As Seen On ... A Visit to Tempelhof - Berlin's Famous Airport

This week's enjoyable find on the web is Kyle Dunst's "commercial and travel blog" called ThirtyThousand.us.  In the post I read, Kyle wrote about a recent visit to Tempelhof Airport in Berlin - you can find his post here, and the photo below is copied from his blog (the link in the caption will take you directly to it).

http://www.thirtythousand.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/DSCN2472.jpg

I've written about Tempelhof quite a few times here on Hawksbill Cabin - the base was my home during most of my USAF enlistment, and I lived there from October 1981 to April 1986.  As a resident, the history of the place had its own presence, as if it were a person always there with you, where ever you went on base.  I even have dreams from time to time where I am exploring unknown places on the base, fictional mysteries created by the subconscious mind while I sleep.

Kyle's post includes a snapshot of the history, past and present, and it is generously sprinkled with photos from the tour he took.  One I found especially interesting is the one he took from the basketball court that was located on the sixth floor of the central building.  I've copied the photo below - the link in the caption will take you to the original on Kyle's blog.

http://www.thirtythousand.us/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/DSCN2540.jpg

I played basketball on that court for the entire time I was at Tempelhof.  There was a weight room and sauna as well, which were facilities I used during my training for the Berlin Marathon in 1983.  Also right next door, through a doorway to the right in this photo, was a bowling alley, which was another site of many good memories - we spent a lot of time in there having group bowling outings during our time off.

On a side note, there's other news about Tempelhof - or TCA as we often called it, standing for Tempelhof Central Airport - they're filming one of the Mockingjay movies there this summer.  Lot's of interesting sets have been built featuring areas of the building as background, which you can see at this link.

They Slept in the Space Shuttle

Our friends Mark and Nancy have been traveling this summer in their RV – last week, as they crossed the border from Canada into New York, I saw a post that they had traveled 13,000 miles since leaving home in San Diego a few months back.  The whole odyssey has been chronicled on Nancy’s blog (here, or in the blog roll on the right) and via their prolific Instagram accounts. 

…Speaking of which, their visit inspired me to start using that app again.

As I understand it, they begin planning the trip around a visit to the Newport Folk Festival, which annually takes place in August.  They got their logistics all set up back home and then hit the road, first to the Pacific Northwest, then across the northern tier, via Chicago and Pittsburgh, and then to the fest.  After that, up into Canada for a few weeks, and now they’re on their way back home – so they slipped in a quick visit by Hawksbill Cabin and then Harrisonburg (Nancy’s a JMU alum) en route.

We’ve had some great visits with them over the years, whether at their place on the west coast, or when they’ve come to the DC area, although Mary and I haven’t made it down to San Diego to see them – they used to live in Santa Barbara.  I was able to spend some time with them Saturday and Sunday hearing about their adventures, and showing them around Luray and New Market, before they got on their way again.

On Sunday morning, they gave me a tour around the Airstream (named Feona) and showed me how the four of them got along in there; they’re traveling with their dogs Dax and Trixie.  It takes a little getting used to – they took three or four shake down trips in California before they launched on this adventure.  It didn’t feel anymore cramped in there than it does in a hotel room in Manhattan, although you do have to get yourself organized and stay that way, like you would on a boat.

As we parted ways in the parking lot of the New Market Battlefield on Sunday, a couple from North Carolina came up to chat with me about the vehicle.  “That’s a nice rig,” they said, “all the way from California, too.  Seems like you see more of that kind of travel out west.”  After I explained that Mark and Nancy were visiting and on the way home now, this couple told me about how they hoped to take a similar trip someday.  There is an entire national community of people who want to do that, in fact.

It took about 20 minutes of planning to park it for the night on Saturday, but they were satisfied with our sloping driveway.  I invited them into the house for the night, but they declined:  “That would break our streak,” Mark said.

International Space Station Tracking

(Note: I wrote this post a few days before it went up on the blog.  Between writing it and publication, the Russian government has announced that they are planning to cease cooperation on the International Space Station soon due to sanctions by the US and international community over the situation in Ukraine.  I did not write the post in anticipation of it becoming such a hot geopolitical topic - I'd rather it remain a symbol of international cooperation.  We'll have to wait and see what the future holds.)

