Archives for category: Uncategorized

Early June at Massanutten

July 4, 2026 //

I have a couple of good friends here in Arlington who have a timeshare out at Massanutten Resort. They’re great – but not because they have a timeshare at Massanutten. I met them about a decade ago through my friend Joe because Joe met them once every week or two for a game night. I learned about his game nights at one point and said, “You should invite me.” After some hemming and hawing, eventually I became an invitee – and a regular. So, to this day I play games with Pat and Jim.

Carcassonne is probably our most frequently played game because it only takes about 40 minutes and it doesn’t require an even number of players and we often play it adjacent to a longer game. But anyway. This isn’t about games. This is about Massanutten, and visiting the Shenandoah Valley.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned but will do so frequently now – I am a hiker. I am a hiker because I enjoy being outdoors. I grew up on a farm so it is merely natural. Whenever I can I escape the city to head west to the mountains to hike. There are other outdoor activities I don’t care much about, like hunting (I am not a hunter), fishing (I don’t have the patience to deal with fishing lines and fish hooks or cleaning fish), four wheeling and motor sports. I’m okay at camping, preferably not with a backpack, but I enjoy a walk in the woods.

So I go hiking.

I live in Arlington, Virginia, half a dozen miles from the U.S. Capitol. End result, it is not good for hiking here. For what it’s worth, I do know people who dispute this. “You can hike on the Potomac Heritage Trail” or “I like to hike in Rock Creek Park” is what I hear. To me, no, even if you find the rugged spots if you’re hiking virtually in someone’s back yard hearing the hum of the freeway and hearing planes landing at National Airport you are not hiking.

Sometimes I cheat and head to Lake Acotink Park. Okay, that’s almost-hiking. Huntley Meadows Park? Too flat and level. Not hiking, even if there are a ton of bird watchers.

A proper hike requires you to bring water and snacks and climb a mountain or head down into a valley to chase waterfalls.

Anyway, one of the reasons, other than friendship, I head to Massanutten when my friends are there is to go hiking.

But this post is not about hiking. I didn’t go hiking when I visited Pat and Jim this time around.

This time I headed out from work the day after I returned from Baltimore and stopped at the local Walmart. Let’s just say that my tech-oriented mind had not slowed down yet and the locals in Luray, Virginia, kept bumping into me with their shopping carts.

I did eventually slow down when I arrived at this cluster of timeshare duplexes. My friends always play a game when they arrive. There is a trick to getting the best spot. You always want views of the mountains, but usually you have a choice between sunset and sunrise. This time they lucked out. They were able to get both.

When they visit Massanutten usually they stay for two or three weeks. They don’t go in the middle of summer as it’s too hot and they go there to be outside. They never go in the middle of winter either for the same reason. Their goal is to go when they can golf and go see live music, and it seems as if every other winery and brewery in that part of the Shenandoah Valley has live music.

Elkton Brewing Co. is probably my favorite place to go for beer out there. It’s really low key and laid back – very small town – unlike a lot of places where they built to handle 200 or 300 or 400 people. When weather is nice they set up a band on the porch; when weather is not nice they set up a band inside. And Woodfiredco has a pizza truck in their lot for Friday nights like this.

The thing about Elkton is there’s a busy freight rail line running through town so about every sixth song has a CSX locomotive running through it. This particular Friday night was no exception.

Nonetheless the band soldiered on, acoustic guitar with tenor singer playing along in a style I like to call “winery music.” They did a stunning rendition of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie.”

And then an hour later we were at Base Camp, a thousand feet higher and a thousand feet cooler listening to a band called Gypsy Town playing a much better rendition of Valerie. You can find both on my instagram – robnorwood is my handle there.

I actually enjoy the vibe better at Elkton Brewery, even with the trains going past. The beer is better too. Base Camp has a much more extensive menu (Elkton Brewery only has the pizza truck) but the funny thing is you can never find something you like at Base Camp and when it’s busy the service is excruciatingly painful.

But there are always deer in the evening. And sometimes raccoons.

