Sunday Dog Walk

Lately on Sunday mornings Tessie and I have taken to walking the length of the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray.  Back in 2011 we took this walk a lot, but lately we had tapered down and were only walking half of it. The walk is about 3.5 miles - hopefully we'll keep this up.

There is plenty to see along the Greenway, and even though it is winter and all the leaves are down, it's pretty scenic.  I took this first snap from along the bend at the south end of the walk - you can just see the old grain mill and old co-op building there.

(About the old co-op building...the co-op moved out to the 211 bypass a few years ago, leaving this one behind.  It's housed a few businesses since then, including most recently a pop-up craft market showing off local wares.)

After our walk, Tessie and I took a short drive around town.  The sun was starting to come out, so it highlighted a barn I'd never noticed before, even though I've probably driven by it 100 times.
The angle I photographed happened to include Kennedy Peak, part of Massanutten Mountain, in the background.  This peak is around 3,000 feet high, making it something of a high point on Massanutten, although you can't miss its distinctive shape.

It's pretty interesting to notice the wide range of weather conditions you can have in the winter.  It was overcast and practically snow flurries during the walk, and then the sun came out and warmed everything up.

That was a good day for Tessie and me.

The Green Canoe visits Luray in Page County

Last night I was watching MSNBC and along about 7:30 there were two ads in quick succession - one for Luray Caverns, and the second, also by the Caverns, about Luray and Page County in general.  There was a little traffic early in the month over on Facebook about that second ad, called "Green Canoe," and I've embedded in the blog header for this month.

It features a couple of our locals as actors, so it was a real treat to check it out.  For reference, I'm also embedding it in this post:

Now, there is a poll going on in Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine, and Luray is in the running for Best Trail Town.  If you've made it this far in the post, you might as well click over there and vote for us...thanks!

http://www.blueridgeoutdoors.com/contests/best-mountain-towns-reader-poll-2013/

A Trout Stream Runs Through It

Tessie and I took our regular walk along the Hawksbill Greenway in Luray on Sunday morning.  We often end up on the section where the old swimming holes are, near the train trestle - and frequently, we'll run into folks casting in the stream along the banks.

This always serves to remind me that Hawksbill Creek is recognized by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries as a heritage trout stream.  This is a program that provides a scheduled stream stock day for the first Saturday in April.  It creates the feel of an old-timey opening day, and the towns across the state that share in the program will often hold events to observe "Trout Heritage Day."

Luray had one - it's all over the PNC, with quite a few big fish taken.  There was an angler who had a couple of pan fillers with him when we walked by.  But most of the morning fisherman were just there casting, enjoying a fine morning and hoping for a rise.

Nice day altogether.  I love this time of year.

This Weekend's Bike Race: The Luray Caverns CX

Yesterday I got in touch with Hawksbill Bicycles/Page County Cycling’s Chris Gould, who reminded me that the Luray Caverns CX “Cyclo-cross” bike race returns to Page County this weekend on Sunday December 9.  

It takes place on the grounds of the Luray Valley Museum at the Caverns – check out the Google Earth image of the route to the left, and the Vimeo link to video highlights of last year’s race below.

Here’s the video link:  http://vimeo.com/33513568

And a link to the Page County Cycling event page:  http://www.pagevalleycycling.com/Luray_Caverns_CX.html

Spectating is free, and they have a beer garden(appropriately featuring “Face Plant” ale from Rhino).  But if you want to participate in the race, you’ll need to register.  Here’s a link to a site where you can register on-line:  https://www.bikereg.com/Net/11804

Now, I’m just learning about the sport myself (and for now, I'm going to focus on how to spectate properly), but I found the following description of the event on the Luray Caverns page:

“Cyclo-cross is an exciting and spectator-friendly discipline of cycling which involves a variety of surfaces (grass, asphalt, gravel and mud) and which includes barriers that require participants to dismount and carry their bikes. It was originally developed in Belgium as a way of keeping road racers in shape during the off-season, but has developed a strong following in Europe and in the United States, with crowds at some events rivaling those at football games.

“Traditionally, cyclo-cross courses wind around a central viewing area and often involve a festival-like atmosphere that includes live entertainment, food, and drink. Luray Caverns CX will carry on this tradition, with local vendors selling food, as well as a beer garden. We will also feature a “dueling drum lines” competition between Page County High School and Luray High School, and a short and safe free-entry “Lil’ Belgians” race refereed by Santa Claus for the young children.”

