Bald Top and Dark Horse

On the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, we packed up Teddy the new-to-us Band Van, and drove out to Bald Top Brewing Co. in Madison, VA. It's a beautiful spot where we had been a few times before to enjoy their beer, most excellent pizza, and live music with a view, but we'd never played there ourselves. So it was pretty cool to set up on their big outdoor stage! If you look closely, you can see cows in the background. I also heard meadowlarks singing as we were setting up.

After we finished playing, of course we had pizza for dinner! They make it there on site. Seriously, some of the best pizza around. I put it in the top two in Virginia, anyway. We had a 45-minute drive to our little cabin just outside Luray, chosen because it sort of splits the difference between our two gigs of the weekend, and because it's close to good hiking opportunities, and because we like to hang out on the little patio overlooking the brook in back. The also have a restaurant right there so you don't have to drive anywhere for breakfast.

By late morning on Saturday, we headed into the Shenandoah National Park to go hiking. The entrance at Skyline Drive was absolutely insane, cars lined up down the road trying to get in. But we weren't trying to get in there anyway; instead we had a trail in mind that has a little trailhead along route 211 maybe 3/4 of the way to Sperryville from the cabin. The parking at that trailhead was slammed so we had to park about a half mile down the road and walk back.

The trail we took is called Buck Ridge Trail, officially, but we and others call it the Devil's Staircase. Sooo many steps, and soooo steep, not fully conveyed in pictures. Great workout! One of these days when we have more time, we'll do the full loop, but we just did an in-and-out hike of about 2 hours.

In the evening we had a gig at the Dark Horse Irish Pub in Flint Hill, where we played out on the patio for the dinner crowd.

To our complete surprise during the first set, our friends Dot and Richard showed up. We had thought they were in Italy, and I may or may not have exclaimed "holy shit!" right on the mic when they walked in. I definitely flubbed some lyrics. It was so great to see them! The next time we see them will probably be at their new home in Italy; we definitely plan to visit!

The next morning, as we were leaving the cabin area, I happened to notice a white peacock. We turned around and went back to check it out. They have three male peacocks in a pen, one of which is albino, and that is the only one that was showing off his fancy tail.

I managed to get a video of him doing a little shimmy-shake. (The squawking you hear is actually me, trying to incite the dance. Apparently it worked.)

The others didn't feel the need to fan their feathers, but were content to just stand there looking handsome in their brilliant blues.

We went back to the same trail head as the day before, but at the junction where the trail splits, instead of going up Buck Ridge Trail, this time we took the Buck Hollow Trail, which mostly follows a stream and has a more gradual incline. Another great hike, and easier on the legs and heartbeat. 

*****

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