So, the thing about heading out to Massanutten for the weekend is my friends keep a pretty serious schedule when they are out of town. I try to not exhaust myself on the weekend; if I go for a morning hike or a run or something, then an afternoon at a winery or two for live music followed by an evening at Elkton or Cave Creek, it gets to be a bit much. And this time I had been out of town for a few days before so I paced myself. Saturday morning I went for a walk and then we had a leisurely breakfast playing games before heading to Lavender Farm.

I know Lavender Farm has an official name but this is how we know it. They have llamas, or alpacas I cannot tell, and a small petting zoo, and they also grow a lot of lavender. Some of it they put in wine.

One time I had a wine tasting here, but never again. They have a handful of good white wines (in Virginia you can never go wrong with Viognier) and one good red wine (Cabernet Franc I think, same rule applies). And they have some decent beer.

But we came here to see Shane Click.

This isn’t Shane. This is me. Shane gives out these sexy glasses at his gig and encourages people to wear them. When you tip him he pauses in his singing to say, “Thanks you sexy beast!”

Shane knows what songs to play regardless of whether you request something but it’s more fun if you make a request. For me he played, “God is Great, Beer is Good, Rob is Crazy.”

Eventually the show ended and as I had been away for parts of five days at that point I drove the two hours home to Arlington for the night.

Another successful visit to the Shenandoah Valley.

Tags Massanutten Resort, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

Categories Day trips from Virginia, Hiking, Uncategorized

Heading South to Santiago and Antarctica – two days away

January 4, 2026 //

Good morning!

Two more days until we fly. This is really our final prep day as we’re working tomorrow and about two thirds of a day on Tuesday. Today is the day I ensure teenagers tidy up their rooms and prepare to go back to school tomorrow, and then the best they can get their things ready for a few weeks straight at mother’s house. Don’t worry, there will be revenge on the other end when February comes, and I am certain every day after school my younger teen will call me via ship’s wifi to check in and report on the day and ask for penguin photos.

Meanwhile, the tree and decorations are down and put away, laundry is mostly done, the fridge is emptying out. Yesterday The Boss (Julia) said she was done shopping for more things to pack because she already decided half a dozen times she packed enough.

So when I decided to do this, I figured I’d focus on a handful of things. My goal is to spend maybe thirty minutes in the morning catching up here and then a brief catch up in the evening. Also, I’m writing a bit in a blog as well, for future posterity, although I am pretty certain in another ten years (or even now, according to some) blogs may have gone the way of the printed newspaper. For real time I may share photos on instagram.

Rather than run eighty photos and stream of thought, here is my focus. Mind you it may go out the window by the third or fourth port visit where I get excited about everything I see.

– Logistics and reality – you want to know what will affect you on future voyages.

– How we remain active and fit on vacation (we do use the treadmill, we run on shore, and HAL does have yoga and pilates offerings). I’m not going to go on at length.

– Any interesting food and entertainment.

– Opportunities for rest and relaxation to recharge. I have a feeling this will consist of “today we sat on our aft veranda watching the wake because we didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

– And finally, what experiences in the moment really inspired our emotions.

For example of this final category, I’ll present this photo. It’s not the best photo but it’s a great photo, taken after all of the ships left for the day. I was walking around the tidal flats and nobody else around except the couple sharing a beer. It was nearing sunset and quiet.

I’m off to finish Sara Wheeler’s Incógnita now. More on that and my other Antarctic reading later.

Tags adventure, antarctica-packing, blogging, writing

Categories Uncategorized

From Country Roads to City Streets: A Tale of Three Drives

December 5, 2025 //

I learned to drive on my dad’s old Chevy truck—a hulking relic of steel and grit. It had a three-on-the-tree transmission, no power steering, and no power brakes. Every turn felt like arm-wrestling a giant, every stop a test of leg strength. But once you mastered its stubborn charm, it was magic. Perfect for long, lazy drives down winding country roads, where the horizon stretched wide and the world slowed down. Even in town, once you knew its rhythm, it danced through traffic with surprising grace.

Fast forward to today, and I’m behind the wheel of a Range Rover Sport. Funny thing—it’s about the same size as that old Chevy, and sometimes it feels just as commanding. I sit high above the fray, surveying traffic like a hawk. Parking still gives me that familiar “am I going to scrape the wall?” moment, though I never do. The turning circle? Huge. Sharp corners mean spinning the wheel twice, just like old times. But that’s where nostalgia ends. This Rover is a rocket. The supercharged V8 growls like an old Buick, but without the sway in corners. It glides over pavement like silk, stops on a dime, and those red brake calipers? They whisper speed even when standing still.