I put up a post about the even last year – there’s a link here:  http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2011/12/luray-caverns-cx-cyclo-cross.html

Visitors - and a Trip to Luray Caverns

The iconic bell tower at Luray Caverns, with Mary's Rock
in Shenandoah National Park in the background.

Last weekend our friends Kelly and Tom came out to Hawksbill Cabin for a visit – seven-year old daughter in tow.  The kinds of recreation we might have taken in during the old days aren’t available here, even if those were the choices we might have made for the weekend.  Fortunately, seven-year old Erin had come prepared with research.

A scene in the caverns - a small underground lake here.

High on her list were Luray Caverns, our most famous landmark here in Page County, and the corn maze up at Valley Star Farm, which I had sent along in a short list of things I thought might be fun to do.  To these we added a stop at Wisteria Vineyard for the “Music Under the Arbor” with Marcos Brown and the Sugartones, a trip to the Luray-Page Farmers Market to see some friends, and a cookout on Saturday night.

I have a few photos here of highlights in the Caverns, including one of Mary, Kelly and Erin with our tour guide Chad.  This may be the moment that Kelly asked if anyone had found the white sweater she lost during a school trip when she visited the Caverns in second grade, when she was seven.  Chad courteously directed her to the lost and found above ground. 

Getting our money's worth from tour guide Chad!

As far as the story of Luray Caverns goes, they were found in 1878 by some local farmers – there’s a little sign in the Caverns marking the spot where they first went underground.  The Wikipedia article on the Caverns offers a pretty colorful history on the development of the property as a commercial enterprise, but you can cut to the chase about modern day attractions on the website at www.luraycaverns.com .

We didn’t get to enjoy some of the other highlights there – including the museums that are included in the price of admission, or the two mazes that have been constructed on the grounds.  We’ll save them for another day.  

However, on Saturday, we had visited the corn maze and pumpkin patch at Valley Star Farm north of Luray. 

Another cavern scene, I think this formation

is called "The Fish Market."

Although Mary and I never go into the maze, the pumpkin patch is an annual stop for Mary and me, and we often bring visitors with us to this spot, which is as scenic as any here in the Valley.  Here’s a past post about one of our visits in 2008:  http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2008/09/valley-star-farm.html

Looking up at the caverns' ceiling, I found
the algae interesting.  Must grow due to the
combination of lighting and moisture.

Tom and Erin went into the corn maze, where there is something of a scavenger hunt set up for the kids to explore and learn about the farm.  When the scavenger hunt is over, the kids visit the little farm store to turn in a visitor card, earning the youngster a pumpkin from a special bin – followed by an ecstatic search for just the right one.

An unexpected theme of the weekend happened while we were at the pumpkin patch – seven year old Erin lost her sweater, just like Kelly did in that long ago school trip to Luray.  We searched all over for it, including the lost and found at the pumpkin patch.  

It’s gone to sweater heaven, maybe they’re even together now.

Luray's Spring Fest - 2012 Edition

Luray's Annual Festival of Spring - 2012

This weekend was a special one in the town of Luray – it was time for the annual Festival of Spring, a great outdoor festival down Main Street that was more special than usual this year, since Luray is observing the 200^th anniversary of its founding.  There was a parade on Friday evening, followed by the big deal on Main Street on Saturday.

Mary and I had errands to run downtown anyway, so we made a point to stop by.  Although the Farmers Market was closed, we found out that that space was to be the venue for the disk dog exhibition that is one of the highlights of the festival.  

A view of the beer garden from upstairs at Artisans Cafe.

We also made stops by Uncle D’s Pools and Spas, since we are in the middle of the spring opening of the Hawksbill Cabin pool; we visited with our friends at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures and at Hawksbill Bicycles; saw some friends that had a booth set up to sell handcrafted jewelry; and finally, scouted out the beer garden for later on in the day.  Our morning adventure wrapped up with lunch at Artisans Café on Main Street. (special shout out to Firkin-Good Creatives!)

