Birthday celebration in Aberdeen, NC

We pulled into Aberdeen; setup our BIW in Michael & Jess's driveway, and started our celebration of Jordan's fifth birthday............

But first, his last baseball game of the season.  Jordan had an awesome hit and rounded the bases on the way to home plate!  Go Jordan with his first season.

Celebrated Jordan's birthday with a birthday brunch at Hillside...an old southern house with incredible food.  Shrimp & grits, and all of the great southern cuisine...loved it all, but too much to sample!  Then to his favorite Mexican restaurant for his birthday dinner............honored with the official Mexican Sombrero.

The Virginia Creeper

This 34 mile rails-to-trails bikeway is named the Virginia Creeper because the N&W steam engine strained to climb the 3,000 feet to White Top Mountain to pick up logs for the lumber and furniture industry down the tracks.  Or is it because the plant, the Virginia Creeper, is climbing the trees, through the  huge rhododendrons, and around all of the rail trestles?  Either way, the former rail line now is a wonderful biking trail!

We grabbed the bike shuttle from Damascus, VA where we were camped on a nice site along Laurel Creek, and got dropped off near the top of the line.  From there it was 17 miles of mostly coasting and braking as we rolled across over 30 bridges, through woods, and farmland.  Caught peak Fall color.............WOW !  Not that we exerted much, but had to stop when we got back to Damascus

at the local ice cream shop.

For our second day here, we decided to finish the bike trail, so we biked out of Damascus to Abington, another 17 miles.  This time we had to pedal, but another magnificent day of views of the streams, the woods, the farms and old log cabins, and again a beautiful blue sky day in all its Fall glory.  And instead of ice cream when we arrived in Abington, we headed for great BBQ at Bone Fire; Ruthie claims one of her best BBQ ever!  Two great days on the Virginia Creeper

We're on our way....Fort Frederick, first stop

Heading south for the winter, Fort Frederick is our first stop.  This fort was built in 1756 to protect the settlers from the Indians and the French.  It was built so strong, stone versus the typical wood picket construction, that it was never attacked.  Used during the French & Indian War, the Revolutionary war (to hold British POWs), and finally the Civil War, this fort then was sold off to a local farmer and fell into disrepair.  In the 1930s, the CCC restored the fort, and Fort Frederick became the first Maryland State Park.

We pulled in with our new Blowin-in-the-Wind-2 motorhome and setup in a lovely campsite backing up to the Potomac River. 
Although no hookups nor bath facilities, it is a perfect place to check out all of the history, and then..............

Go biking on the C&O Canal Towpath and the Western Maryland Rail Trail. Three days and 55 miles later, we loved the biking paths, the scenery, and the wonderful fall weather!  We had biked the C&O in May of 2008 in driving rain.............this time pure blue skies.