Three Pictures from Front Royal

E. Wilson Morrison School

This elementary school opened for the season on August 12, and closed 10 days later. On August 22, a notice went out that the school had to be closed due to "structural damage to the building that requires immediate assessment and remediation." School was closed for two days so an inspection could be completed and plans made for students to go to a different school. The school is 91 years old, and apparently age and moisture caused weakening of the facade.

I took this picture when I went to Front Royal on Tuesday for a dental appointment. I had a small filling done, but it wasn’t very painful. (I decline Novocaine for fillings because it makes me nauseous, and the shot hurts worse than the drilling.)

After my appointment, I had lunch at Spelunkers. I’m not a fan of showing food photos, and all I had was lettuce-wrapped burger and fries. In spite of being a burger place, they have fresh flowers on the tables. 

After that, I made a brief trip on Skyline Drive, which is right next to the town and has fantastic views.

More Pictures from a Busy Week

Over the past week, I took a lot of pictures because my sister was visiting. We went to Shenandoah National Park twice, once from the Thornton Gap entrance and the next day from the Front Royal entrance. Then on Thursday, we had a picnic with Lynn before going to the Quilt Museum. 

These are various pictures, mostly from SNP. 

In the visitor center at Dickey Ridge, I found the plaque from King Charles’ visit.

Sharing with Mosaics

Taking Peggy to the Mountains

My sister said she misses the mountains, so of course we went to Shenandoah National Park. 

Here she is at Dickey Ridge. I liked the pose so much I switched to “Portrait mode” and stepped closer.

We went in the Visitor Center so she could buy a postcard and were lucky enough to catch a screening of a film about the CCC. Then we looked at the exhibits, plus we caught part of a ranger talk.

Models of birds include a ruffed grouse, a screech owl, and a falcon.

I did not get pictures of real birds except for one flying in the distance. I think it was a crow.

I was delighted to see a monarch butterfly.

As usual, I took too many pictures for one post, so I’ll close with a trio of wildflowers. 

Sharing with Mosaic and Bird Linkups

Charlie’s Mid-June Adventures

Hi, I had a busy week. Here I am at Seven Bends State Park. It’s a good place to go on a hot day because there’s shade and a river.

 Look who I saw on my neighbor’s deck! Why can cats just go wherever they want?

Here we are waiting in the car for our grocery order to be brought out. It is too hot for me to stay in the car while Mom goes in the store. Sometimes she has stuff delivered to our house from Walmart, but Martin’s will not bring it that far so we had to pick it up. 

Since we were in Front Royal, we went to the mountains there. I like smelling the air in Shenandoah National Park.

We took a short hike on the Appalachian Trail. It was rocky and we did not walk very far. Mom said I might make her trip on the rocks. 

While we were in the car, we saw a deer. We also saw a bear, but she did not get a picture.

I visited Sadie a few times this week. She has nice toys.

Miss Deborah bought Sadie a dog stroller. I did not like it at all. Dogs do not belong in a contraption like that.

Now it’s time for me to go to bed. Mom wants to use the computer.

The Best Photo I Couldn’t Take

When I was on Skyline Drive with Charlie a few days ago, a bear crossed the road in front of us. By the time I stopped the car and got ready to take a picture, he was disappearing into the woods. That’s okay because I’ve taken pictures of a bear crossing the road before. [See this post and this.]

It reminded me of the time I missed a great picture of a bear that appeared out of the fog. The fog (actually a cloud covering the mountaintop), was so thick that it was dangerous to stop on the winding road because if another car had come around the bend, the driver would not have seen my car in time. 

Well, this bear was awesome because it was lumbering along the top of a stone wall, and seemed to just materialize out of the fog. What a moody picture that would have been!

Today I decided to re-create the scene using StarryAI. I uploaded a photo of one of Skyline Drive’s iconic stone walls and asked the app to add a bear walking on it in thick fog. It took several tries and revisions before I got anything that resembled what I saw. Even then, I cropped and refined the two best images in the IOS photos app. Here are final versions that I chose.

Theme Day: The Subject is Sky

When I first learned that the City Daily Photo theme for June 1st is “Sky,” I thought, “Oh that’s easy!” But then I realized that I have already used my dramatic sky shots for the weekly Skywatch linkup. I made an effort to get some more sky pictures today, but they weren’t very interesting. 

I decided to post this picture from Saturday, taken at Dickey Ridge in Shenandoah National Park. Shooting into the sun is generally considered a no-no in photography, but I do it all the time. Shade the lens to protect your eyes and electronics. I usually just stand in the shade.

These folks were members of a family, apparently from the Middle East. Others were doing prayers behind me on prayer rugs, but I did not intrude by taking pictures of them. A mountain top is an inspiring place to say prayers.

Later, one of the young men asked what breed of dog was Charlie. I told him beagle, and he smiled and said “Nice!”

Clouds on the Blue Ridge

Cloudy days and even rainy days can be interesting times to drive in the mountains.

The first picture shows a view of Page Valley with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. They were shrouded by clouds on Sunday, which meant I would experience fog when I got up there.

I have a senior pass to Shenandoah National Park, so I showed it at the Thornton Gap entrance. I decided to head south this time because I’ve visited the northern section recently. In a few minutes I drove through the Mary’s Rock Tunnel. I was already in dense fog. 
 

Soon I was back in sunshine, but clouds were below, obscuring the valley.

My companion was my beagle. We took a short walk at Pinnacles Picnic Area, and otherwise, he kept an eye out. We didn’t see much wildlife because the park was full of tourists. I did see a wild turkey, but it was not in a good place to stop to take a picture.

By the time we reached Jewell Hollow, the views had cleared somewhat, at least to the east. 

I only drove as far as Skyland, where I turned around and headed back home. It would be Charlie’s dinner time by the time we got there.

Thunderbird at Valley Overlook

Skyline Drive

When I was in Front Royal on Saturday, I drove into Shenandoah National Park because it is so close. I only drove about 15 miles south and then came back. Most of the views were quite hazy. Although I saw a deer and a wild turkey, they both disappeared into the woods in a matter of seconds. Consequently, I didn’t take any pictures until I pulled into the last overlook and spotted an old T-bird convertible. 

I didn’t want to stare at the people, but I assume that they were taking pictures after a wedding. Behind the men on the right is a woman in a white gown, probably the bride. There was another antique car off to their right, but it was not elegant like the Thunderbird.

Charlie’s Report with Sheep Pictures

Hi, it’s Charlie! Here I am at the dog park in Strasburg. This was mostly a good week except it got cold again and then yesterday afternoon the wind blew so hard that we couldn’t go to a park at all. 

Mom takes a lot of pictures of me. She used a solarize filter on this one. Ha, I look blue!

One day I was so good that we went to Strasburg and to Petco and to Skyline Drive.

We found the Appalachian Trail. I wanted to hike to the end, but Mom said no. She said that dogs don’t get along with bears, which is not fair because I get along with almost everybody.

This afternoon we went to Mount Jackson, but first we stopped so Mom could take pictures of some sheep.

Then we went to the dog park in Mount Jackson. A black dog came to play with me. Her name is Stella and she can run pretty fast.

I’ll close with a picture of me in the car.