Most Recent

That Time I Won A Boat

I received a postcard in the mail from a timeshare company in western Virginia called Massanutten Resort. They were aggressively marketing their timeshare condominiums by offering prizes for selected visitors to their sales pitch. One of the prizes was a "2m boat", which I interpreted to mean a "two man boat", which would be a rather nice prize. Not that I expected to win it, or anything; but I was curious what this timeshare fuss was, and it would be a nice ride on a sunny day and a time for Mary and I to be by ourselves without the kids, as they were busy with their own activities.

Karen's Play

In 1984, Karen was in a Drama Club and found herself in a Western at the Hunters Woods Community Center. At 9 years old, she had to kiss a boy as part of the show, and she was terrified! A good little actress she was, though; those of us in the audience never suspected.

Karen's Modeling Session

I don't think I'm exagerating to say I have amazingly handsome kids. (They got it from their mom!) At 11 years old, Karen decided she wanted to become a model and got her sister to take a roll of modeling photos for her portfolio.

Jenny's Class Photo

When we lived in Reston, Jenny attended Forest Edge Elementary School. This was her class photo. She was eight years old and in third grade.

Tony and Julie Visit Lake Fairfax

Mary had been adopted, and she had two adoptive brothers. One was not a nice guy; Mary was afraid of him and didn't like to visit her parents if he was there. The other, Tony, was a nice guy; so we were excited when we heard he and his wife would be taking their camper to our area. I recommended Lake Fairfax, where Mary and the kids and I had camped most of the previous summer, and that's where they stayed.

Mary's Rock

Mary's Rock is a favorite hiking spot in the Shenandoah National Park. Its popularity is partly because it's a fairly easy hike, partly because it offers a spectacular view from its summit, but mostly, I think, because it's so easy to get to. The trail head begins at the parking lot of the concession right at the entrance to the park, where US 211 crosses the Skyline Drive.

Adventures in Inlet Court

As October approached, nights began to get too cold for camping. Plus, the kids had already started school in Reston; so Mary and I found a multi-level townhouse for rent in Reston's Inlet Court development, on the shore of Lake Anne. We lived there for the next year, at which time we moved into another, slightly larger townhouse in the same development. I continued to work at NASD, commuting to their offices in Washington, D.C. by Metrorail.

Outer Banks Flight

The day after Easter, we gathered on the sandy edge of North Carolina, ready for a "Flightseeing" tour that promised a new perspective on the Outer Banks. We would be flying over the same landscape the Wright Brothers had flown over on the very first heavier-than-air flight. The planes were small, so Mary, Karen and Dorothy boarded one, while Jenny, John, and I and my camera rode in another. As the propellers turned and the shoreline slipped behind, we rose into a view that stretched from dune to ocean, a sweep of coast that seemed both fragile and endless.

Kill Devil Hills: Jockey's Ridge and the Wright Brothers

The following morning we traded wings for sand, climbing the vast slopes of Jockey's Ridge. The dune rose like a golden mountain above the flat coast, its shifting ridges shaped by the wind into playgrounds for anyone willing to scramble and slide. We ran, laughed, and felt the grit of the sand cling to our shoes, the same landscape that had inspired hang gliders and kite flyers for decades.

Camping For The Summer

Our six-month lease of the apartment in Silver Spring expired at the end of May. My new job at NASD was still going well; I was making enough money to support and feed my family. So it made sense for us to move into another apartment somewhere. However, I wasn't sure where. We weren't really crazy about Maryland and had enjoyed Virginia on our previous sojourn there. But Manassas, where we'd lived, was too far out from Washington where I worked.

So we decided to take our time deciding where to live next, and instead, now that school was out, we decided to camp for the entire summer while we made up our minds.