I recently put up a Facebook post about the International Space Station.  Out at Hawksbill Cabin, we are blessed with a dark sky - and I noticed sometimes a bright object flying over.  After further research, I figured out that it was indeed the space station.

NASA Image of the Amtrak Corridor from the International Space Station.  DC and suburbs are the third bright blob
from the left, and Shenandoah National Park is just above it - an unlit, shadowy ridge.

After additional research, I learned that NASA has a tracker software that will send an email alert of scheduled flyovers, and I quickly subscribed for the location Shenandoah National Park.  On April 23 of this year, I had an alert of a flyover, and even though we were in Alexandria, I went out at the designated time to watch. I snapped the photo below - worried that with phone cameras being what they are, it might not turn out - as it passed over us and just before it disappeared behind our roof (it's the bright spot in the center of the photo).

Space Station flying over Alexandria - bright spot
at the center as it approaches our roof.

I understand that the station is the third brightest object in the night sky - ranked behind the moon and Venus, I guess - but it's bright enough so that you can even see it from many cities.  I was certainly visible with the clear skies that night in Alexandria.

Here are a couple of International Space Station links for the enthusiasts...the first is where you can sign up for alerts of flyovers, and the second is where you can watch streaming video of the earth below from the monitoring cameras installed on board:

http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/iss-hdev-payload

Outside Diatribe

As a follow-up to my recent seven summits post, I noticed the emphasis on “adventure tourism” coverage of summiting Everest in this month’s Outside magazine.  There were three articles – in the first, “Meet the New Boss,” by Grayson Schaffer, there is the story of California guide Adrian Ballinger who plans to spend the Everest season taking experienced climbers to “the top of the world.” 

Quoting from the article now:

“The idea is to make it from the U.S. to the top of the world and back in just 40 days, paying $89,000 each, roughly twice the average cost of a guided Everest summit.” (note)

In a second article, entitled “Show of Force,” reported by Deepak Adhikari, we read that the base camp at Everest will be patrolled by armed police.  Apparently there are as many as 1,000 people in the camp during climbing season, and a need for law enforcement has evolved there.  Schaffer refers to the crowds as a “high-altitude conga line;” to me it sounds like tolerating the environment there might be a challenging as the climb itself.  

Then there is a final article, “Express Descent,” by Ryan Krogh, which describes “a daredevil’s plan to jump off the top of the world” in a wingsuit.  This involves summiting Everest, and then BASE jumping off of it..the whole shebang is sponsored by the Discovery Channel.

I love Outside magazine, and have since I began reading it in the 1970’s.  They continue to offer good journalism on less exploitative topics, and I enjoy the gear reviews, often taking them into consideration when equipping my hikes in Shenandoah National Park and the George Washington National Forest.  However, reading the Everest articles in this month’s edition was a bit of a downer, because they’re reporting nothing but pure consumerism – I can’t read a stitch about adventure in any of the three of them, even between the lines.

Note – the article mentions that the typical duration of an Everest summit is 2.5 months – 75 days, so this excursion cuts the time in half as well as the cost.  This doesn’t acknowledge the additional preparation that legitimate guides require – high altitude and ice climbing, for example – or the cost of getting to Nepal and the departure point for the route to the summit.

Sunday Drive: Meems Bottom Covered Bridge

After breakfast at the Southern Kitchen in New Market, Mary and I decided to take a little drive north on Route 11 to Mount Jackson so that we could have a look at the Meems Bottom Covered Bridge there.

I'm pretty sure I've posted on it before - we go there now and then since we discovered it.  It's on the way to Edinburg, which has a restaurant we enjoy and another gap to drive over the Massanutten ridge line.

The "Virginia is for Lovers" web site says the bridge was built in the 1890's. From reading about it elsewhere I remember that it is one of four covered bridges still in use in the state.

There was a fire here in the late 1970's and the bridge was rendered unusable.  However, they were able to recover many of the structural timbers and it was reconstructed so that it can carry traffic to this day.

It spans more than 200 feet over the North Branch of the Shenandoah River.  It's worth the drive to check it out sometime.

