outdoors – Page 12 – OldPlaidCamper

Sunny small town stuff

Shall we hang out in a friendly small town on the panhandle of WV? Well, ok, particularly as it is somewhere we’ve visited many times over the years. Berkeley Springs is a great place to while away a few hours, and we did exactly that for a sunny day or two earlier this month.

It has a microbrewery or two (nope, not this time, would you believe?!) great coffee shops, an antique mall, and a number of little stores selling arty crafty stuff. If you like cinnamon scented candles, handmade birthday cards, and knitted/quilted/beaded/stitched stuff, then you’re well catered for. Next visit, and if you’re there, I’ll meet you in the microbrewery (‘cos by then they’ll have very sensibly adjusted their afternoon opening hours so I can skip out on the knitted/antique stuff…)

We’re not really leisure shoppers, but we browsed and had a couple of great conversations with storekeepers who couldn’t get enough of those cute accents. “You’re from Australia, yes? No? Texas, then?” Close enough. We usually agree on Canada via Europe. Folks we chat to south of the border always love Canada, which is reassuring and neighbourly. I mean neighborly.

The guy selling Native American beadwork and blankets was a road warrior with hundreds of thousands of truck miles under his belt. He knew of and had driven through most north of the border places we mentioned, east to west and also north, right up onto the ice roads in deep winter. He was now enjoying his warmer retirement years in his often sunny small WV town. I’d love to share his stories about the “cat” that kept him company on many of his trucking adventures. He described what sounded like a small mountain lion, one that scared many a border guard into waving him through rather than get within close up claw distance to inspect any paperwork… (Next time I’m down that way, I’ll visit with him, see if he wants to elaborate and maybe get his permission to tell a tale or two. I suspect colourful isn’t even close…)

The park in the centre of town has to be one of the smallest state parks ever, and is a delightful spot to sit in the sun and drink coffee. In season, there’s a wonderful outdoor pool – Junior PlaidCamper spent many happy childhood hours splashing about on hot days. In and around the park there’s some (civil war) history to the place if that’s more your thing. For something less bloody, how about George Washington’s bathtub? Yup, really:

I can recommend staying at The Country Inn, a friendly hotel complete with dining room and tavern. We had a spacious room overlooking the park, and if an inch of wall was unpapered (a bright flowery design), I didn’t find it.

We scoped out the dining room and tavern to decide where we’d prefer to eat that night – reservations had been strongly recommended by the check in staff. The helpful person taking dinner reservations looked me up and down and suggested the tavern rather than the dining room as we’d be a better fit for the lively crowd found in there. That’s us, always found hanging with the lively crowd.

Good beer – a lively pint for a lively me

We returned at 7pm and it was busy enough already, most of the tables filled with revellers at least twenty five years our senior. Many seemed to be enjoying the local draft dark beer, a stout called The Miner’s Daughter if I remember correctly. After a couple of pints I was tempted to sneak away from the youth set for a moment and peek in at the dining room, but thought better of it – wouldn’t have wanted to startle (awaken) the octogenarians (nonagenarians?) in there.

My brother joined us for dinner, looking relieved we were hanging out in the hipster bar – he might have mentioned it being the hip replacement bar, but relented when he heard about the dining room – and we had a great meal. So great we had to slump, almost comatose, in the nearby and very elegant reception room to allow for recovery before tackling the stairs to bed.

Anyway, I think we’ve discovered why I’ve never been paid or sponsored to write trip reviews… Let’s leave my dreadful ageism aside, and finish by saying if you ever find yourself near Berkeley Springs, WV, you’ll have a fine old (stop it, PC) time.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Warm days, happy trails, cool nights…

…easy hikes, good company, and cabin time in a WV state park!

Healthy road trip fare…(it’s ok, we walked it off later, and anyway isn’t maple almost a vegetable?)

Heading north to south we found ourselves leaving mid/late fall behind, and by the time we crossed into MD/WV, found ourselves shedding jackets and digging out T shirts for daytime adventures that were happening like it was late summer or very early fall.

Gentle hikes on clear trails under blue skies in mid October? Yes please! A few bugs (fooled into appearing due to the temps) aside, these were pleasant days to wander in the woods. Gaps in the trees along a high ridge provided long views across the valley to the mountains opposite. If only I’d taken a decent photograph… next time…

There is some view across here – but I didn’t photograph it!

