Day trip to Harrisonburg

August 20 – We didn’t have many sites to rake today after cleaning the bathhouse so we

Small Book Fair building

managed to get on the road fairly early.  Bill had read about the Green Valley Book Fair up near Harrisonburg  in St. Crawford and wanted to go.  It wasn’t what he expected but they sure have a lot of books.  They are all new books that are pulled from bookstores or overprinted.  There are 2 warehouse type building and one is 2 levels.  Even the corridor that connects them has books or crafts.  It’s all set up like a book store by types:  mystery, gardening, sports, children’s, categories I would never have thought of.  Then it’s all alphabetical by author.  Very well organized and plenty of staff.  The children’s/young adult building was great for teachers.  Lots of planning materials and ideas for activities to accompany lesson plans.  Bill did find a few books and I got a couple for me and some Christmas gifts.  It’s only open 6 times a year for 2 weeks each time.

 

We asked where to have lunch and Pano’s in Harrisonburg was recommended.  It appears to have started as a Greek place and morphed into Italian and American also.  I had chicken souvlaki and Bill had a superstacked sandwich that he only ate half of.  We didn’t know the meals came with fries and they were the best I’ve ever had.  I never order fries but these had no salt and were not the least bit of grease and made from scratch with the peels on.  I’d go back just for the fries. 

 

Church across from Visitor Center

The Harrisonburg Visitor Center is in an old home built in 1848.  They have a Civil War movie, display on the building of Route 11, a bakery and small diner, gift shop and tons of literature about the area.  Harrisonburg is the home of James Madison University and a Mennonite University.  Major college town.  We checked out a store called Glens Fair Price Store.  It was mostly a costume and party supply store but had tons of knick knacks and some nostalgia toys.  We got some ideas for the September campout that we are hosting so it wasn’t a wasted trip.

 

Leaving town we stopped at the Shenandoah Heritage Market.  It was interesting and not many people so we didn’t fight any crowds.  There was a bulk food store, antiques, Amish made furniture, fabric shop, toy shop, kitchen shop and many more.  While I went to the bulk store Bill had a red velvet cupcake and a coke.  Then we headed for home.

What a nice surprise!

 

On our doorstep was a bag of tomatoes and they were huge.  We found out later that Fred and Linda left them for us.  Someone gave them a bag of more than they could eat so there shared with us.

 

We walked and talked to several of the campers and had leftovers for dinner.