Past adventures. . .

I went out and took a bunch of photos for the newcomer’s guide I’m working on today.  It was overcast and drizzling but not really  raining until sometime after lunch.  So I went to several places and then drove down to the large state park in this area and started exploring.  The trees were looking very nice and I took some photos. And then at one point I left the path to take a photo and found another path.  I thought “this must curve around and rejoin the one I was on”.  Why did I think this? Good question.  So after walking for about an hour and taking lots of photos I gave up the idea that I was headed back to anywhere familiar and called 911.  The lady on the line was friendly and said she would call the park ranger.  Then after awhile he called and said he would come out and get me.

Cell phones are so cool.

Steve Winwood Can’t Find My Way Home

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While I was waiting this guy came out of the woods with a large gun hanging around his neck. He looked a little bit like a hobbit. Or maybe Rip Van Winkle. But he was friendly and we had a nice talk about deer, turkeys and people who get lost in the woods. After the park ranger showed up I decided to go back to the car and drive over to the James River and Henricus.  This is one of the first settlements in the new world.  It’s a small fort overlooking the James River that was established about four hundred years ago.

So I talked with another guy who also had a gun at Henricus.  Only his gun was a very old musket.  We had a very interesting discussion about life in the early days and then he showed me how he loaded and fired his gun. Beth is down in Charleston SC this weekend for a wedding so I probably would have just sat around the house if it wasn’t for photography.  Instead of doing that I met some interesting people, got a whole lot of exercise, had an adventure and fed my creative spirit. Here’s a photo of the guy in Henricus taking aim and firing his gun.

And here are all the photos I took on this day.

Think for a second of the contrast between our world and one of the nicest golf courses in the area, for example, and one of the earliest European settlements. It’s all here.