Here's a link for more info and directions:
http://www.virginia.org/Listings/OutdoorsAndSports/HistoricMeemsBottomCoveredBridge/

The Whip It Meme

Some pretty good Facebook posts of late playing off of the old Devo song.

And here's a link if you need a reminder.

http://youtu.be/IIEVqFB4WUo

As Seen on GWNF's Storybook Trail: Fall Color

On Sunday morning, after breakfast at the Southern Kitchen in New Market, Mary and I made a stop by the Storybook Trail in the George Washington National Forest - we often do for the short little walk after enjoying the terrific fare over at the little diner.

There are touches of color up and down the mountains surrounding our Valley.  The forecast for fall color, according to some, is that this won't be a great year for leaf color, but we found enough to enjoy there in the morning sunlight. 

And one other thing - there was a little copperhead on the trail as we were walking back.  Why it was still out on the path when we got there, who knows, since a large family group had come through with kids racing ahead, yelling and laughing - should have been enough to chase this little guy off.  But no, Mary spotted it with her eagly snake detecting prowess and kept me from stepping on it.

It was clearly a hatchling from this year, and wasn't as big as the juvenile black rat snakes we sometimes encounter at the Hawksbill Cabin.  I tried to get a photo, following its movement off into the brush - but the phone cam just couldn't capture the moment for us. 

It was our first encounter with a venomous snake in the Valley.  Back to fall color now:

As seen on Skyline Drive: Wild Turkeys

This Saturday I took a little cruise on Skyline Drive to check out a new hike near Big Meadows.  On my way back, I encountered one of those little traffic jams that means some kind of wildlife has been spotted in the woods.  Maybe I'm a bit cynical about this now - the random stops on that road are quite dangerous, and most of the time people have stopped to look at a deer, so now that I've hit one and had a $2,000 car repair because of it I just don't appreciate the scenic wonder in the same way the rest of my (probably) Northern Virginia fellow travelers do.

However, what was crossing Skyline Drive the other night was out of the ordinary - a flock of about two dozen turkeys!  I've seen them in ones and twos before, but never so many at one time.  It was fascinating, and got me thinking about...well, white meat or dark meat - these hens were about as big as Canada geese.  I managed to snap off two quick photos, but one (the one I am not publishing, of course) didn't have a single bird in it...here you can see quite a few of them.

I remembered that I had a photo stored of a yearling cub I had seen back in June in nearly the same place, so I uploaded it and will share it now.  It's in the woods here foraging, probably only 30 feet or so from the roadway.

I saw one on my hike the other day, too.  It scampered across the trail 50 feet or so ahead of me - it saw and heard me coming, and it ran for a couple of hundred yards before it dissappeared into the woods.  By the way, my friend Evan took the time to put up a few posts about black bears on his blog - including how to increase your chances of seeing one, and suggestions for what to do if you do see one.  Click on this link and look for the posts on black bears:  http://wildlifeinphotography.com/species/.

Although the hike was good exercise, I had to break my attempt short.  More on that next post.

As seen on... Adventures in the Valley Blog -

Well, almost everywhere I went this weekend, I was greeted by a story that began:

"Howard could not be with us because he was in West Virginia helping Joe and Cooter deliver a hot tub to a trailer."

With such a fine opening statement, I'll let readers go ahead and make up their own post this morning.

As seen on Hawksbill Park Road: Jordan Hollow Inn Foreclosure

Last month when I drove in to the Board of Supervisors meeting, I saw a big red foreclosure sign at the front of our neighbor, the Jordan Hollow Inn.  Since then, news of a foreclosure auction has been printed in the PN&C newspaper. 

It seems to me to be another sign of how tough this economy has been.  This is the second time the establishment faced foreclosure - last summer it did as well, but the owner was able to stop the proceding.  No such luck this time.

Mary has indulged me in letting me take a look at the property and consider making an investment here.  The research we did may form the basis of future posts.  It's enough to say for now that this has given us an excellent opportunity to get to know our Page County neighbors better - so no matter how the auction turns out, at least we have that going for us!

As seen on ... Orth's latest message

Talk amongst yourselves.  I give you a topic.  Discuss.

