Finally off and running around noon. Sheesh, took me forever to get my act in gear. At least this year I remembered to bring a blanket to sit on - wherever it was that we would end up sitting. :)
First stop - Unicorn Winery for a tasting and some noshes. Got a couple of bottles of wine there, including my fav blush they make called, “Slightly Embarrassed”
Then, we stopped at the side of the road and picked up some ribs. Perhaps an invitation to food poisoning, but OMIGOD they were good. Been in the smoker since 3 in the morning. Fall off the bone good.
Then, on to Grey Ghost for more tastings and more bottles. Picked up an extra bottle of dessert wine for Nancy & Edward - found out on Thursday the bottle of dessert wine they’d gotten in Italy and saved for their first anniversary had turned, so this was a little something we could do.
Another stop - Cooter’s Place. (If you’ve ever seen The Dukes of Hazzard, well, yes, it’s the same Cooter.) The place just cracks me up.
On the road again. Stopped at the Luray Zoo. Strange little place. Now, I am kinda leery of private zoos - visions of animals not well taken care of, etc, etc, etc, but I also love animals, and here was a chance to see some. Nice surprise here. Really good little reptile exhibit (including an extra note on one of the turtle aquariums “Please don’t worry about me, the tank really is big enough!” - this particular species of turtle just never freaking moves and just waits for something to swim in it’s mouth.)
While the habitats were less than perfect, a big thing I noticed was when the woman came out to start giving dinner to the various critters, the Bobcat that had been just chilling out in his hidey hole (can’t blame him, it was HOT!) heard her voice and his ears perked up and out he came to see her, even tho she didn’t have dinner for him yet (she was still doling out the fruit dinners to some of the other critters, no meat around just yet) The animals there really respond to her and you can tell she loves them a lot.
The best part was the 1 yr old camel that pretty much fell in love with the big guy. Chewing on his shirt, trying to get his sunglasses, gnawing on his arm and generally being sweet and cute. This surprised me, as camels have a bit of a rep for being mean and cranky. Asked the lady where he came from - turns out there is another private zoo in Richmond they got him from after the bull camel attacked him when he was a few days old, so they couldn’t keep him with the herd. They took him, hand raised him, and now he follows her around like a dog. I didn’t even think to get a pic of it. Argh!
The animals are well taken care of, bright eyed, well fed and quite alert. So, it didn’t upset me like I was afraid it might.
More driving about. Hit the end of 211 in New Market and hung a right to head for Strasburg. 30 miles later, we’re there. The big guy stops at a gas station to find out if/where there are fireworks. The town park. Great! Where is that? No idea… So, a stop at 7-11 and we find out where the town park is. Head over there and settle in for fireworks. (PS, props to Lear Corp for letting everyone use their parking lot.) Had some of the best hot dogs I’ve had in a long time (also could have just been cause I was SO hungry!) They had helicopter rides, and the big guy found out they’ll be at the Shen Co Fair at the end of August. Yay! I get to go to the fair! (Not sure if I’ll be getting on the helicopter, tho…)
Then the fireworks!! Now, we were sitting at the top of a hill, and the fireworks were being shot off from the bottom of the hill. If a shell had gone sideways, it would have taken out half the town - nice element of danger to add to the excitement, LOL. The proximity was really cool, though - seemed like they were right on top of us.
Long ride home, but worth it! :)