Staying in a cabin with a sturdy fireplace, it was no bad thing when the sun dropped below the mountain ridge behind us – the swift temperature decline justified a fire, reminding us it wasn’t actually summer. And if we had a beer or two to toast the (relatively) active days, well, that’s a pleasant way to spend cool cabin nights…

By the time this is posted, we’ll be home and looking back fondly on a trip where we caught up with friends and family, discovered some new to us beers, and reacquainted ourselves with a favourite mountain town. More on the last next week.

Warm days, cool nights and happy trails – this particular fall has been a most welcome and very kind season!

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

There are strange creatures out there…(photo credit CG, thanks, you stealth photographer you)

Quiet

We’re enjoying some quiet time!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

By happy coincidence, thanksgiving more or less marks our anniversary for when we moved to Canada, a decision we’ve never once regretted. With each passing year, we love the place we call home more and more – we’ve so much to be thankful for here in Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate this holiday!

Keeping it short – we’re heading out to visit friends and family the next little while, with off grid and in the woods cabin time involved, so not too sure if there’ll be anything posted for a week or two or three.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great (long) weekend!

Fall-tastic?

That’s not a word, but it is an attempt to convey how much we’ve been enjoying the season. Being up with or even ahead of the latest thing is so very much us, haha. Identifying fall is beautiful? Couldn’t be more on trend… Moron, you say? No, but I’ve been called worse, by worse…

Where was I? Clearly, you’re not going to get high quality season-centric (huh?) writing here (see “fall-tastic” above) but we really have enjoyed our eastern woodland leafy fall into autumn.

What a mood enhancer! We’re pretty chipper anyway most of the time, (don’t judge a book by it’s cover; it’s a smiling – on the inside – visage I present to the world) but being out in the woods the past few weeks has further boosted our generally sunny outlook. Each recent morning we’ll approach the local trail and murmur “that’s beautiful”, then a few yards on and a few turns into the trail, say again “that’s beautiful” and on and on we go.

The crisp air, the bright blue sky, the green through yellow through orange and into red leafy splendour, plus Scout’s bouncing gait, the wet-dry smell of leaf decay, and the satisfying crunch and scrunch underfoot? We add it up and our answer is “that’s beautiful!”

“Bouncing? Me? I’m far too dignified for that. But if you wanted to say beautiful…”

Yup, here we are this week struggling to find words and phrases to describe our autumnal adventures. Fall-tastic? Fallsome praise? Autumnulent? Why I autumn do better… Hmm. Should I stop, leaf it for now?

If you’re looking to read about fall – about any season – with thoughts on the joy found in the natural world, then head over to Walt at Rivertop Rambles. He posted this week, and, like always, it’s a great read. I’m not blowing smoke from a leafy bonfire up his a- … read him, and you’ll see.

Anyway, it’s far too nice outside to be in here writing. I can see the trees from my office window, glowing in sunny autumnal glory, and let me tell you, it’s beautiful!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great weekend!

“His vocabulary really is limited, isn’t it? I mean, bouncing?! What’s wrong with regal, majestic, purposeful…”

Cooling…

…and thank goodness, particularly after the recent mini heatwave! So, how have we spent these cooler days? (Be warned: bouncing around like a box kicked rugby ball, this post will chop and change more times than a fly half trying to fool the opposition, showing no coherence, like a game spoiled by a fussy rugby referee with a whistle breaking up the flow of a game, or, or, like a…) Yeah, if you don’t like rugby, maybe stop reading?

Let’s try the non-rugby stuff. Falling temperatures and falling leaves helped make the week a pleasant one. Scout has been very happy to get back to the woods, and we’ve enjoyed the almost bug free wandering through the trees. Yesterday morning was cool, close to the point of chilly, but it isn’t light jacket or rugby jersey weather quite yet.

Gentle breezes prompted some light leaf fall, and the photo below is colourful evidence autumn is more or less upon us.

Red leaves seems a reasonable reminder to look out for red ales (it does? On what planet, OPC?), and hats off to Brasseur de Montréal for their splendid red. Autumn in a glass with the cardboard and toffee caramel flavours I like in a red. It tasted far better than I’ve described it…

We spent a couple of mornings mooching about the Old Town, enjoying the slightly slower fall pace compared to the more full on summer visitor business. Shall we stop for a coffee and pastry? Oh, ok!

Almost forgot – rugby stuff! The rugby World Cup is in full swing, but at seven weeks long, I’ll pay more attention after some of the opening phases are finished. My hopes are very high indeed for Ireland, unrealistically high for England, somewhat high for France, but let’s be real – most likely New Zealand or South Africa will win the whole thing.

I recently read a great piece about remarkable rugby grounds in attractive locations, and for me, this place was the winner: (we’ve agreed with friends to watch a game there sometime and go for a pint or two of Guinness after!)