One of the reasons this event is special to me is that it marks five years since Mary and I were first introduced to the town – we were staying in the Park up at Skyland, and there was rain so we couldn’t hike.  Instead we took a little adventure down into the town, and behold, there was the fest!  I had been on a part-time search for a mountain property at the time, and soon began to include Page County in the rounds I was making on the internet.  By mid-summer we had identified Hawksbill Cabin as a property we were interested in, and the rest is history.

Beer Garden action - with Marcus Brown and the Sugartones.

We made arrangements to come back in the evening for the fest – the folks at Uncle D’s let us park in their lot since we had to pick up pool supplies, and we’d agreed to meet up with friends at five o’clock.  Five O’clock happened to be the start time for the set by Marcus Brown and the Sugartones, just one of the groups taking the stage in the beer garden.

There is also a wine garden at the fest, which we didn’t go and visit this year.  They also have live music at that venue, and there were a half dozen or more local vineyards represented, including our friends at Wisteria Farm and Vineyards.  I peaked in at around 11 a.m., and Sue was already busy pouring tastings and visiting with aficionados.

We hung out for a couple of hours enjoying the music and visiting with friends and neighbors.  Sally and Dan, from the neighborhood, couldn’t join us due to some family commitments, but I heard that Dan had a hand in choosing the beers that were featured.  For myself, I enjoyed the New Belgium variety “Festy” that was on tap.

We were lucky with beautiful neighbors and that just tops it all off for this beautiful little town. 

What’s not to like?

Luray's 200th Anniversary!

This year Luray is celebrating the 200^th anniversary of its founding.  Although Mary and I had work commitments that kept away from the kick-off celebrations, it looks like we missed a special evening.  Fortunately, Saturday’s events were just the beginning of a year-long observation of the anniversary.

There was good coverage in the Page News + Courier of all the festivities, and I am starting to see some rave reviews on Facebook.  In the PN + C’s coverage, Pam Flasch, director of the bicentennial committee, described a “first night” style of evening – and despite the threat of rain, it came off and was well attended – here’s a picture of Pam holding one of the anniversary buttons (photo is from the Celebrate Luray website, see link below).

Besides the speeches you would expect at an event like this, all the shops stayed open, and there was live music at quite a few venues around town. 

The paper’s coverage summarized Luray’s history since its establishment in 1812, but it omits a favorite anecdote of mine about the evolution of the town as County Seat. Page County was carved out of two counties, and at that time, the mountains were still a formidable barrier to the east and west.  People who lived in what is now Page County had to travel over to Mount Jackson Woodstock (thanks, J.D. Wayne, for the corrections!) to do local government business, a trip that required overnight at a minimum, but more typically meant you’d be away for two or three days.

As I understand it, the Virginia House of Delegates responded with the establishment of the new county after residents complained about the inconvenience of the travel.  Land was given then by Isaac Ruffner to establish the town of Luray, which would become the county seat.

Here’s the link to the website about the anniversary.  It will be updated as new events are added to the schedule…Mary and I will look forward to joining our friends very soon!

http://celebrateluray.com/

The Luray Caverns CX "Cyclo-Cross"

Photo by John "Major" Nelson.

Last weekend saw the Luray Caverns CX cyclo-cross race return to Luray. Unfortunately, Mary and I had some last minute work and alumni things to take care of in the city, otherwise I would have attended as I’d planned. As far as I know, this is the second of these annual races, which are held on the grounds of the Luray Valley Museum at the Caverns.


Last October I had a few minutes to talk about this event with Chris Gould, the promoter and owner of Hawksbill Bicycles in Luray. He told me that this was a European discipline in cycling that originated in Belgium, involving riding on multiple surfaces, such as grass, asphalt, gravel and mud. There are typically various kinds of barriers that require the riders to dismount and carry their bikes.

Photo by John "Major" Nelson

Also attractive about the sport is the fact that the course is usually designed to wind around a central viewing area, so it’s spectator friendly. At Luray there was a beer garden, and Wisteria Vineyards sponsored a wine tasting. This thing sounds like my kind of event and I really regretted not being able to attend.

As I followed the events on Facebook, I saw that there was a drum line duel between Page County High School and Luray High School. How cool is that?

There were 150 competitors in the event, which is one of four cycling events in Page County now. It’s another great example of the kind of active tourism that our beautiful setting can attract. Kudos to Chris and the other organizers and sponsors for bringing something new and exciting to the community!

