Wednesday morning I awoke not terribly early and Stephenie made me her gourmet specialty breakfast: toast. (To be fair she did bake the bread and the toast was very good.) There was also a fancy Japanese tea involved. Delicious. I briefed Steph on my plans for the next couple of days, intending to return to Raleigh on Thursday evening.
My first planned stop for today was Appomattox Court House. If you don’t know the significance then you obviously didn’t take a history class in a Georgia public school, you’ve never been to the Laser Show at Stone Mountain, and you are clearly not an American. I’ve never really been an avid Civil War studier (I prefer the romance of the Revolutionary War, though at least with the Civil War half the folks were anti-slavery) but on my 2008 road trip I visited Gettysburg and it was truly amazing---the museum and the actual battlefield tour. I’m fairly certain that no other Civil War site will compare to it, but I’ve become a Civil War tourist, evidently. The course from Raleigh to Appomattox is basically a direct line north, though along the way I was pleased to learn that most of the roads were lesser highways rather than interstates, that way I got to see a little more of the countryside. I was happily scooting along when I unexpectedly came upon a Welcome to Virginia sign (I guess I’ve gotten used to the mileage countdown signs you get on interstates) so I naturally pulled over for some photo documentation. As I’m snapping some shots of the lovely Dogwood and Cardinal welcome sign (and regretting not coating my ankles with bug repellant) my phone begins to ring. It’s Evan, wondering what I’m planning for lunch. I apprised him of my location on the state line. Sadly (though logically), he didn’t offer to meet me in Virginia for a ham sandwich or anything.
With the exception of a GPS glitch that led me down a tiny road that dead-ended into a pile of cross-ties, a guard rail, and a road maintenance sign seriously in need of it’s own maintenance and crossing over State Road 666 (evil!) rural southern Virginia was quite lovely. Lots of pretty farmland and I even got to drive down Thomas Jefferson Highway. I eventually made it to Appomattox Court House, flashed my National Parks Pass for entry, was gently encouraged to drive a little slower by the Ranger at the gate, saw the movie and the museum, and toured the McLean house (where Grant and Lee actually had their sit down.) I must say the most interesting bit was the gift shop. Typically the gift shop at a National Park type place is just a separate floor or section of the visitor’s center. At Appomattox it’s actually located in one of the other small village buildings. It’s chock full of books and other good souvenir sorts of things (a thimble for Maw Maw included). I chatted for a bit with the lady working there and she told me how last weekend they’d had a Civil War Era baseball game reenactment going on. I was actually rather disappointed that I missed it.
My favorite history lesson from this visit has to do with Ely Parker. Parker was a Seneca Indian and a friend of Ulysses Grant, who also worked on his staff at the time of the surrender. In fact, Parker (who was trained as both an attorney and an engineer) actually drafted the terms of the Confederate surrender. The display in the museum had the following entry:
At the surrender meeting, seeing that Parker was a Native American, General Lee remarked to Parker, “ I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker later stated, “I shook his hand and said, We are all Americans.”
Sidebar: The Appomattox visitor’s center/museum (and possibly many other National Parks and Historical Sites) is doing something to raise money that I thought to be very clever. Many parks or museums of any sort that I’ve visited have a donation bin/bucket/box to help them raise money. This one had a largeish, clear, flat box about 2 by 4 feet in size and it was all divided up into smaller boxes labeled for each state, that way you can donate on behalf of your homeland. And you can see through the boxes so you know how much money each state has given. I love the idea of competitive giving. (Since I’m--as always--a girl on a budget I did not deposit any money. Though I made sure that Georgia had more money than South Carolina and Alabama first.)
I next pointed the Civic north, toward Shenandoah National Park. I made one stop at the Rockfish Gap Country Store (with a name like that I had to pay it a visit.) I finally entered the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and began seeing some purple mountains majesty along with some of the fluffiest clouds ever.
