A trip to the Southeast

After a fast trip from Yellowstone to California, I was ready for the next adventure, this one without the motorhome.   Chris and I flew to Baltimore, stayed in a few blocks from the harbor and Federal Hill, and visited my long time RVing friends, Chuck and Nan who were in the middle of a move into a graduated care living facility.  Nan refers to it as the cruise ship that doesn't float.

From Baltimore, we picked up a rental car, headed to Harpers Ferry, the Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, across North Carolina to the Outer Banks.  Along the way, we stayed in B&Bs. These were outside the park, but often in towns just a few miles from the park routes.   They ranged from historic to newer homes, and included an old log cabin, dismantled after carefully numbering all the logs for restoration, and moved to a delightful spot near Pilot Knob State Park.   Each place would have benefited from a couple more days, but the anchors of this trip were the visit to Baltimore to see Chuck and Nan and a photo workshop in the Outer Banks. We needed to keep moving although stops were close enough together that we had time at each to explore a bit. I've included  photos of the trip.  Photos from the workshop are in two other posts.

It is December, things are getting rushed but I wanted to get this posted before I do my year end letter.  This will be a quick overview of a great trip.   If you have questions about any of the places we visited, are thinking about a trip to the area, or wonder about the photo workshop, send me an email.   I'll be happy to elaborate more.

You will note that all of my blog photos now have my copyright on them.  Although it is not as aesthetically pleasing, the internet allows a lot of unscrupulous folks to steal photos, either call them their own or to try to make money off my creative endeavors.  We started off the photo workshop with a discussion of copyright, how to do it correctly and were all advised to always copyright our work. And I had been putting my name on photos more recently, but not correctly.  Then, a few weeks ago a photographer friend sent me an email about a web site that sells photo posters, wall art.  Turns out the photos on the site have been lifted, without permission.  He suggested to all his friends that they look at the site, plug in their name and see if any of their photos were there.  Two of mine, from earlier blogs, were there.

Reading posts related to the site, it appears it may be someone who is simply fishing for credit card numbers and that it is not a photo sales site.  Be that as it may, I was furious to learn that someone lifted my photos, and even though my name is with them,  is selling them without my permission and for a ridiculously low price.  So, from now on, you will see my copyright on my photos in this blog.  That is not to say that someone couldn't crop the photo or edit out the information, but it should help and gives me recourse to demand that photos that do appear be taken down.  And I would ask that, if you ever order photos from the internet, make sure it is a reputable company and ask for some proof that the photographer has given permission for their sale.

Street view of the B&B

Our B&B in Baltimore, decorated for upcoming Halloween

We enjoyed walking the neighborhood where we were staying, seeing the architecture which is clearly different from the West where we both grew up.  This is a cobblestone street and led us to Federal Hill for views out over the harbor and towards Ft McHenry, scene of the battle which inspired the Star Spangled Banner

It began raining hard once we arrived at Ft. McHenry so we didn't do a lot of photography.  This was one from inside the fort.

Nan and Chuck took us to Annapolis, a favorite location of theirs.  We toured the academy grounds, had a great lunch,  and meandered about the town.  Yes, I had both crab cakes and she-crab soup during our stay in the area.

The photo above and the ones  following are from Harpers Ferry.  This display reminds us why someone like John Brown decided to raid the community as a protest against slavery.    Enlarge photo (click on it) to see this awful neck band with large spokes.

 I knew of Harpers Ferry due to the history of John Brown's raid.  But the town is much more.  At the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers it was an important trade location, an early ferry crossing, a major armory and arsenal, one of only two in the country at the end of the 1700's.  John Brown chose it because of that history.

Part of the town is now a National Historic Park and we wandered thru, watched the train pass by and then had a leisurely lunch in the area of town outside the park, but which retains the old buildings.  Our trip included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and this little corner of West Virginia.





The next set of photos are from the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge Parkways.  We had some fall color, small patches with some brilliant trees, but certainly not peak color.  At several points the Park Service has rebuilt old farmsteads and mills to give today's visitors a look at what life was like at an earlier point in our history.  Some living history exhibits take place on the grounds and we watched a park ranger making a rug, and talked with a couple gentlemen in the mill.  The mill was not operating while we were there.