"Americans I have encountered of late exude a sense of fatalism and cynicism whose cause may reflect an empire in decline. What Italian, when reading of Rome, doesn't feel some momentary sense of loss? Likewise what Spaniard or Britton, when viewing current life, doesn't somehow pine for the days when the heaviest lifting done was of the teacup or the hard-spined book, and ships bearing the crown owned the seas? This fate - decline - and associated sense of loss will befall us too, if it has not already, as we have less than our fathers before us."  - Anthony Orth

As seen on US 340 South: Newport, VA

Since I was driving to the Shenandoah National Park entrance at Elkton last weekend, I headed through Stanley to get to US 340 South. Just after the turn onto the highway, there is a little boat landing on the Shenandoah River, one of many in Page County.

Here the river takes a 180 degree turn as it hits a ridge, which diverts it around River Bend Ranch, which is where my family had a reunion in August. There is also a drop of one or two feet over the course of this mile or so, and a small rapid - nothing noteworthy - sometimes appears during low water. It makes a pleasant sound when you walk around the landing.

Newport is not to be confused with the much larger Newport News. This is a borough in Page County, with the major landmark of a little store on the highway, and a campsite where there are trailers and RVs year round. I hear there is a good dominoes game in the store on Sunday morning, and the store is the check in for the campground across the street.

Also, Catherine Furnace, a historical feature in the GWNF, is located just on the outskirts of town, only a half mile or so into the forest.

If I do get a kayak or canoe, and I plan to at some point, this seems like as good a place as any to start a float.

As seen on ... David Byrne's Journal

So I was reading David Byrne's journal (you can find a link over in the blog roll to the right) and learned that the tour is winding up after a year on the road. Mary and I, and some friends, were lucky to catch the show in DC - a link to that blog post is below, as is a link to the entry on his blog.

It's just my take on it, but David has the future of collaboration all figured out in real time. The latest album, developed in collaboration with Brian Eno, showed how people can work together across the boundaries of time and space.

The process they used for packaging, releasing and marketing the new record is a model for artists of now and the future - and the shows, while doing the traditional combination of promoting new material with a mixture of old, demonstrated how to keep the work fresh and interesting.

• http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2009/08/080309-london-playing-the-building-iii.html

• http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2008/11/dc-david-byrne-show-118.html

mmm...Beer Pancakes!

From a recent entry on the Outside magazine blog (which links to the Backpacker magazine site): http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2009/07/-backcountry-beer-pancakes.html

There is a how to video!

As seen on Bacova Properties - Charming Bath County Foreclosure

Mary and I probably first got serious about buying a country property a couple of years ago, during a visit to the Homestead in Warm Springs, Bath County. We went down for a long weekend and really had a nice, relaxing Spring getaway.

Besides the hotel and a few places to eat, we enjoyed our soak at the Jefferson Pools, and thought about taking in a performance at Garth Newell but nothing was on that weekend. Golf was out of the question, hadn't brought our clubs. So we walked over into town and visited with the realtors at Bacova Properties.

After checking out some wonderful homes at good prices (compared to what we're used to here in the DC area, at least!) we decided that area is just a bit too far away to make it a comfortable place for weekending. As it is, the Hawksbill Cabin is 2 hours door to door, which is great.

I am still on the mailing list for Bacova, and the rep there, Selby Schwend, sends an update on their listings from time to time. This is the latest, a farm house on 35+ acres, listed in the mid $300's....if we were ready for retirement and full time living out there, this one might just suffice.