Note: I have copied photos here from the Luray CX Facebook Page – the photographer is John "Major" Nelson, who documents most Page County Cycling events in his capacity as the official race photographer!
A web link to the Luray Caverns event page is here:  http://luraycaverns.com/PlanyourVisit/Events/tabid/512/Default.aspx

On Top of Old Stonyman

To close out our holiday weekend, Mary and I decided to take a drive on Skyline Drive, choosing the little Stonyman trail for a season-ending adventure.  It was a very clear, if bracingly cold day, and with most of the Park's lodging and dining facilities closing, we figured we might come close to having the place to ourselves.

That's almost never the case at Shenandoah National Park, due to its proximity to DC, Baltimore, Richmond, and other east coast population centers.  But it does slow down and there are times when you'll find excellent surprises.

The temperature was hovering around 30 degrees once we were up at altitude - enough to freeze the little rivulets you often see on the back side of Stonyman.  Later on in the winter, these will be bonafide ice pillars, but for now they are just getting their tenuous start.

Here's a pair of views from the summit, one looking to the north and over Lake Arrowhead, and the other a westward view that includes much of the town of Luray. 

It's not something I do all that often, but while we were at Skyland, I put a quarter in the telescope machine there on the veranda and took a look at the town.  With the leaves down, you really can get a nice view from up there.  I imagine you'd have this all to yourself at times during the winter if you wanted to make a picnic on a warmer day.

There weren't any traces of the fall fires we had the previous week.  With black powder hunting season over, maybe there won't be anymore...just saying.

Another thing interesting about the view from up there on this day was the notable inversion layer to the west of Massanutten.  Traffic was crazy on I-81, we were told, and maybe that's what was causing that dirty haze over in that part of the Valley.  I thought it reminded me of Denver, or Los Angeles...

For a final shot of the day, here is a tech watch geek update.  I remembered to turn on my Pathfinder's altimeter function as we were coming back down from Stonyman summit.  When we got to the intersection sign with altitude, I checked my reading - it showed 1,060 meters, same as it did the last time I passed by the sign, last week!  That's 3,286 feet, so a typical adjustment had to be made with the reading...but I am surprised that I got the same altitude two times in a row.  Maybe I am onto something.

While the majority of Park facilities closed for the season this weekend, Skyline Drive remains open for the winter, except during inclement weather.  I'm looking forward to a few little excursions this season if I can get my little hiking group up for it.

Willow Grove Mill: A Luray Point of Interest

On Saturday, with a couple of visitors out for the day, we took in a couple of Page Valley sites. After a picnic near Hawksbill Creek at Wisteria Farm and Vineyards, we drove into town via the Ida Loop and made a stop at Willow Grove Mill. I’ve driven past the mill hundreds of times, but this is the first time I ever pulled over to take a look around – I’m glad we finally did.

Apparently, the mill is typical of dozens of mills that populated the area in the 1800’s. This one was owned by the Ruffners, which was one of Luray’s early families – in fact, they provided the original land for the founding of the town. Their land was along both sides of Hawksbill Creek from this area down to where it flows into the Shenandoah River.

Last week, I mentioned Stonewall Jackson’s commitment to protecting the “breadbasket of the Confederacy” – this mill was part of the agricultural industry he was making reference to. The historic marker (http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=11034 – none of my photos are good enough to republish) talks about the 1864 Valley campaign that burned this and other production facilities

The family that owns the farms now has a little farm store on US 340 by the Creek. There are lots of local treats to be had, but one highlight is some heritage items about the mill’s operation, including this flour bag. I snapped this photo a few weeks ago during a stop.

The mill was recently featured in a new town mural, which can be seen along the Hawksbill Greenway. The building is prominent, but a couple of highlights have been added to emphasize other aspects of Valley life – there are some hunting dogs in the foreground, and a row of re-enactor tents can be seen in the background.

The URL for the marker says there are quite a few other points of interest within two miles of the mill. I need to make a point of finding them all and checking them out.

Are you gonna eat that?

Yesterday I posted about our trip to Valley Star Farms, today I have a few more photos to share from that visit.  By the time I finish this post, we could officially call October "Winter Squash Month" here on  the Hawksbill Cabin blog.