Then there’s my other ride: a ten-year-old Mini Cooper, base model, wearing its city scars—dents and scrapes like badges of honor. Driving it is pure play, like hopping into a go-kart. Quick, nimble, and perfect for darting through tight streets. My kids adore it. Most adults? Not so much—unless they’re car enthusiasts. And honestly, in DC traffic, it feels a little too fragile. Still, for errands and coffee runs, nothing beats its cheeky charm.

The past few months have meant countless miles—commuting for my kid’s treatment. In those long drives, I’ve found comfort in the Rover’s quiet strength and joy in the Mini’s spirited zip. But now, life is shifting. The urgency is gone, and for the first time in a while, I can leave both cars resting in the garage. Sometimes, the sweetest drive is the one you don’t have to take.

NOTES on writing this Post – I experimented using Microsoft Copilot to write this. Usually I take about twenty minutes to write these posts. As I have upcoming travel coming I want to practice jotting down and summarizing thoughts quickly and then simply adding photos. To write this, I instructed Copilot to write me a blog entry, provided three subject areas and summarized six or eight bullet points I wanted to cover for each. It’s the same method I may have used to write it myself but saved half the time and, let’s face it, Copilot’s writing is a little zippier. Honestly, I may have written more and droned on with pointlessness, but as it came out it was fine.

Tags car, Chevrolet, driving, driving experience, family, Mini Cooper, nostalgia, Range Rover, road trip, travel

Categories Automobiles, nostalgia, Uncategorized

Thanksgiving and the weekend

November 30, 2025 //

It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m relaxing in a comfortable chair while watching football and reading. Meanwhile, a huge stockpot is on the stove in the next room and I’m making turkey stock. Don’t worry the turkey carcass was frozen immediately after dinner Thursday so all is good. This weekend has been a trifecta of Thanksgiving activity.

Turkey dinner after dinner – there was so much more before dinner

First, there was dinner on Thanksgiving. Lots of cooking. Most years I roast a turkey at home with full fixings – stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Every year as I am doing this year I use the turkey to make more stock and can it to use through the year always retaining one or two jars for the following Thanksgiving. As not everyone in the household eats land-based animals, I have to find creative ways to use the stock. In the fall and winter there are roasts with potatoes and gravy for those of us who enjoy the stock. And for Thanksgiving I always add a few chunks of roast salmon. This year personally I made the turkey with stuffing and potatoes and gravy, the sweet potato casserole, the salmon, vegetarian stuffing, and home baked bread. I found the four bottle bottle of Cabernet shown above at Costco. As always, I’m thankful for my friends and family, the continued health and prosperity of all of the above, and the good food. However, next year I kind of want to take a year off and head to New York City, maybe see the Macy’s Day Parade, and go to Bourbon Steak for dinner.

As an exception to the usual I went shopping Friday. My sister always heads to the Black Friday sales and has been for the past four decades but I usually avoid the crowds. This year I went because one of the teens needed to be somewhere at 8:30 in the morning and I had four and a half hours to kill in suburbia so I showed up at my favorite mall a little before 9am, found parking fairly easily, and watched as the mall became more and more crowded. I could have just as happily found a comfortable chair and sat with a book while watching people in the mall but instead I went shopping – some for me and some for family. Eventually I left the mall and went to other stores where I was promptly ignored so ordered online instead.

Finally, Saturday, and mainly because there was time and the kids were here, the tree went up and the house was decorated for the holiday. This is the end of the trifecta – decorating, and if you’ve done it you’ve completed your Thanksgiving holiday in my opinion. So we headed to the Optimist’s club where every year they have a Christmas tree sale and fundraiser. A couple of high school athlete volunteers helped us select a tree and fasten it to the car (I say “fasten” loosely as the tree had a very loose relationship with the car and I’m convinced that if we went on the beltway it would have become airborne and past tense). We brought it home and wrestled it into the tree stand and exercised one of the “great pains of Christmas” which is “stringing up the lights” and a couple hours later the tree was decorated and lit. The whole exercise from leaving the house to returning actually only took three hours.

