“What day is it” asked Pooh
“It’s today” squeaked Piglet
“My favourite day,” said Pooh
Today was the first of our moving days and so were in breakfast by 8.30am. Sadly the only eggs on offer were vegetable omelettes made with the white of the egg only. We both gave them a very wide berth. I didn’t see anyone take one. instead I tried the Pancake maker with the Syrup made without sugar which was altogether a very acceptable alternative.
Less than 1 hour later we were fully loaded in the car heading in a Southerly direction. We had decided to visit Harpers Ferry National Park on route to our next destination which was about 1 hour drive away.
Harpers Ferry is where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers meet and so we were surprised when the directions to the park took us up the valley past it. We were even more surprised to find the entrance booth shut with a notice saying that the entrance today was free due to a power cut.
The place was quite deserted. We parked up and found to our despair that even the toilets were firmly locked as was everything else. We worked out that we should have been able to get a free shuttle bus back down to Harpers Ferry itself but that wasn’t running either although unless the buses were electric there was no reason why they shouldn’t be.
I spoke to a local who told me there was some parking in Harpers Ferry which would save a steep 5-mile round trip walk so we drove there. It was like a ghost town. Everywhere was shut and the only activity was in the small car park which was unsurprisingly already rammed. I was not a happy bunny or indeed a happy Karl. Of all the days to come here.
Coming out of the car park I realised though there were a few empty spots where I could pay for parking on my phone. It was a bit of a faff but managed it despite being an Englishman in Virginia..
We set off in search of toilets, but it was eerie in that it was like the whole town had just upped and left overnight locking everything as they went. We spoke to others also seeking toilets who said that apparently it was a planned power outage for the whole area. No one could understand though why every toilet was locked.
Eventually by one of the railway tracks we found some trees where we both had to stand guard as we had to ‘water’ the foliage. I did agree it was much easier for me than it was for poor Karen.
With that sorted for now we followed everyone and walked along the path as part of the railway bridge and crossed the rivers. With that we had walked part of the Appalachian Trail. We passed people who were obviously doing the whole length and good for them but it wasn’t for us and so we headed back.
Harpers Ferry Lower town is a well-preserved set of 19th Century buildings that I am sure would have been fascinating to see inside if only they had been open. I decided to walk up to the Jefferson Stone which was apparently only 0.3miles away. Karen very sensibly decided to wait for me. The distance was all uphill and quite steep and rough. The view was OK and probably not worth the effort in the heat.
When I got back down Karen said she had seen some lights come back on and she was right. Only one shop opened though and that was only because the owner was there waiting for a delivery. She had been told the power would be off all day. She was immediately inundated with people like us desperate to buy a cold drink.
After this we decided to push on to our hotel in Luray for the next couple of nights. The Mimslyn Inn was on the historic inns register and looked amazing with great reviews. I had been looking forward to staying there.
The building was impressive. The décor was clean and cared for inside. Our room was decent. The bed was very comfortable. But it just lacked something we couldn’t put on fingers on. It is the sort of place when I was taken on whistle stop tours across the US for work that the host companies used to put us in to try to impress us.
Luray as a town is nothing to write home about. There was little option other than to eat in the hotel which is what we eventually opted for. The hotel has 3 restaurants but only one was open and that was the ‘Speakeasy’ in the basement. We were told a guests we could use the elevator to enter rather than presumably having to knock on a back door and give someone call Fat Sam the secret password.
Tonight, we were also promised live music which we were not sure about. The live act turned out to be a guy about our age who was trying his best. We were impressed when he opened with ‘a song by that British Blues singer – Rick Astley’ and it was a track from his ’50’ album. He would not have been out of place in Lanzarote. We enjoyed the silence when he took a break.
Service was being provided by some disinterested teenagers. The food was passable. There was an offer of a bottle of wine for $15 which we went for. But as the server was under 21 he was only allowed to open it but not pour it.
And so we headed up to sit on the imposing verandah on the front of the hotel for a while enjoying the last of the sun as it set over the mountains. And with that we headed back to the room taking the remains of the wine which had to put in a carrier bag with us. For the third night Karen was sound asleep by 10pm.
“Whatever day it had been it had been a most peculiar day” said Piglet and not one neither he or we had expected.