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"Here is the "STEAL OF THE MONTH"!It is a foreclosure that we have just listed. If you ever wanted to own a piece of mountain property with a charming 1890 farm house, this could be the answer to your dream come true. The bank is doing some work on the interior so I won't have interior shots for another week or so. They are very anxious for us to find a buyer. Call me today for details or come on out for a look.Little Pond Farm21821 Sam Snead HighwayWarm Springs, VirginiaBank foreclosure forces the sale of this very charming 1890 farm house on 35.64 acres located just 9 miles north of Warm Springs just off Route 220, the Sam Snead Highway. The elevated site provides views to the northwest toward Duncan’s Knob with the property running to the top of Rocky Ridge on the western boundary to the National Forest across Route 220 on the eastern side. It is comprised primarily of woods with cleared areas around the house and in the upper portions of the property. A spring fed pond lies just below the house. The approximately 2,100 sq. ft., 2-story farm house contains 3 or 4 bedrooms with 2 full baths, kitchen, dining room, living room and a new family room addition on the southern end. There are new double paned windows throughout. There is also a bunkhouse at the rear above an old cellar that has a newly roughed in full bath, living area and double bunks. The site is served by spring water and septic and features forced air heating, baseboard heating, and 2 stone fireplaces with gas stoves. The house could use a bit of TLC to get it in tiptop shape, but at this price, with the acreage and improvements, it is an excellent buy."

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More at Selby's website www.bacovaproperties.com

as seen on Wildlife in Photography: Evan's Black Bear Posts

My fellow H-burg blogger has a series of posts up on his Wildlife in Photography blog, detailing his encounters with black bears over the last few years - link below.

Our area - and Shenandoah National Park in particular - is said to have the highest population density of black bears in the country. If that is a frequent destination for you, it is likely you will encounter one, if you haven't already. In fact, last year, Mary and I ran into a mother and cubs once on a hike near Big Meadow, and then I saw another late in the summer sauntering along Skyline Drive.

Evan's put together a great series of posts - highly recommended! http://wildlifeinphotography.wordpress.com/

As seen on "the Valley Pike"

Last weekend we took a drive up to Edinburg for lunch. One of the treats of that drive was finding Meem’s Bottom Covered Bridge – highlighted here. Besides the photos, this discover set me off on research about why covered bridges were built, what other bridges there are in Virginia, and other tourist trivia like that…here’s some of what I found.

From the Virginia is for Lovers site…there were more than 100 covered bridges in Virginia in the early 1900’s. Today, only eight authentic, timber covered, bridges survive and there are six you can drive on. Besides the Meem’s Bottom Bridge in Shenandoah County, the others are in Giles County (1), Patrick County (3), and Alleghany County (1).

About the Shenandoah River Bridge: “One of the best-known covered bridges is the 204-foot single-span Burr arch truss known as Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge in Mount Jackson. The Meem's Bottom Bridge was constructed in 1892-93 from materials cut and quarried nearby for the massive arch supports and stone abutments, which extended 10 feet below the riverbed. It was deeded to the Highway Department in the 1930's in return for assuming its maintenance.

This long span over the North Fork of the river carried traffic for more than 80 years before being burned by vandals on Halloween 1976. After salvaging the original timbers, the bridge was reconstructed and eventually undergirded with steel beams and concrete piers. The bridge was reopened to traffic in 1979 and is still in operation to date.” (http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?AttrID=40588)

Finally, from Ask.com, they were covered because wooden bridges with exposed superstructures are vulnerable to rot, so covering and roofing them protects them from the weather and they last longer.

Also of interest is the apparent prevalence of them in the hilly areas of the east coast. This was not only because the population was growing in these areas during the mid to late 1800’s, but also because mills were built in these areas to take advantage of hydropower…and of course bridges were needed for commercial transport to and from them.
The Meem’s Bottom bridge is an easy stop off of US 11, less than a half mile from the road. It’s not well marked from the south so keep an eye out!

As seen on US 11

From time to time we drive to H-burg via New Market, heading south from town on US 11 to get to I-81. We have alternative routes, and we generally decide which to use at the last minute.

Right there at the intersection of 11 and 81, there is this old barn with a memorial to the Leonard Skynyrd band members who died in a plane crash on October 20 1977 - the painting was done on the 2005 anniversary.

This crash happened on a Thursday of that year, but the media being what it was in 1977, the coverage didn't really gear up until Saturday morning.

I happen to remember where I was that Saturday - I was driving my '73 Plymouth Duster, sunroof open, up US 1 from Key West to Miami, where I planned to spend the weekend with a high school friend who lived in Little Havana.

The three hour drive over the bridges was wonderful, and we had a great weekend hanging out in Miami. But one of the things about that trip that I always remember are all the eulogies from the DJ's I heard on the way up - and the "Free Bird" marathons.