Note the playing pieces of sliced corn cobs and sections of a tree branch.

This is Pilot Knob, NC and was the view from our log cabin B&B.   

Mabrey Mill.

Below are selected photos of some of our B&B experiences

Fairlea Farms, Washington, Virginia

View from Fairlea Farms

View from Fairlea Farms

Resident, Fairlea Farms

View, Fairlea Farms

Fairlea Farms view

The drive at Fairlea Farms

Black Lantern B&B, Roanoke, Virginia

Black Lantern B&B, front view.  This old house, was condemned when the owners bought and restored it as a B&B.  Beautifully done, mix of old and new inside for a delightful stay.

 The next few are Belle Hearth B&B in Waynesboro, VA

This log cabin is old.  It was moved to the site of this small resort and reassembled.  Living area downstairs and loft sleeping area.  A modern bathroom has been added to the back.  This is Pilot Knob B&B in North Carolina

Our cabin had plenty of wooden area around it.


The final selections are the inn at Nag's Head where our photo workshop was headquartered.It is the oldest Inn in the area.   Hurricane Mathew was only a few weeks before our arrival.  Although the grounds were underwater, and a few shingles blown off and  a tree uprooted, the landscaping had been restored and it was hard to image what it had been like.

There were a few other B&Bs but I don't have the photos ready.   We enjoyed Run of the Mill, Henderson, NC is run by a bee keeper.  Besides a delightful setting and great breakfast, we got a tour of the grounds with him.  Did you know that one bee, in its life, makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey?

Crow Agency Fair

Looking up inside a teepee

Each year, during the third weekend in August, thousands gather at Crow Agency, MT for a 4 day festival of dance, music, rodeo, and huge reunion.   This year was the third time I have attended.  The first time Lin and I were in our motorhome, traveling in Montana when other RVers told us about the event.  We went, parking on the event grounds thinking we would be there for a day or two.  We stayed until the Monday morning following the event and delighted in being awakened by a sunrise chant, albeit from the speaker of a car driving around the grounds.  We went to sleep to the beat, in the distance, as dance competitions lasted well into the night.

A couple years ago I went with a fellow Yellowstone employee.  We spent one night in the nearby town but were able to watch dance competitions, watch the daily parade, and enjoy the event.

This year, Chris flew into Billings where I met him.  We spent time at the fair, enjoying the pow wow, wandering the grounds filled with teepees, tents, rvs, people in beautiful regalia, horses and people on horseback, kids, elders and everyone in between.  We enjoyed eating, photographing, and talking with folks.  We also made a side-trip to the Battle of the Little Bighorn National Historic Site.  Here are some photos of our couple of days in the area.

 There are over a thousand teepees on the grounds.  Families stay there, in current day tents, and RVs.  Brush covered ramadas provide shady areas for family meals and socializing.  A large, grassed arena with bleacher seating and space for folding chairs on the grass around the dance area is the central gathering place.  According to Wikipedia, this gathering is "currently the largest Northern Native American gathering, attracting 45,000 participants and spectators."

While it is big, it certainly did not feel like 45,000 people.  Since there seemed to be no main entrance station and people came and went all day, no admission fee (although there was a fee to take photos that we paid at the announcers booth), I am not sure how this number is determined.  It was a large multi-generational gathering with a friendly atmosphere is all I can tell you.

Like every gathering these days, cell phones are ubiquitos

 

Each day's festivities begins with an honor guard made up of service members from the Crow Nation.  This year special honor was paid to the women who have served.

     

Horses are an important part of life and important at the Fair.  This young man invited us to get photos of his new horse, the first he has owned.

        

Nearby is the Battle of the Little Big Horn National Monument.  We did a tour with a local guide and then spent some time photographing the site.  As always, the best photos were taken as the light got good, just before the monument closed.  A ranger called to a few stragglers like us, to remind us that the park was closing.

Scenery of the region where Custer and his calvary fought and lost.  

Two Whistles was one of the scouts killed in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

You can click on the first photo in this blog entry to go thru the photos, larger, as a gallery.  Its an easier way to view the photos, although the captions won't show.