The location is beautiful, with the vineyards, and the scenery, and of course the grounds.
Honah Lee Tasting RoomJames TamelcoffCoffe the morning after on the new patio
After Honah Lee we drove around to enjoy the Fall Colors, and to hike some waterfall trails.
The Fall colors and scenery were inspiring.
We were Willy milky all over the place, sometimes driving in circles to get from one place to another.
We stayed one night at Walnut Hills Campground, a private operation. We tend to shun private campgrounds because the tend to not be well maintained, they are way more expensive, and they frequently resemble low end trailer parks.
Walnut Hills was not like that, except the showers and bathrooms could use a good cleaning.
We also stayed one night at Loft Mtn on Skyline Drive. We got the LAST walk-in site.
Loft Mtn was lovely, Definitely want to return. Our site had a short egress right on to the Appalachian Trail, and fabulous overlooks.
Add to that , another camper approached us to inquire about our RV, he stated he has one just like it. His however is 2 years younger than ours. Anyway, he wanted to know how it was so shiny; his is all oxidized and dull, as ours once was. So Tom told him about the products he had used, and he was just beaming, because our RV does look mighty fine!
Anyway, lots of driving, stopping, gawping, and even meeting a few people. It was really fun.
Skyline DriveSherando LakeCrabtree Falls
After 2 days of driving, camping, and enjoying the scenery we decided it was time to come home.
We had decided that on the way home we needed to stop in Crozet. According to National Geographic Drivers Guide Crozet Pizza has the best pizza in the world. I could find no 1st hand verification of this. But lots of 2nd hand resources. Anyway, we stopped, we ate pizza, we brought pizza home. Tom liked the pizza more than me, but neither of us give it a best in the world: heck, not even a best in the State.
After Belle Isle we decided to check out N Farnham Parish. Back in the 16-1700’s I had family living there. Thought we’d see if we could find out anything.
The family in question was a wealthy plantation owner with several plantations there. It is now in Richmond County, but was just called Rappahannock then.
The plantation owner, Tobias Phillips, bought the indenture of Margaret Lawrence. He placed Margaret on one of his smaller plantations and had 2 children with her. The 2nd of those two sons was my relative, Thomas Lawrence.
Anyway, we drove around, I made an inquiry at the local post office, and we came up empty. The County Seat is in Warsaw so we’d need to go there and research. But that’s not for this trip.
We continued on and decided to stop at Stratford Hall, birthplace of Robert E Lee.
Stratford Hall
The restoration and maintenance of Stratford is really lovely. Definitely an impressive residence. Robert E Lee only lived here a few years before moving to and residing in Alexandria.
The grounds are expansive. The tour, with audio is very informative.
Stratford Hall, horses and barn
After our tour, we didn’t drive down to the grist mill as it is a steep incline, with low hanging branches, we went off to secure parking for the night at Westmoreland State Park.
Another fabulous VA State Park.
We all really enjoy walking around in the woods. Westmoreland is on the Potomac River.
This Northern Neck area is so full of the history of our Country’s beginnings. I highly recommend researching the area, then visiting.
Oh, in case some of you are unaware, we are not snubbing Ceniza, she is gone, we lost her in August. We are down to 1 dog now. And I have to say I don’t think Rubi minds being an only dog.
We decided we needed a Fall Foliage trip. The summer had been difficult to get any rv’ing in due to too many commitments to close together. Meaning only a few (3-5) days in between.
Add to that we had been invited to Morattico Virginia for their Annual Oyster Fest to benefit the Morattico Waterfront Museum.
And we’ve been wanting to go to Belle Isle State Park.
So we had to arrange a thing or two, but we made it happen.
End of October, I was expecting, and packed for cold weather. It was not! It was gorgeous.
So anyway, Morattico, I can remember as a very young kid going to Morattico with my grandparents, they had a boat, the Dollis Queen. My grandmother s name was Dollis. I remember fishing from the boat, but crabbing from a short pier. Just imagine my surprise when after 60+’ish years I didn’t recognize anything.
We parked next to our friends house and plugged in to their electric. We were a group of 12. So you can imagine the fun.
The Oyster fest was fun. I’m not much of an oyster eater, but trust me when I say Tom more than ate enough of them to cover our 2 ticket prices. The sides were great, I really enjoyed the kale salad, and the hush puppies.
Morattico
So after time in Morattico, with friends and family we made the very short trip over to Belle Isle. What a great State Park, and campground. I’d have stayed longer, but we had a Wednesday at Honah Lee Winery in Gordonsville already planned. It was their last Wine Down Wednesday of the season.
Belle Isle State Park, and campground. Absolutely beautiful, and an added bonus, the trailheads are mostly accessible from inside the campground. We don’t tow anything, nor do we have bicycles so having the trails close to home is awesome.
The trails were great, not too rugged. Lots of mushrooms too.
Armilaria Melia (sp)
Trails, and stuff
Our campsite view.
