Columbus Day in Harrisonburg

One of the benefits of working for Sam are the number of holidays. This past Monday was Columbus Day and a day off. The Son, however, was traveling for work and needed a ride to the airport. He had a 6:00AM flight so off we went to Dulles at 4:00AM, on my day off. Something is not right there. Since I was going to be up early anyway, as would Ann, since The Son demanded to be fed before he left, we decided it would be a good time to go visit Daughter#2 and the Black Demon. We headed down to Harrisonburg and arrived around 9:00AM. We had talked to Daughter#2 beforehand and decided to try a hike again. First, though, we needed sustenance. We traveled south to the town of Dayton for breakfast. We each had huge breakfasts. I had an everything omelet that literally took up the whole plate. Ann had sausage biscuits, which she couldn't finish and Daughter#2 had eggs easy over with a side of oatmeal. We were served by a young Mennonite woman, which was a bit different. As Daughter#2 pointed out she must be a new order Mennonite otherwise she'd be at home taking care of her kids. Its always a bit weird encountering their horse and buggies on the road.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to Daughter#2's house to pick up the Black Demon and head out on our hike. The Son In Law couldn't join us as he had to work. Bummer. As Ann and I are not the accomplished hikers that Daughter#2 and The Son In Law are, she had picked out a fairly tame hike for us. We ended up at the Paul State Forest.


With Gracie, aka the Black demon, leading the way we headed into the forest.


It was a fairly short hike as hikes go. It took us a little over an hour so I'm guessing maybe2 to 3 miles. The trail ended up at a farm.

While we hiked 2 to 3 miles, Gracie probably traveled three times that far going back and forth and running into the woods.


After a little more than hour we were back at our car.

Daughter#2 gave us a short tour of Rockingham County and specifically, she took us by the house her Mother In law grew up in. Very rural area. Lots of farms. beautiful country. After the tour we headed back to Daughter#2's house for a short rest.

After returning to the house and checking out Daughter#2's new (new to her) road bike. I' m jealous. We then headed off to lunch at Calhoun's, which is a microbrewery/restaurant in Harrisonburg. After a tasty lunch and a few microbrews we dropped off daughter#2 and headed home. A fun day all things considered.