A 14,556-Step Day

Saturday, 28 April

We had all kinds of ideas for things to do today, but we didn’t do any of them.  Why?  It was just too darn cold.  When we got up at 6:00a it was a mere 45F (7C).  We hoped that as the day progressed the sun would come out and warm us up a bit.  That didn’t happen.  It was overcast all day and the temperature barely got up to 52F (11C), staying there for maybe 30 minutes before it began moving back down again.

I’m not really complaining; I’ll take cold temps over hot anytime, but we had hoped to sit outside this weekend, maybe have an al fresco meal or two.  The damp chill put paid to those plans.  Perhaps next time.

Not that we stayed home mind you.  After all, you can’t walk 14,556 steps inside the Phaeton.  Well, you can, but since it takes only 17 steps to get from the cockpit to the far side of the bedroom, it would take forever to rack ‘em up.  I’m participating in the “10,000 Steps a Day” Program sponsored by my company, so I’m off to a good start :-)  Actually, I easily walk 10,000 steps a day; so my goal is to get above that number.  (With my stride, what I accomplished today equates to 4+ miles (6+ km).  Not too shabby.)

After relaxing around the bus-house until mid-morning, we took the .5-mile trail from the campground to Gunston Hall, George Mason’s colonial home.  Since we had toured the estate on a previous visit (post here), our purpose was to get some exercise by strolling the grounds.  Of course, there were some photo ops along the way, some of which made me wish I had my DSLR and tripod with me.

Field of buttercups as far as the eye can see.

a yellow poplar tree with plenty of blooms.

So, this is what the blooms look like when they’re still attached to a tree branch.

Behind the visitor center, a secret garden bordered by tall hedges revealed …

Viburnum bushes

Easy to see why this species of viburnum is nicknamed common snowball.

… as well as the snow white blooms of azaleas.

When the white azaleas start blooming, I'll come back to you … or so the song goes.

Azaleas bloom in the spring; it sure doesn’t feel like it today.

We returned home around noon and grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Then, Mui went off to shop for a project he has in mind (post later).  While he was gone, I processed the photos from our Gunston Hall stroll.  That done, I headed out for a walk around the campground loop to find ‘acceptable’ sites for future visits.  A few shutter clicks added to my collection of Pohick Bay Regional Park photos.

A head-on view of Site 71 shows how wide it is.  our space goes out to the fire ring on the far left;
and there’s wide open space to our right.

Clockwise from top left: a small portion of the play area (for adults and kids), which is rimmed by campsites behind a ring of trees; another angle of view of site 71; one of the two comfort stations that house restrooms and laundry facilities; mountain laurel buds; behind the trees on the far side of the coach is the play area pictured in the fist photo of this collage.

When Mui returned from his shopping trip, we headed out on another walk.  This time we took what was supposed to be a 1-mile paved path to Mason Neck State Park.  It was one mile, OK; but that was just to the park’s entrance.  When a roller-blader told us that it was another 1½ miles to the visitor center, we decided to turn back and leave exploring the park to another visit.

Look at the size of that root base!
Mui’s just being macho; it really IS cold today.  OK, OK – Truth be known, we both took
off our jackets on the return portion of our trek.

The fertile spore-bearing fronds of the Cinnamon Fern gives the species its name.

We saw plenty of these blooms in The Smokies as well; now I know that this flowering
plant is the Sawtooth Blackberry (aka Southern or Highbush Blackberry).

And so we wrapped up another day at PBRP.  It wasn’t quite the day we’d hoped to spend here, but sometimes you just play the hand that’s dealt you and move on from there.