Oh, and the lake, not really lake, but inlets, parts of the Rappahanock,
Layers of the embankment, silt, clay, oyster shells…
Just pretty everywhere
So we stayed here 2 nights, enjoyed lots of long walks, and beautiful scenery.
Black snake in a bushArmilaria MeliaWaiting for Tom to come out of the shower.
Tom has/had been busy for the better part of a year organizing a Kuhn Family Reunion.
His paternal grandmother died in 1977, and she had been the catalyst for the yearly reunions.
We’ve just recently returned from 5 days in Cashtown. In case you aren’t familiar with Cashtown PA, it is 8 miles West of Gettysburg. In addition to the Reunion there were planned activities; a Battlefield Tour, a Scenic Valley Tour, a Kuhn Family Farm Tour, and an afternoon cookout. While this may seem like a lot there was also free time for individual activities and get togethers.
Fancy footwork involved to win at Corn Hole
Tom started the ball rolling for the reunion but had very good resources in several of the 1st cousins. These cousins are still in the Gettysburg area so we’re incredibly helpful and supportive in logistics and event facilitation.
Despite my photo, they really are a fun, happy group. These are the last male 1st cousins, and the organizers, facilitators.
Tom’s paternal grandparents had 12 kids; all of whom are now deceased. Of all their children, there are now only 10 1st cousins left, and their ages are bordering 70+/-. The participants age span was 2 to 80+.
Kuhn 1st cousins
Kuhn Orchard has been in the family now for 5 generations. In its early days they grew mostly apples for wholesale to Knouse, Musselman, and Lucky Leaf. The fruit was shipped, or turned in to sauce, pie fruit, or juice. They also did retail from the farm, unfortunately liability insurance prohibits that from happening anymore.
Anyway, the Reunion happened, it was enjoyed, and it re-established connections that had been lost.
Having not asked permission to post their likenesses I will avoid any additional full face photos.
Old picking ladders, no longer used.Farm fieldsOrchard with a view in to Gettysburg (I think)Here’s hoping we do this again, sooner rather than later.
Yes, we drove the RV, we did not take the dogs this time. We parked at the Family Farm, in the back behind some out buildings with shade, power, and a beautiful view of some orchard, and the pond.
After the 3 weeks to and from Key West we decided to get some maintenance done on the RV. Oil change, brakes checked, computer diagnostic, etc.
The check out came back great, plus they pointed out and did a VA State Inspection. We still had the valid New York Inspection, but just had the duhs about needing a VA one.
July has been busy with lots of stuff so chopping out a few consecutive days was a bit of a challenge. Retirement ain’t always easy.
Anyway, I had been planning Assateague, but at the last minute switched to First Landing. First Landing is on the Chesapeake Bay, and has nice beaches; Tom loves the beach. I am a trees and mountains girl, so for me, some beautiful trails. Also First Landing has an incredible historical presence.
First Landing is named for the historic landing of three small ships from England, the Discovery, the Susan Constant, and the Godspeed, which brought the first English settlers to America in 1607, that’s right, 1607. Then right next door to the park at what is now called Cape Henry, located within the Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story. There are 2 lighthouses there and we tried to see them when we went to The Great Dismal Swamp. We couldn’t get in because we had the dogs with us. We had the dogs this time too so didn’t even try.
The State Park Campground is really big, and well spaced. I chose a site with easy access to the beach which was awesome. It was a bit of a walk to get to the trails. I think next time I will try for closer to the trails. Yes, there will be a next time. Probably in the Fall. It was so fricking hot. The bath house was tidy, but not awesome. Showers were separate and independent. Toilets were in another section of the building. Take anything you need, as nothing is provided. The bathhouse was the only thing we used except the electric and water.
Well and the dump station as we were leaving. 💩
We did the Shenandoah in Winter, froze our butts off. And Virginia Beach in July. Good Grief! Someone set us straight on this stuff.
Anyway. We only saw a few trails, and they are lovely, so can’t wait to go back.
I was telling Tom I have a long unremembered memory of having been somewhere once with my cousins and aunt and uncle as part of some church thing (Morman Church) I have a memory of being in a lake and clinging to the sides of a dock as some ‘elder’, ‘brother’ dove down and brought up handsful of the bottom and we searched through it for cross shaped stones.
Being at Fairy Stone made this memory come up. I checked with 2 of the cousins but they have no memory of such an event. Ah Well – I’ve always said my mind is an interesting place to be.
Regardless Fairy Stone State Park is nice, A bit more rustic than Douthat. Nice trails. We enjoy mountain hike/walks with the dogs.
We did a Ranger led walk to gather Fairy Stones, good thing too cuz we’d not have had a clue.
We enjoyed the trails, but did move campsites on the 2nd night, one end of the campground circle was full, the other empty. Luckily it is really easy to move our RV.
Life after Mérida, Debi in Richmond 