Donegal Town Rugby Club’s pitch, the Holmes, next to Donegal Bay in the Republic of Ireland. Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins

Must leave it here as there’s a rumour our backyard lawn (that’s too grand – let’s say patch of grass) is being laid today, needing my expertise (huh?) and fast developing skill with a garden hose. Nope, I’ve no idea where or why Scout is hiding…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

*Backyard and him with the hose? You haven’t seen me…*

Followed by a Guinness? Oh, ok… (Photograph: Connor Doherty/Harper Collins)

The furnace

We’re enjoying (I think I mean that) a brief heatwave this week, one that is threatening thunder this afternoon (Thursday) and all through tomorrow. It’s been too hot – hot, like a furnace – to charge about doing anything interesting aside from walking with Scout and retreating from the woods due to the resurgent mosquitoes. I got multiple bites on my right shoulder after something got in under my long sleeved shirt. It chewed away for quite some time until I noticed. Itchy…

Bugs! You can’t see them, but they’re there…

The furnace outside has meant mostly staying inside, time well spent with reading, writing and watching a few movies. The best of the movie bunch for me was The Furnace, (yup, you’ve seen what I’ve done here) an Australian outback western set in the late 1800s.

Spectacular locations, more bugs than even in our local woods, and a ripping yarn full of interesting characters doing bad and not so bad things due to greed over gold. An exciting and thought provoking piece, with lots to chew over regarding race, avarice, indigenous rights, immigrant experiences and camels. Yup, camels. If you don’t like camels, don’t watch the movie, you’ll only get the hump. (It’s warm, I’m tired, this is the best I’ve got…) If you’re interested, here’s a better review: The Furnace Guardian review – I think this review acknowledges the Treasure of the Sierra Madre vibe, and I’d agree. If it’s not up to that level, it’s still decent enough.

The book I enjoyed most this week was Snow Country by Sebastian Faulks. If you liked Human Traces (I did, even if it was long winded at times) or Birdsong or A Fool’s Alphabet then you’ll likely enjoy this one. What’s it about? Love, death, grief, recovery, political tension between the wars, identity and belonging, small kindnesses in the midst of tragedy, and, as I’ve found with most of his novels, it stays with you. Also, let’s be honest, snowy Austrian mountain scenes were just the thing to read in a heatwave and after watching the outback movie!

With the heat allegedly diminishing after the weekend, we’ll be back outside a bit more and looking to explore Quebec in early fall. It’s starting to get colourful out there.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Shudder

Judder. Shake. Quake. And here’s a bit of wobble thrown in. Am I dancing? Huh? No. Well, maybe later. Read on for that. Is this an early Halloween post? No, nothing as interesting as that. Ok, PC, what’s going on?

As I write this, our house is shaking and there are huge thudding sounds from outside. An earthquake then? Nope. Those contractors who were on vacation? They’re back and they’re working, rain or shine, on our backyard and driveway. Oomph! There’s another one. Let’s keep this brief.

They left the keys in the ignition, and I was tempted…

Scout is hiding under my desk because she’s not a huge fan of big noise. As a result, I keep hitting my head whenever she gives a muted bark. I was here first, it’s my safe place, but I’ve had to scooch along a bit to give Scout some space. (Scooch? Or scootch? Are these real words?) It’s getting crowded under here. Mrs. PC? She checked in on us earlier and is rather less bothered by the noise and rather more bothered about why I’m not using my desk properly. I said I’m under here for Scout…

Fortunately, we have very understanding neighbours, and one side used this time to get a bit of yardwork of their own done, so they’re all good. Our neighbours on the other side aren’t quite ready to do their yard yet (these are all new builds) but have been happy to let the work crew access our space across their lot. An outdoor meal in our new yard could be some sort of thank you. After the last meal we shared, who knows if they’d like that?

A culinary tale and explanation as to why our neighbours might not enjoy another meal with us? Here goes. Two days before the outdoor work started our immediate neighbours joined us for dinner. Me being of European descent, and only mentioning the adult names when making the invitation, I’d assumed just the adults were having dinner with us. Being of African descent, our neighbours assumed the whole family was invited. I didn’t even blink as five children followed their parents in. Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome and welcome. Quick peek up the street, nope that’s it and close the door. Yikes, five extra! Anyway, I remained very much the appearance of kitchen calm (but paddling feverishly under the surface) as I prepared extra servings. Luckily it was a pasta based menu and I hadn’t gone for making those individual soufflés. Beer, wine, speedily defrosting an extra baguette and dancing papered over any cracks caused by the suspiciously small servings. Yeah, we think it went well…

*Driveway?! Do you mean parking spot, OPC?* Yeah, ok…

Jolt! An enormous boulder has just been prised out of what will be the driveway and dropped onto our neighbour’s land. Thump! We owe them – I’d better search out that soufflé recipe, scale it up for nine…

Let’s leave it here, since it’s actually quite challenging to write with Scout sitting on my lap. Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful (long – hooray) weekend!

