A Day with Friends

One of the things we miss most as we travel about the country is being close to family and friends. We have met many, many people and have made several new friends, but those folks whom we have known for years and have shared many experiences with are missed. Occasionally, we are blessed with a visit from someone from home and that is a very special time for us.

View from behind the Train shed

Our good friends, Charlie and Jennifer, are here for a visit. They are staying in Staunton and we met them there last night for dinner. Many towns across the country have train stations that are no longer used for their original purpose and those buildings have been renovated and taken on entirely new lives. This is the case for the train shed in Staunton. It has been converted into a restaurant. The interior space is just beautiful, but the best part is that the train still stops at this station. It is Amtrak now, but it was marvelous to be at our dinner table in what had been the train shed and feel the rumble of the train as it passed. Our walk back to their hotel was cut short by the threatening thunder clouds overhead, but we did get a glimpse of some of the old buildings downtown. As so many places in Virginia, Staunton is an old town, founded in the 1700s and the residents have tried to preserve the history of the community by restoring the old buildings.

View from Cedar Cliffs

View from Humpback Rocks

Today Charlie and Jennifer came to our home bearing gifts of doughnuts and we spent the day visiting, hiking, and bird watching. We took them to a couple of our favorite places along the Blue Ridge Parkway for short hikes to big views. We went on the hard hike first—a climb up to Humpback Rocks. The sunny day with low humidity helped to provide a fantastic view of Shenandoah Valley. Then we drove down the parkway a few more miles and hiked out to Cedar Cliffs for another grand view of the valley below and a picnic lunch. By the time we had finished our light supper back at our Montana, we were all ready to call it a day, but were looking forward to tomorrow.