Short road trip to Cincinnati, Ohio

In a day or two we're heading out to Cincinnati, Ohio, for Chris' aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary.

Instead of taking I-77 to I-64 to I-75, Chris said we're going to take a different route this time. He wants to take I-77 to Ohio 32 or U.S. 35. I can't remember which.

I also think it would be neat to take U.S. 52 all the way to Cincy.

Chris wants to stop in a couple of places on our way to the big city. He asked me to pick some locations I'd be interested in. He's selected Gallipolis, Ohio, which is on the Ohio/West Virginia border.

Got any quick suggestions?
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Ha! I wondered if Amazon would pull up maps. And it did. :)

  

Peaceful Heart Alpacas, Fancy Gap, Va.

After walking around Devil's Den Nature Preserve last weekend, Chris and I went to Peaceful Heart Alpaca Farm. It's located off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Fancy Gap, Va., across from Milepost 204.

I've wanted to visit this farm for quite some time. The farm opened in 2006 and has several alpacas that the family uses to harvest their fiber and spin yarn.

The shop also sells Fair Trade items from Peru and teaches fiber classes.

Alpacas are related to llamas, but are shorter and not as cuddly. They're more wary of people and don't readily let you pet them. But they're gentle animals.

They're fun to watch and the yarn that's made from their fiber is soft and wonderful. The little one above is the newest addition. He was only 2 days old when I took this picture!

While at the store, one of the owners gave us a quick tour and introduced us to their alpacas, including some newborns that were up and running around in the maternity pasture with their moms, the males in a barn and other female alpacas out in other fields.

He said that alpacas are pregnant most of the time and are depressed when they're not pregnant or nursing. Could you imagine being pregnant all the time?

In the store, I picked up two skeins of yarn and a pattern to make into Christmas presents. I also picked up two shawl pins for me.
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Want to learn more about alpacas? Check this book out:

Devil's Den, Fancy Gap, Va.

Last weekend, Chris and I decided to walk at Devil's Den, a nature preserve in Fancy Gap, Va.

Chris had heard that warm weather grasses and flowers had been planted and was attracting a lot of butterflies. With camera in tow, we set out.

We saw black-eyed susans, purple monarda, milkweed, cone flowers and Queen Anne's lace. Here's some scenery shots and close-ups. I'll spare you the many, many landscape shots I took: (All photos by E.A. Seagraves. Do not use without permission.)

My hubby and puppy. Do you see the storm clouds behind them?

Queen Anne's lace

Milkweed

Black-eyed susans

We saw lots of yellow tiger swallowtails, red-spotted purples, buckeyes and black swallowtails.

Buckeye

Yellow tiger swallowtail on milkweed

Black butterfly on mondara

Yellow tiger swallowtail on a cone flower.

More black butterflies on mondara.

We also saw a couple of indigo buntings. It was an awesome nature viewing day.

We pulled into the preserve right after a storm was going down the mountain. We walked around about an 1 1/2 hours, taking pictures of the meadow and walking down the 0.43 mile trail to the cave, which gives the preserve its name.

The trail to the cave is pretty steep so it's not for those who do not want to or cannot climb rocks and tree limbs.

The cave

As we walked back up the mountain side from the cave, mist started rising from the valley below. The valley must have gotten a good, cooling rain after the hot weather we've had. By the time we left, the preserve was covered in a thick fog.

Old Salem, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Earlier this month, Chris and I met my parents and youngest brother in Old Salem (N.C.) for some visiting and walking around. You can find a map here.

Old Salem is an old Moravian village that's now surrounded by the City of Winston (now called Winston-Salem). All middle school students in the area take a field trip to the village to learn history and sample some delicious Moravian cookies.

Moravian stars are a popular Christmas decoration through the region.

You can buy tickets at the museum to visit interpreters in trade shops and stores.

But if you don't want to do that, there's plenty to see on foot and you can visit the retail shops, such as the bakery, a tavern and a gift and garden shop.

Since it was a Monday and a holiday, the museum and interpretive sites were closed. So we walked around, snapping photos of the beautiful buildings and gardens. We ate lunch at Mayberry Soda Shoppe.

I think Dad, Chris and J.J. enjoyed discussing the various construction techniques and materials used in the old buildings.

Mom and I loved the bakery!

Before we went home, Chris and I stopped by the garden shop and bought some rosemary, tansy and a ornamental pepper plant.

I love rosemary and can't wait to use it with garlic in mashed potatoes. Chris wanted tansy because it's a colonial plant that colonists used to keep ants and other insects out of gardens.

The ornamental peppers were just cool looking. It has small, pebble-sized, purple peppers. It's not for culinary use, but we thought they were pretty and got them anyway.

We'd also bought my mom a sensitive plant — a fern that folds up its leaves when you touch it — but it died after being left in direct sunlight. I guess it was really sensitive!

Here's some pics: (All photos by E.A. Seagraves. Do not use without permission.)

I loved this house. The colors and look of it.