We bought a few smaller, decorative squashes while we were there.  I've since learned that you can eat these if you prepare them properly - I never would have guessed, since they are so hard, and I don't expect to try it.  We also bought a couple of larger varieites...a Long Island Cheese, the pale orange one, and a Turban, the bright orange one.  As is tradition, Mary made a tableau to display them while I search for recipes.

Two highlights I should point out:  the pottery collection comes from a variety of mid-Atlantic and southeast craftspeople, including some from the "Jugtown" disctrict in North Carolina; and the print here (featuring Page County Beef!) comes from local artist Wes Porter.

For the rest of the post, I thought I'd add a few close-ups of some of the other pumpkin varieties Valley Star has for sale, including Cinderella and "orange warty thing."

On the Fall to-do List: Buy a Punkin

We finally made our must-do stop at Valley Star Farms in Luray to buy some pumpkins.  It's a simple pleasure and honestly one of my  favorties every year.  Here are a couple of shots from the stop, showing the wide variety that are always on hand there.  Tomorrow, I'll have some close-ups!

If you are interested, here is a link to the farm's website:  http://www.valleystarfarm.com/

Page County Heritage Festival, 2010 - Part 2

A quick post to highlight the tractor and steam engine portion of the Heritage Festival that was held last weekend.  Everytime we've been to the fest, there are upwards of a hundred, or more, vintage tractors of all types assembled into a display right at the fairgrounds entrance.  I've shown more photos in previous years - this time, only one focused shot on the group of Ford tractors I found.

Of course, there were John Deeres and Allis-Chalmers (there is quite a following of these distinctive orange machines in Page County!), and quite a few others besides.  Although it happened after we left the fairgrounds, there was a tractor parade scheduled - I'm pretty sure that the Oliver shown here was going to participate.

There are usually several steam machines on display too.  I particularly like to stop and watch the portable sawmills that are powered by these vehicles.  We watched a couple of quarter-sawn planks get turned out (on our way to the Methodist Men's pulled pork sandwich booth).

Last one, this little tractor train that pulls the kids around the grounds.  I hadn't noticed before but it is led by a New Holland from Louderback in Stanley.  This thing is always a hit! 

Page County Heritage Festival, 2010 - Part 1

It’s one of the annual events we look forward to in Page County – the Heritage Festival. It’s a two-day event held on Columbus Day weekend, featuring craft demonstrations and an antique tractor show, meant to connect us with the past, showing how farm work was done in the County’s “early days.” There is also a wide range of musical entertainment – including clogging, and of course, there’s a lot of food to sample.


Mary and I missed it last year, but we made a point of visiting this year, even getting there early on the first day. We ran into our neighbor Bobby in the parking lot, who started out the conversation with the remark, “Yep, I’ve got to get me a candy apple and an elephant ear,” before moving into some other hot topics about the community and our neighborhood.

I have a few photographs to share about the tractor and steam engine portion of the show in a separate post, but today I wanted to pass along some photos of basket weaver Clyde Jenkins and his Stanley-based team doing demonstrations of white oak basket weaving. This was the first time we’d wandered around to where this group was working. Mr. Jenkins’ card advertises these as an “heirloom of quality hand crafted in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia,” while noting that his group is a basket supplier for Colonial Williamsburg.

I have heard, but didn’t verify, while we were at the basket weaving display, that Mr. Jenkins is an expert on heritage apple varieties. There were more than 20 local types on display in the same area where they were making baskets. It’s on my to do list to talk with him about our tree – both to find out what kind of apples we have and for tips on pruning it to save it.

In any case, it is easy to find out more about Mr. Jenkins and his basket weaving with a Google search – I’ve included a link to a Washington Post article below, as a matter of fact.

Other crafts on display at the festival included quilt making, wood working, wool spinning, soap making, apple butter making, and metal working – including black smithing. There’s plenty to learn here about how things were done, and the groups that work to keep the heritage alive.

The official web site for the festival can be found at http://luraypage.com/heritage . Tomorrow I’ll post some photos of the tractors and steam engines.

The Post article about Charles Jenkins is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/19/AR2007071900639.html

A Sign that King Harvest has Surely Come

Scarecrow and a yellow moon,

And pretty soon a carnival on the edge of town,

King harvest has surely come.