The thing that really made an impression on me in Shenandoah were the deer. Not only were they everywhere, but they were rather brash for deer. At home on The Mountain, and pretty much everywhere else I’ve seen deer, they are extremely skittish. They flee at the slightest sound, and if you see them near a road it’s typically because they are running to or from somewhere and there just happens to be a road along the way. The Shenandoah deer are a whole different animal, if you will. These guys would be nibbling grass on the roadside and I’d stop and try to be superfast and take a quick picture, but my speed was unnecessary because they’d just keep munching. It was quite strange. I was even out walking on one of the trails when I saw another deer nibbling on the foliage along a ferny springbed only about 20 feet away from me. I took a pic, but it wasn’t the best quality so I tried for another, and another --- my camera was having some difficulty with the shady areas. I soon became obsessed with getting a good picture of this animal and ended up full on stalking it for at least 20 minutes. I’m still not happy with my final product, but I was impressed that got to within about 8 feet of the deer --- I might have been able to get in a bit closer but I think I’m a little afraid of them, something I’d never realized before.
I drove through about two thirds of Shenandoah, including going through the Marys Rock Tunnel. (FYI - Tunnels are cool. I mean you’re driving through a mountain!) After grabbing some sunset pictures (not the best sunset I’ve ever seen, I gotta say) I headed out of the park, trying to find dinner and a rooming establishment as close to the West Virginia border that I could get. Darkness had fallen pretty much just after I got out of the park so this next little bit was probably much creepier than it would have been in the daytime --- the deer continued to come. Obviously wildlife don’t respect the park’s boundaries on a map so all the deer inside the park probably spend a fair amount of time outside of the park. It seemed to me that all of them decided to exit stage left that evening. For the first five or so miles at least every 100 feet I’d see a deer or two standing next to the road. When I say “next to the road” I mean about a foot from the edge of the asphalt. When I say “standing” I don’t mean leisurely nibbling on the mountain grass, I mean standing straight up, as if they were sentries, with there dead, laser beam eyes looking straight at me --- into my soul. Bitches were scary. Not that I was opposed to deer hunting before, but I’m close to thinking it should be mandatory now. Bambi can suck it.
Eventually I escaped from deerland and spotted what looked to be an adorable mountainside restaurant, where I pulled over in the hopes of having a delectable dining experience. My experience was denied me by the waitress walking out of the door as I was trying to walk in --- it seems that they closed at 9. I was disappointed. Instead I sat in my car, got on my phone and tried to locate a town nearby with a motel and a drive-thru. I found some possibilities in nearby Luray, VA and headed thataway. In Luray, I found a sandwich and started calling around for hotel prices. I found one close to the parking lot I was in, called and the price was good but when I asked the guy about internet he said “yes we have it” but then went on a bit of crazy/mean tear about how they have it but sometimes it doesn’t work, and how I better not get mad about that. That was not the best encouragement to stay there. I found an alternative place in a town about 20 minutes away and headed for it. I was speeding along on a dark, curvy, mountain road (which I thoroughly enjoy), happy to have a place to stay for the night and thinking through a travel plan for tomorrow when---Holy shit a bear!!! (those were my actual words to myself, which I feel was warranted given that a not too small black bear had just run across the road in front of me, very nearly being hit by my car.) It’s funny that the deer are all brave and out-and-about while the bears seem to be a tad fraidy-cattish.
I arrived at the New Market, VA Quality Inn, to find the front desk guy outside smoking. He accompanied me toward the door but before we went inside I noticed that there was a giant-ish statue down the sidewalk a bit. “Is that...Johnny Appleseed?” I wondered aloud. “Yes,” he replied, with no explanation at all. Whatever. When he asked if I was a AAA member, I told him no but said he could still give me the discount. He did. Also, I learned from him that for one person, the room with two queen beds is cheaper than the room with one king. Who knew? Plus, they had complementary (or is it complimentary?)packets of craisins on the desk. Excellent.
Scary deer and one pseudo bear attack aside, it was a good day.
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