Do I look like I’ve been upstairs hiding under a desk?

Two vehicles could almost squeeze on, so isn’t that a driveway? Oh, ok…

Festibière

As mentioned last week, Mrs. PC was determined to attend the Festibière. I’m guessing here, but perhaps it was the thought of over 100 Quebec beers presented in one location (plus we could get there by bus) that caused her eyes to light up? Ever supportive, I went along. A bus ride? I’m in!

We went on the opening afternoon, a fairly quiet time, with most attendees seemingly retirees or young parents with small children. The daytime vibe was quite family oriented, very much a tasting and trying rather than big drinking event. Save that for OktoberFest and leave the young ones at home?

It being relatively uncrowded gave us the chance to chat to the vendors and brewers, chew over the various offerings and mostly still end up with IPA or APA. Adventurous, me? No, not with beer. Not after The Gose Incident. If you know, you know…

I did have a maple influenced saison that was really good, and Mrs. PC opted for a Belgian blueberry ale that was way better and more subtle than it could have been. Actually, looking back, somewhat hazy of memory, I also had an amazing stout from a tiny producer that was as good as any I’ve tried. There, not all pale ales!

Tiny (the volume produced, not the brewers – they were on the tall side if you were wondering…)

Aside from chitchatting with tall brewers in Franglais about the beer, we also learned about the small towns where the beer is made. The enthusiasm the brewers from Baie St Paul shared for their region had us looking up the area, and we’ll be heading there sometime in the fall, and not just to visit the brewery. But mostly to visit the brewery.

We tried eight new to us beers, four each, and if anyone thinks we overdid it, the servings were 4 oz, so we had the equivalent of a pint over the afternoon! Quality not quantity, and that’s something my younger self took some time to learn with beer…

Anyway, we spent a delightful afternoon down on the docks, and for the most part the weather cooperated. We (I) got absolutely soaked in a heavy downpour that lasted the five minutes it took from bus stop to venue. (One of us packed a light rain coat. And one of us steamed gently when the sun reappeared…)

Next year, following a better training schedule, and packing another light rain jacket, we’ll aim to taste the other 92+ beers we couldn’t quite manage this outing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Dog days

It’s been an odd summer, not at all bad, but certainly mixed. We’re thoroughly enjoying exploring our new home, and enjoying securing contractors to complete various landscaping projects a bit less thoroughly. To be clear, the contractors are great – they’ve all been, quite rightly, “en vacances” – but they’re back now and trying to catch up on backlogs due to the rainy weather. Finding contractors? An invisible modern day problem to be sure, and actually the delays have been helpful – we’ve agreed not to go with the Poseidon statue. I was so hoping…

Almost there… perhaps a Poseidon statue?

It hasn’t been all rain and meetings with builders. In between showers we’ve enjoyed picnics in the park. One picnic spot looked like a set from the Teletubbies show. (If you don’t know the Teletubbies, keep it that way. Our daughter loved them when she was a toddler. She probably still does, but don’t tell her I said that…)

Scout has become more used to the heat and humidity, and with all the recent rain has even wondered if we left the rainforests behind? She might have a point:

Agreeable weather permitting, Mrs. PC has absolutely insisted we go along to the Festibiere this coming weekend. It took a bit of arm twisting. I mean, over 100 local beers? OK, yeah, maybe we’d enjoy that… We’ve put in some training:

Thank you if you took a look at the pig photo last week – I was going to write a not so controversial caption connecting pigs to Tories, but decided against it. All those greedy snouts in the trough, who wants to think about that? Instead, and far better, how about this joke from ACI?

A pig walks into a bar and orders 10 drinks. After he drinks them all, the bartender says “Don’t you need to know where the bathroom is?” The pig says “No, I go wee wee wee all the way home.”

That’s still funny after the umpteenth time!

There’s no way it’s going to get any better here this week, so let’s leave it for now. Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

	Maria on A short trip…
	plaidcamper on A short trip…
	Maria on A short trip…
	plaidcamper on Striding out…
	plaidcamper on Winter mountain hush