-King Harvest, The Band *

This Saturday was the last day of the Luray/Page Farmers' Market.  We love the late summer Saturday mornings down there, as the fresh produce season really starts to roll.  And even though there were only a few vendors left by this weekend, there was still plenty to choose from.

I have some photos here of the Public House Produce booth, as I spent some time talking with David during our visit to the market.  The winter squash is in, and he had a wide variety, as did several other booths.  The Public House team is heading out for a little break - getting on the road, in fact, as soon as market hours ended...good for them!  For reference, the Public House Produce website is http://publichouseproduce.com/.


Tomorrow, I'll have a post on the items we picked up (and some recipe ideas). 


*

The Love Apple - part 2

Well, apparently, my post yesterday about the origin of the tomato is the subject of scholarly dispute over on Facebook, where a colleague is referencing Wikipedia to state that tomatoes (and potatoes) are of new world origin.  Before that topic takes over the entire social media universe, let's move on...

David and Heather had some tomato fun facts at their market booth the other day.  I'll let you read 'em for yourselves in the photo to the left.

Now we also picked up a great variety of local food last weekend - shown here "in the round:"  in the bowl, there are peppers, a sprite melon, eggplants, tomatoes and a peach.  The peach was one of several that came from the Alexandria market, along with the eggplants.

Outside the bowl, from left to right, there is a rosemary bread, cucumbers, a pepper jack cheese that came from the east side of the blue ridge (don't remember the town), and some local pork chops (bone in).

In light of the egg recall, we've been trying to go local on those for the near term, but everybody sells out early.  So we've resorted to cage free varieties at Whole Foods.  'Spensive, but safe.

The Love Apple

We had a conversation about tomatoes with Heather and David at the Farmers Market last weekend – it was centered on the nick name “love apple” that tomatoes are sometimes called. With a bumper crop in the Alexandria container garden, exposure to all the varieties last month at the Mountain View market (photo below), a note about the tomato fest at the H-burg market (link: http://harrisonburgfarmersmarket.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/945/ ) – not to mention the standard and heirloom varieties you can find in the Luray market, as well as at Public House Produce – it’s a topic I thought I might look into further.


As far as I can tell from my online scan, the tomato was discovered in Europe, but made its way to South America, where it was cultivated by the Incas and Aztecs. It was rediscovered and brought back to Europe by Spanish explorers, notably Pizarro, Cortez, and Columbus, in the 15th and 16th Centuries. As it migrated across the continent, it picked up a variety of names in the different countries, and its reputation was as varied as the cultures discovering it.

For example, until the 1800’s, in England, apparently it was considered poisonous and was avoided – but the plant was cultivated in gardens anyway. Since the plant was reintroduced in Spain, in neighboring Italy it was nicknamed “apple of the Moors” – pomo dei Mori – which was subsequently altered in France to pomme d’amour.

Somehow, it gained a reputation as an aphrodisiac during all of this, which built on the French name (there is also a German variation of “apple of love” that refers to tomatoes).

Although it was his first encounter with the moniker, for his part, David wasn’t surprised by all of this. Since he eats tomatoes all the time, in fact, he said this helped explain some things for him. I couldn’t quite understand the point he was trying to make here – he may have been saying that he thought he was the aphrodisiac.

After Action: Luray Triathlon 2010

Just a quick note this morning to say congratulations to all the participants, organizers, and town of Luray for bringing off another excellent edition of this event.  With 600 participants on both the Saturday and Sunday triathlons, the event was fully booked.  I hope everyone had a great race and will come back next year.

For our part, Mary and I joined the United Way volunteers to be part of the rest of the action - we were part of a variety of fun tasks, and I have to admit it's very rewarding to be a part of it all.  Among our activities - making PB&Js for the participants to quickly refuel after they finished; course guide on the water (Jim) - in a canoe with one of the lifeguards; and transition area bike checker at the end of the race.  I don't know that I will ever participate as a swimmer, biker, or runner - or all three, but there's no lack of fun stuff to do behind the scenes.

Also a big kudos to the AOA gang today - everybody there took part in the races:  Andy, Gary, Howard and Linda.  That's a real commitment to adventure tourism, gang!  Congratulations!

About: The Luray Triathlon

This is the weekend of the Luray tri's - two races held on Saturday and Sunday. 