These chairs and table were on the porch of the house in the picture above. It looks so lovely here.

Peeking down some alleyways, you can see some backyards. A lot of the houses are private residences so you're not free to roam around.

Want a carriage ride? We saw some visitors get in the buggy soon after I took this photo.

I love this door. There's several of these doors around Old Salem.

Another house that I like.

And a shop.

Here's a view of one of the tree-lined streets.

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Want to learn more about Old Salem? Check out these books:


  

An American Copper

Chris took a picture of this butterfly in our yard yesterday. It landed on one of our many daisies.

(All photos by Christopher Brooke. Do not use without permission.)

Chris was excited to capture it in a photo because he believes it's an American Copper, a butterfly he doesn't have a photo of yet.

His plans to plant as many butterfly-friendly flowers and host plants as possible is really paying off.

I don't think I shared these photos with you yet, but the yard has also attracted a pair of hummingbirds.

This is the female hummingbird. She's in the middle of the photo.

This is the male hummingbird. He's checking out the second flower from the left.

They've been visiting the yard, especially the bee balm, for close to 3 weeks now. Chris was happy to see we've made a nice home or them too.
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We have both of these books and are useful in identifying birds.


  

Natural Tunnel State Park

Our final romping around the state on Memorial Day Weekend ended at Natural Tunnel State Park. You can read about our other hikes here.

The park is located near the Virginia-Tennessee border and we stopped in Kingsport, Tenn., on our way home for supper.

Next to Fairy Stone State Park, this may be one of my favorite Virginia parks for camping. We didn't camp here, but I wish we had. The campsites were nice and the trails and views were great.

The park is also building new cabins that should be open soon. If they're anything like a cabin we saw from the trail, they're huge and beautiful!

On the trails we saw a woodpecker (maybe a hairy or downy) and heard many other types of birds. We hoped to see grouse, but could only hear what we thought was one. A sign in the park said grouse sound like drumming.

We also found what might be an orchid. It's the small plant with two oval leaves in the middle:

(All photos by E.A. Seagraves or Christopher Brooke. Do not use without permission.)

Most of the trails are short and there's one that is 2.8 miles. We walked most of the trails, walking around the valley's ridges to get better looks at the trains and valley below:

There's a train track that runs through the park and is still used to haul coal. Visitors frequently take photos of trains coming through the tunnel. You can either snap pictures from above or below in the valley.

You can get to the valley by walking a short (0.25 mile), steep trail or taking a chair lift. At the bottom is a boardwalk that runs along the train tracks and a creek.

Chris tried to take pictures of what might have been cave swallows, but wasn't successful.

We also had a surprise while waiting for the swallows and another train to take pictures — a snake! It must have fallen from the rock wall above or was dropped by a bird. You can kind of see what might be gore on the snake's head here:

All I know is the snake wasn't there when I looked in that spot a few seconds before and I found it after hearing a thump. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack or pass out. Can you imagine what it would be like if a snake fell on you?

I know next time I'll take an umbrella with me. : )

A friend who looked at the photo of the snake believes it was a harmless garter snake, but it was pretty angry when we found it. Another friend said she'd be angry too if she were dropped several hundred feet. Yeah, I suppose so.

Here's some more photos:

This is called "The Carter Cabin." It's in the valley below and sits beside the creek on the other side from the tracks.

A shot of another, shorter tunnel trains travel through.

Here's a sign posted on the boardwalk explaining the history and use of the Natural Tunnel.

I'm not sure what this little fella is, but he's cute, right?

I tried to get a picture of the train coming through Natural Tunnel, but didn't get a clear shot. So this picture of the train going through the smaller tunnel will have to do.

I think this lizard looks pregnant. On our way up the first trail we saw at least 3 of these lizards.

Chris took a picture of this pretty view of The Wilderness Road Blockhouse.

Here's some history on the Blockhouse.

This is a garden behind the Blockhouse. Chris said it reminded him of the gardens around Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

Photos from New River Trail -- Byllesby and Buck Dams

Before Chris had to cover the Hillsville 4th of July parade for The Gazette, we took a walk on the New River Trail State Park at Byllesby and Buck Dams. Here's some photos I took during the walk

Chris sitting on a boat launch, waiting to snap photos of dragonflies
(Photos by E.A. Seagraves/Please do not use without permission)

Some type of pea

A honeybee on a pea blossom

I believe this is some type of yarrow

The New River

Blackberries

A fritillary butterfly on a bergamot, or something like that.

And here are some shots taken as I tried to be "creative."

Buck Dam

A structure found at Buck Dam beside the New River Trail

Another shot of Buck Dam

Pine cones, obviously

Oh, look! More pine cones!

And, because I'm so proud, check out Chris' dragonfly photos from the same walk. He has snapped thousands of butterfly and flower photos and he's now branching out to include dragonflies and damselflies.

You can tell the difference between dragonflies and damselflies when they land. Dragonflies don't fold up their wings; damselflies do.

I believe there are all dragonflies: (Photos by Christopher Brooke/Please do not use without permission)