First real viewof Potomac River

June 28 -  I’m tired so let’s see how fast I can type tonight and gather my thoughts!  Bill dropped me off at the VC today as he was going to Shepherdstown to visit the cemetery, do a couple of loads of laundry and go to the grocery for a few things.  He took the netbook in case he had time to go WIFI someplace.  He ended up forgetting he had it and ate lunch at McDonald’s so didn’t use his time very wisely.

 

It was a slow day at the VC.  We had a group of artists meet there to paint the scenery.  Once they did what they came to do they visited inside and left for lunch in Sharpsburg.  John, one of the volunteers, is a child psychiatrist and since I’m tired of Civil War talk I asked a lot about what he does.  He still works 3 days a week and volunteers 2.  It was very interesting that many conditions have been just grouped as things like Autism or Bi-Polar but he says the medical profession is creating more finite parameters for those and other illnesses.  He said these 2 in particular are a catch all for anything close but only cases meeting very precise terms will soon be typed as them.  It was way more interesting than talking battles and wars stories.

 



Three phase house in Sharpsburg

Potomac at Snyder's Landing

When Bill picked me up we did a bit of touristing.  We went to Snyder’s Landing, which is pretty much a small boat ramp way back in on the C & O Canal.  The small winding road to get there has a lot of homes along it and those along the canal have small bridges across it.  This was our first real look at the Potomac other than through the trees or going over it on the main bridge.  There were canoes and kayaks and it was really a peaceful and serene place.

 



Belle Boyd House

From there we drove to Martinsburg, WV.  Bill’s goal was to see the Belle Boyd house.  She was a character in Gone With The Wind, but she was a real person who was a spy for the Confederacy.  Her final house is no longer, but we saw the house she grew up in that her father built.  He built a store attached to it and ran it as grocery.

 




Martinsburg Roundhouse

Just a block away was the train station.  One of the two original Roundhouses still stands although it’s all chain fenced off.  The train station is still active and we went in to check it out and it’s very nice.  Many commuters take the train into DC to work.  There were a couple of not so reputable looking people hanging out and sleeping on the benches.  I’m sure it’s because it was air conditioned and it was hot out.  One guy really did have luggage.  They had a gift shop but it was closed and I think there are some educational happenings there for children on certain days and times.

 

In the Sunday paper there was a write up about u-pick places and there’s a huge farm outside of Martinsburg that was listed.  We gave it a try, but we were a few days early and a few days late for real picking of raspberries.  Since we’d just bought blueberries we passed on them and only managed to find a couple cups each of red and black raspberries.  All you could see for acres and acres were apple and peach trees, strawberry fields, berry bushes, squash plants and tomatoes.  Peaches are starting to come in so the word was if we come back in 5-7 days we can get fresh peaches and the berries.

 

Coming back through Shepherdstown we decided to have dinner at one of the recommended places, Domestic.  It’s very contemporary looking and not a huge menu.  Bill had the chicken parmesan and he was pleased and I had the special of sea scallops with a fennel reduction and roasted to perfection slivers of yellow squash and broccoli.  Oh, was it ever good.  I could have licked my platter clean.  We passed on dessert but after renting a video for tonight we went thru the McDonald’s drive thru for a soft serve.  It did hit the spot.

 

Made our rounds tonight and were very surprised how few campers we have for a Friday night.  Only 3 but since we’ve been inside there have been more cars parking.  We really enjoyed our movie, “Guilt Trip” with Barbra Streisand and Josh Grogan.  Pretty funny and a nice heart warming story.