There is a downloadable brochure on the event's home page here:  http://luraytriathlon.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Luray_Packet_Info_v2_10.pdf

There are a couple of reasons to love this event, even if you are not a race participant.  The main one is the support it brings to the local Luray and Page County communities in hosting the event, since the triathlon gives back a portion of the race proceeds to the local communities. In 2009, more than $10,000 was donated to the United Way of Page County, and another $8,000 went to other community organizations including: Luray Downtown Initiative, Luray Volunteer Rescue, Shenandoah Volunteer Rescue Squad, Luray Christian Church, Luray Parks & Recreation Department, Luray Police Dept and the Page County Sheriff's Office.


That's to say nothing about the impact on the local tourist industry from all the out of town guests.  It's a great thing to be part of!

Saturday's International is a combination of a 1500 meter swim, a 25-mile bike ride, and a 10K run.  Sunday's race is the Sprint, combining a 750 meter swim, a 16.5-mile bike ride, and a 5K run.  I can hardly think of a time that I've encounter so much enthusiasm and energy so early in the morning as you do helping with race day registration. 

Here's a video of the route.  This is a nice bit of work by Jenny Ruley, showing off our beautiful Valley.


Luray Triathlon from Jenny Ruley on Vimeo.

A Farmers Market Dinner

By the time July comes around, there's a lot to offer at the Luray Farmers Market.  Here's a sampling of the take from last weekend - for vegetables, three kinds of eggplants, two kinds of squash, new potatoes; an apple pie; and not shown, a 2.5 brisket that I will learn to use my new smoker with.  We stopped by Main Street Bakery afterwards for the oatmeal loaf shown here.

We invited our friends Steve and Noelle over for dinner - we had some New York strips that I had been saving and we paired those up with the produce.  We were able to enjoy a North Mountain white and the Wisteria Norton - both local vineyards - for libations.  Here's what I did with the eggplant and squash...

Jim's Evolving Market Ratatouille
1 traditional eggplant (the big purple one); three petit pan squashes; half an onion, garlic, olive oil, a cup of white wine, a 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes (or fresh if they're in), Herbs de Provence, and salt and pepper)

Simmer the onion in a pot with enough olive oil to cover the bottom.  Peel the eggplant (Mary says you have to press it with kosher salt to get the bitterness out - I follow this step, you may not), then slice into quarter-inch slices.  Slice the squash as well.  Once the onions have softened up, add the garlic and tomatoes. Once they are warmed up and mixed together, add the squash, white wine, and herb de provence (this is a savory blend of spices, so go carefully with it, I add a bit at a time).  Also add the salt and pepper, not much, and to your own taste.  Then cook until the vegetables soften, but still hold their shape.  You may want to add a little sugar and more salt and pepper to bring up the flavor.  The whole shebang takes about 15 minutes in the pot, serve it as a side dish.  This recipe is giving about 6 servings.

Now, as I mentioned, I am continuing to develop this recipe, which I originally put together on a whim.  I think I would like more tomatoes in the next batch, since they will be coming in soon enough.  And if I do that, probably can taper off a little on the h de p.  But it's coming along - I've made this three times and so far no complaints...the first time I did it, I used Busta Browne's spicy catsup sauce, lightly brushed on the eggplant...that left us hankering for more tomato so I moved up the the current amount, but we're hankering for more, and I want fresh from the garden tomatoes in the next batch.

Now, as far as the little purple eggplants go, here's what Mary did with them last night - she sliced them in half, rubbed some olive oil on the exposed flesh, spinked sea salt and fresh ground pepper, and grilled face down.  They came out fantastic - you eat them right from the skin.  They are small enough you'll need a couple, the four we had made about two servings.  This is definitely something we'll try again - thanks to David and Heather for the suggestion.

We asked Chuck at Main Street what he would do with them.  He thought for a minute, and came up with an idea for baba ghanoush...grill the eggplant whole. When they are done, cut off the end and squeeze it like a tube of toothpaste right onto toasted foccacia...now that sounds like a fresh summer treat, doesn't it?

Speaking of Farmers Market Dinners - Luray's Mimslyn Inn is also giving it a try on alternating Friday's this summer.  Here's the poster - more details on their website.  Many of our friends from the market provide the ingredients...we're looking forward to having a chance to check it out soon.