Yes, that is snow on my boot! It snowed! Only up on Mount Rogers though, nowhere else, and its only an inch or so. Its still fun to see snow. Jon and I really want to go hiking, so we decided to not let the snow stop us. We did pick a short one mile trail rather than a long one though, and we walked fast. It was very windy, but only in the tree tops. In the forest, it was still. Enough sun filtered through to make it very nice.

We looked at the log cabin village, but it wasn't very exciting. There was a small cemetary there, from the Jones family. I love old cemetaries, and I think family cemetaries are especially cool. I like to read the names of the people buried there. I feel that if I see their name, even if I have no idea who they were, then in some way they are still remembered.

Just because we're on vacation doesn't mean Jon and I aren't running. I even signed up for a 5k in Galax. This is the 20th annual Autumn Days 5k. It starts in Felt's Park, goes to the New River Trail, and returns back to the park. It wasn't a bad course, and was pretty flat, which is hard to find around here.

It was 38 degrees at racetime. Not the coldest 5k I've done (the 2007 FW Turkey Trot was 32 degrees), but it was pretty fricken cold. I also had more cold weather clothes last time. (I did at least have pants though. Why were the people who live around here in shorts?) My racetime was 35:02, which is a bit faster than I have been going. So I seem to be making slow progress at getting faster. As I was approaching the one mile marker, I saw the winner running past the two mile marker. He was very fast.

Jon met me at the finish line with hot chocolate. It was awesome. Then we had lunch at the Galax Smokehouse. They have amazing bbq. Yum.

Today Jon and I did one of the funnest things we have ever done. It did not start out that way though. We woke up at 4:30 this morning, and drove two and a half hours before dawn to get to Beckley, West Virginia. We're going white water rafting on the New River! The New River is very old (either it or the Nile is the oldest in the world, one of the two), and in this section it is very deep, very rocky, and very rapid-y.

We checked in with the rafting company, and got some hot chocolate and breakfast. While we were eating, other people came in, and we realized they were base jumpers. Tomorrow is Bridge Day, where the highway across the New River Gorge Bridge is closed, and base jumping is allowed from the bridge, which is over 800 feet above the river. I thought the base jumpers were crazy, but as we were leaving breakfast I heard them saying that they couldn't believe anyone would go rafting today because the high for today is only 41 degrees, and that we must be the crazy ones.

Our group was the only one on the river today. There were three boats, and our boat only had five people plus a guide, including Jon and me. The New River has class I through class V rapids, but is suitable for beginners. The first rapid we encountered was a class IV, and I think it was more than some people were expecting. I remember the boat tipping and the woman who was sitting next to me fell towards me, pushing me over the side. Jon also fell out, and he went down deep under water. Our guide got flipped out as well, so that made me feel better. As I struggled to get back into the boat one of my shoes slipped off, not that it was keeping my foot warm anyway.

No one fell out of the boat anymore for the rest of the trip, although we had a great time spinning and tipping and riding the rapids. It was very cold, but that didn't make it any less fun. I don't know how far we went, but we spent about 3 hours on the river. Along the way we saw remnants of the pre-Depression mining towns, and even older structures. We got out just under the bridge, and took the bus back to the lodge for some hot showers and lunch. The trip was with River Expeditions (www.raftinginfo.com). Jon's boss has gone with them twice, and recommended them. It was worth getting up at 4:30 for. We've already made reservations for our next trip. Anyone want to join us?

At the lodge, the crazy bridge jumpers were packing their 'chutes. After we left, we drove over the New River Gorge bridge. Its very, very high, and has a great view. We didn't get out and walk though, just drove over. They were getting ready for Bridge Day, setting up porta-potties in the median and trash cans along the highway shoulder. Some of the people who live nearby had signs up, offering a parking spot in their yard for $10. If I lived there, I would totally do that. I would also grill hot dogs to sell, with coffee and sodas.

This morning I went to my high school and talked to the science classes about going to college and being an engineer. It was interesting. Some of the kids seemed interested and asked questions. None of my old teachers were still there. The new chemistry teacher drives tanks in the Army, and he says he always gets very happy when he sees the fighter jets coming in to provide him support.

