Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - A Bunch of Firsts |
Road trips are experiences and can lead to seeing and doing things you wouldn't ordinarily do when at home or in your home state. This current road trip is no exception.
The first "first" was when I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on I-81 just outside of Carlisle, PA. I looked over to my left and saw a horse and buggy. Next to the old fashioned form or transport was a man wearing a straw hat, a blue shirt, braces and black pants. It was an Amish man. He looked just like the Amish depicted in Witness, the Harrison Ford movie from the 1980s.
The second "first" occured a day later at my sister-in-laws. I've always heard of toasted marshmallows and it's not a British custom so I've never had one until late in the day during my SIL's cookout. She has one of those woodburning outdoor fire pits. All the kids went out into the back yard to look for the "perfect stick" and then stuck a marshmallow on it and proceeded to toast it. Clearly, the aim of the game is not to set the marshmallow alight. It looks pretty but it surely doesn't taste good. After the kids had toasted a couple, I said I'd like to give it a go so I went to look for my "perfect stick".
Toasting the marshmallow isn't as easy as it appeared. I didn't want the marshmallow to be a ball of flame and look charred. The technique is to rotate the marshmallow every so often while holding it over heat, not flame. The best thing is if I did it right, the marshmallow would retain its outer coating but be ever so slightly runny and warm. Delicious. I'm hooked. I did two. It was fun. Other adults toasted marshmallows too.
Those who know me know that I like animals, dead (as food) or alive. Yesterday, I finally got to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, specifically most of Skyline Drive in VA. As we paid the $15.00 entrance fee, the National Park Staff (as well as being Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway, we drove exclusively in the Shenandoah National Park), the Park staff warned us to watch out for deer.
I've seen deer in parks before. As a child, I saw them in Richmond Park and other London area parks. However, on Skyline Drive, it's different. I saw a couple of deer on two different ocassions during the drive but they were right along the roadside, just hanging out. Both were does.
In between the deer sightings, I spotted a black bear cub on a wall next to the roadside. It didn't seem at all alarmed to see people (in a car). It did look kind of cute and as we drove slowly towards it to go past, it just hopped off the low wall into the forest. It happened rather quickly and I didn't get the chance to photograph it.
I blame American cartoons from my childhood about my image about chipmunks. When taking a lunch break on Skyline Drive, I spotted a chippie scurrying beside a wall on the grass. It thought it was hidden by the ladder leaning alongside the wall but I peered over the wall to look at him. Chipmunks are not at all big. In fact they're pretty small, perhaps five inches long. They have a pair of black and white stripes on their back. They do not look anything like the cartoons I'd seen as a youngster.
No doubt, there's more first to come before this trip is over. |
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About Me
Former Londoner, now living in Durham, NC since 2002.
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