Last night was the cap to the weekend. Wicked For Good is in the theaters and the kids wanted to see it so we went. I chose the Alamo Drafthouse so I could have an excuse to not cater dinner. The challenge is the expense…. Tickets are $25 each and a personal pizza, drink (or cocktail in my case), and box of candy total up to about $40 each person there. I think I could go see a musical at the Kennedy Center for that price.

Tags Black Friday, blogging, cooking, culinary, family, Foodie, mall shopping, stockpot, Thanksgiving, turkey

Categories family, Home Life, Uncategorized

Running on a cruise vacation

November 21, 2025 //

In today’s episode we talk about running and keeping fit. I’m not as much of a runner as I once was, but I still run. My goal at the moment is three days a week. Hopefully on vacation I have time and energy to run five days a week. When going on a cruise the reality is I run on the treadmill or on the promenade deck, if it is allowed, on sea days and then I also run in port about every third time in port. Well, this has not exactly happened, but on our upcoming travels I’m hoping we run in port three times. There is a strategy for this.

The strategy for running on vacation in general is to do your research ahead of time. You need to find running routes. Often these are obvious and self explanatory, such as along a beach or on a rail trail. Sometimes it is as easy as the river walk along the Thames in London (I’ve done this, on the South Bank, and it’s easy, although it’s broken up in spots). Other times you have to get creative. In Avignon I attempted to run in the old city along the wall but that ran out after about a mile and a half; as I was training for a marathon I needed to find a longer distance. I crossed a bridge and ran on country roads on an island in the river for fourteen miles.

So, my recent cruise-related running. Let me describe.

In 2022, we took a transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale. We flew in the night before the cruise and woke up in the morning and ran from the hotel to the beach and to the point along the river where you could usually see ships heading out to sea.

That same vacation most of my running, consisted of running on deck on the ship although I did visit the treadmills a couple of times. One morning as we were at dock in Ponta Delgado it was quite beautiful. Sometimes, though, at sea the conditions are horrible for running, yet we soldier on anyway. In December 2023 I took a trip where half the time the promenade would permit running but half of it would be closed; I ended up doing circuits back and forth down one side of the ship.

Tips for running on vacation or when cruising? When traveling, pack neutral colored running shoes; you can still wear them to dinner if they are grey or black or maybe a pleasant brown color. Trail running shoes will double as hikers. Always plan in advance.

Review the port requirements; if you need a tender and a bus between you and a run it probably is not easy for running. Logistically, especially in warm weather, you likely want to head back to the ship to shower before doing any sightseeing and any barrier to leaving the ship twice makes it harder. For us, though, in retrospect, we could have run along the river park in Valencia and ignored the reports that the marina “was not safe.” There was actually a 5k taking place in the marina when we were at port there.

Bring a wallet and identification of course when you run – everything you need in case for some stupid reason you get stranded.

Plan ahead for weather. Look on Great Runs to see if people actually run where you are going. In some areas, as was my experience in Avignon, they laugh at you and holler at you; in January in Avignon on a windy day I was the only person running.

If there are beach bars it’s perfect. Go run a few miles down the coast, turn around and run back, stop for a cerveza.

Cadiz was perhaps my favorite holiday running. Five miles around the bay and ocean along the outside of the old town followed by a walk through the old city to get back to the ship. The beautiful thing was the ship was docked 15 minutes walk from the old town area so we could go back on the ship and shower and then head out to go sightseeing, have lunch, and go shopping.

Best sizzling gambas al ajillo ever.

Other places I’ve run include along the Solent in Southampton; eight miles out into the bush and back on Stewart Island, New Zealand; Siesta Key, Florida; and Paris, New Port Richey, and Chicago.

The next interesting place? Perhaps Ushuaia.

You never know when you’re going to find something interesting, such as Riverside, California, on the mountain overlooking town at 5:30 in the morning in the summer, when everybody is out getting their steps in because the high temperatures are well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit…

Categories Uncategorized

So that was yesterday.