It was still raining today, but we couldn't wait to get into the woods any longer. We went into Jefferson National Forest and hiked on the Iron Mountain trail east from Highway 21. Soon after entering the forest we saw an old steel car, it looked like a 1950's sedan or something. The only thing left was the metal, no glass, no upholstery, no paint. It was wrapped around a tree. It was very interesting, and I wonder how it got there. Its cool how old junk is fascinating, but if it had been new junk, like a 2000 Chevy or something, it just would have been trash.

We hiked up for quite a while, and then we went along the ridge line, up and down along the crest. This used to be part of the Appalachian Trail, but that has been relocated, and now this is just a trail for hikers and horses and mountain bikes. We saw some horse poo, but we never saw any other people on the trail. It rained a little, and there were patches of fog, but there were also patches of sun. The forest was very thick and quiet, and we couldn't see anything except more mountains and trees. We had no idea how long the trail was, or where it went, so after two hours we decided to turn around, so we would be back before the sun went down.

We wanted to go hiking today, but its foggy and rainy. Yuck. We drove around randomly for a while, looking at more cool houses and seeing what we could see. We drove out to the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower, which is supposed to be open until October 31, but it was closed for the season already. Boo. The shot tower is really cool. It was built in the late 1790's to manufacture ammo for the frontier settlers, and later for the Confederate army. There are only a few shot towers left in the world, and this one is unique because instead of building a super-tall tower, they built a moderately tall tower, and extended it with a moderately deep shaft into the hill below it, which ended right at the river side.

We saw the bowling alley in Galax, and thought it would be fun to go bowling. We walked in, and everyone stared at us. I guess its obvious we're tourists. It was also league night, and there were no lanes available. Boo again. We played a few games of pool and air hockey, which were fun. Then we shared a banana split from the Dairy House. :)

This is my mom and my brother, Phillip. We went to Blacksburg today, where Phillip lives, to visit him. On the way we stopped to visit my mom's friend in Hillsville, who has a giant kitty-enclosure in her backyard. She wanted to let her six cats outside, but was afraid they would get into the road. So she had a 20 foot x 30 foot "cage" built in her backyard. It is filled with perches and staircases and scratching posts. There is a little tunnel to the basement window, where a kitty door lets the cats in and out.

Last year Phillip introduced Jon and me to disc golf, and we wanted to play again. It was a beautiful, sunny, fall day, and we had tons of fun playing disc golf. The course (Golden Hills, I think was the name) is very difficult, heavily wooded, with steep slopes. It was very pretty, with the leaves all changing colors and falling.

There weren't very many other people playing, just the four of us. It was my mom's first time, but she did pretty good, and had loads of fun. Jon and I are much better than we were last year, I even made par on a couple of holes. Phillip plays a lot, and is quite good, although he says he is out of practice.

After the game, we had lunch, and drove around looking at the Virginia Tech campus. Phillip is in a pool (billiards) league, and had a match that night, but we had to drive back to Independence.

Today we went to frolic in Wytheville. We went to a park in town that used to be a minor league baseball field, but is now just a park. It has a trail around the perimeter, with several different species of trees planted along it. Each tree had a marker identifying it. One was a Red Delicious apple tree, with ripe apples. Not exactly a "lost" variety, but I've never picked a delicious apple off of a tree. I actually found a good one on the ground, I didn't pick one. It was very small, maybe twice the size of a golf ball, and very dark red. It tasted exactly like a Red Delicious though.

Wytheville has several historic homes from the 1800's and 1900's, and a walking path you can take to see each one. We did the tour last year, so this year we just went and looked at our favorites. We had lunch at the Log House, which is a nice restaurant in town in a log house that was built in 1776. It was added on to over the years, and the whole place is a crazy, mismatched maze. It even has rooms built around trees.

Tonight we are staying at the Davis Bourne Inn. Its a wonderful bed and breakfast in Independence in a fantastic old home. They also have dinner, and the food is always wonderful. The beef is from grass fed local cows, and the cheese from local goats. The kitchen scraps go to feed local pigs. The parlor rooms of the house are filled with art from local artists. When I was a little kid, the county owned the house and I remember having head start in the upstairs rooms, so I really enjoy staying in this place now.