November 7, 2025 //

In hindsight yesterday was an interesting day. Today was merely here – there was some work, although it is quiet due to the state of the government; there was some leaf raking (not by me); and I visited my favorite barber – she is leaving for Mississippi in January to work for a barber ministry. I will be sad to see her go but on the other hand when we go sailing around South America and to Antarctica I will not feel guilty if I get a haircut, a professional shave, and a men’s facial on board. In general I spent yesterday running around and today closer to home. Tomorrow will be the start of five days a week in the office for three weeks straight for me. But that’s on commuting, more on that later. For now, I digress.

Let’s start by talking about mugs. When traveling mugs seem to come home – they are the one thing to decorate the house that comes with adventures. At first it seemed silly as if it was a bit of clutter, but now they seem to be something interesting. Each day I sit down with a mug of coffee in the morning and I remember where it came from, such as the mug from The Strand in New York City, or the matching pair of blue hand-thrown mugs from the DC Holiday Market in 2019. There is also a Shenandoah mug and a mug from Siesta Key in Florida, home to a very relaxing Christmas and New Years in the same year of 2019. The latest, or one of the latest, is actually my favorite. It’s hiding in the back in the photo and it is a Quebec City mug.

When the covid shutdown began in 2020, one of the things I did at first was to post a photo of a different mug every morning on instagram. Later, I posted a photo of myself in a different Hawaiian shirt every day (I had about twelve of them at the time). I ran out of mugs and shirts for this exercise long before we reopened.

Along with my coffee recently I have been enjoying oatmeal in the morning but otherwise I do not eat until the end of the day. Well, wait, I do have some snacks. Yesterday turned into an exception though. As I was out, I went by The Broiler for lunch.

The Broiler is actually a long time Columbia Pike institution, started by my next door neighbor and his brother back in the 1950s. My neighbor still owns the building and the property (and it shows as he is more keen on earning rent than making improvements) but a different person owns the restaurant and rents from him along with all of his original memorabilia including a Ms. Pac-Man machine, photos of football stars in the restaurant, and a thank you note from the Secret Service. Anyway, The Broiler is ostensibly a sub shop but better known for cheesesteak sandwiches and they are halfway decent at that. Along with Columbia Pike in general even with prosperity it largely remains the same.

I actually prefer to be on the bus for my commuting to work, but lately I have been in the car far, far too often. Fortunately yesterday only had me driving out to the beltway to pick up one of my kids and we managed to catch a glimpse of a beautiful sunset on the way home. Per his request we also headed to Silver Diner for dinner. In keeping with only having two full meals a day I stuck with a Caesar salad with salmon.

Normally I am out mid-week for an evening. This week not so much trying to keep a handle on expenses in line with future adventures. I think after the January trip I may end up finding a way to liven things up a bit more mid-week, though, or it may be time for more weekend adventures. I need to find something so share even if I am not out traveling.

This reminds me of a meme before memes were known as memes. Two characters walking the earth trying to take in the moment until one speaks out loud, “I can’t wait to go home and share this in my blog.”

Categories Uncategorized

First Monday of November

November 4, 2025 //

The weekend after Halloween seems to be when everything changes around here. The leaves start to fall, slowly, so now there is routine raking; it‘s decidedly chilly at night and jacket weather still in the daytime; and finally the garden starts to die off even if there is no frost yet. Days are simply too short for tomatoes to grow quickly. Oh, and it is 63 days until the next great adventure, but more about that later. For now, we spend the days working and preparing for winter.

I‘m trying to get to a state where what I eat is sustainably healthy. In other words, I‘m avoiding fried foods and some things that are unhealthy for me (emphasis on some as there is still a lot of Halloween candy in the house). For breakfast I had a bowl of cereal, orange juice, and a banana. Lunch was P.F. Chiang‘s General Tso‘s Chicken, delivered. I should have ordered the lunch portion but I accidentally ordered a full dinner portion. As a result, I now have a stomach ache, something that isn‘t good because when I get a stomach ache from chicken it tends to linger on for a day. And finally, dinner just has not happened yet. I‘ll probably have something healthy when I get home like some fruit, maybe an apple or two. Definitely not candy.

Today was a mixed day of reading cruise blogs, work meetings and training (we‘re taking sales training that requires role playing), and yard work. I‘m actually rebuilding the surround to my garden bed, something which requires sawing 4×4 lumber to fit. So far I have managed to build more than half the new bed without sawing anything other than wood. And then there were a couple of meetings regarding my kids‘ mental health and a visit to the hospital for one kid who is on a mental health side quest. That‘s the way he puts it – it‘s a side quest. I‘m content with that statement and I am also looking at this current incident as merely a setback. We will be back to normal before long.

For me, Mondays are the busiest day of the week. Whereas at one time I would come home and collapse on Monday, instead Mondays are now fast and furious and extend from waking up early to an evening piano lesson, first one for my daughter and then one for me. I finally get to relax after dog walk around 9:30pm. The nice thing about this arrangement is it allows me to not contribute to society on Tuesday and Wednesday nights guilt-free. It also gives me a sense of accomplishment, the piano playing part at least. We‘re going on nine years of piano lessons for my daughter and about eight years for me. She is by far the better player once she learned how to learn and once my friend Jessica learned how to teach her. She does indeed have a very interesting way of learning.

Anyway, the conclusion here is I am focusing on the day to day for another sixty days along with some travel preparation here and there, and I am fine with this (I rarely focus on the day to day for this long). I am fine with this as we are embarking on a fairly significant adventure in January. We also have some other draft plans for adventures over the next three years akin to accomplishing a good portion of our bucket list in this time period. What we hope to accomplish is something that truly amazes me as we have built a life that allows this, yet we also have already accomplished so much.

For this reason I decided to start writing about it. I am focusing on a format that I think will work when the time comes that we are traveling. My draft, for now, is five paragraphs or five quick sections. I‘ll start with an introduction to the day to kick off what I have been thinking about.

Second, I‘ll main sentences of body. I would start with what I ate or what our meals looked like. Especially when traveling I feel this is something we focus on a lot because food is such an interesting part of culture – as is drink. In a quick day this can be a paragraph but in a busy day or a day with a “foodie adventure” it can be more. After the food I will talk about major events from the day. And then I‘ll scroll to the evening. Hopefully this will be when I gather my thoughts for the day but it may be more likely to do that on the following day. Anyway, this is when I will begin to understand what the day was about.

And then a conclusion. So what? What did it all mean? Was it a good day? Yes, honestly it was. No, not everything is going as planned, but today was a good day.

Tags blog, life, love, mental-health, writing

Categories Uncategorized

A box of nails

November 3, 2025 //

Today I learned my car – my baby, my expensive retail therapy when my kid was hospitalized the second time – is certainly large and boxy but not the best for hauling 20 landscaping timbers. You basically have to wrap a thousand pounds of lumber in blankets, sweatshirts, yoga mats, and yoga bolsters or whatever else you may have in order to protect the interior.

Categories Uncategorized

15.55 miles

July 29, 2013 //

Last night, I went out and ran somewhere between 15 and 16 miles. When I mapped it out, it came to 15.55 miles. I think it was somewhere around 15.5… Anyway, the distance doesn’t matter, and at the end of the day, the time doesn’t matter either.

I stopped running with a GPS and clock a couple of months ago, mostly due to multiple mechanical failures, but also because I was obsessing over it a bit and not enjoying my runs enough. I wasn’t paying enough attention to my body. What I have realized lately, though, is my body always feels bad until at least the third mile. Beyond that, I am home free, especially if the weather is nice. So when it comes time to go out for a long run, I figure out roughly where and how far I want to go, then I go out and do it, making sure to plan for water stops along the way. The last few times I have done this, I have come back home to see that the time slipped by rather quickly – anything beyond eight miles this seems to be the case.

Last Sunday, I ran 16 miles, with a bit of walking. When I was in the sun, I walked, in the shade, I ran, and apparently I ran well. I returned back to my base of operations two hours and twenty five minutes after I started! And then yesterday I ran 15.55 (or whatever) in two hours and fourteen minutes. My first few miles last night? Well, until about mile five? They were slow, and I stopped a few times. I ate dinner not long beforehand, and I was trying to cram in some hydration, so I had to stop. Translation? I ran probably ten miles in an 8 or 8:15 pace, which is absolutely killer.

And it makes me happy.

Categories Uncategorized