Debut in Shenandoah National Park

About five years ago, I was at a leadership retreat for natural resources professionals, staying at Skyland Resort in Shenandoah National Park. On one of the evenings there was a solo musician playing there, and I filed that away in my brain as a place I'd like to play myself someday. Fast forward five years, and that musician is me! This year I've been booked for several weekends to play double-headers, with one night at Skyland Resort and one night at Big Meadows Lodge (about 30 minutes drive apart). It makes for a pretty sweet weekend getaway.

May 30/31 was my first weekend doing this. I drove up from Richmond Friday afternoon, arriving at Big Meadows Lodge about 4:30. I wasn't scheduled to play until 7:30, but I went ahead and got everything set up in the tavern and had an early supper, then got situated in my comfy digs which were just down the road from the main lodge.

Setup in the tavern at Big Meadows Lodge

My digs for two nights at Big Meadows

When I checked in I had noticed that there was a tornado watch. Back in my room, I watched through the window as the weather revved up, treetops swirling in the wind, and larger-than-pea-sized hail pummeling my balcony. Things calmed down by the time I had to go back to the tavern to play, so I didn't walk in looking like a drowned rat. 

I had a pretty good crowd especially earlier in the evening. Several little kids got up to bust some moves, and that always brings me joy. One kid was doing "The Floss" or whatever it's called, while I was singing somber lyrics to relatively upbeat music, and it was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. I got lots of appreciation all around, including a huge compliment from the general manager. But some anonymous person felt compelled to get this napkin delivered to me:

Anonymous napkin note: "Great voice and musical talent, but song selections didn't hit"

Well, at least they appreciated my talent despite their disappointment in my song selection! I'll take the compliment and let the rest roll off. This kind of note might have bothered me in the past, but honestly I don't GAF now. I was just amused. I know that my song choices aren't for everyone, and that's fine. Music is so subjective. Some people will love my setlist, some will be indifferent, some will hate it. I decided long ago that since I can't please everyone, I might as well please myself, so I don't play songs I don't like or that are way overplayed in hopes of appealing to the masses. I play what I like and that's it. (I can be persuaded to play "Wagon Wheel" if you lay down a $20, or if you are a cute 5-year-old child making the request.)

Saturday morning I woke up to find that the power had gone out overnight. Generally not too big a deal except for one critical thing: HOW CAN I GET COFFEE?? I went over to the main lodge to see if they had power there. No.

Nope, no power here!

So, pre-breakfast, pre-coffee, I took a quick jaunt up to the Blackrock summit to catch the view. It was blustery, and cold, but beautiful. 

Blustery morning on Blackrock Trail

I had a cold breakfast back in my room (luckily I had packed some victuals like boiled eggs, bread, and yogurt), then drove down the road to Big Meadows Wayside. Happily, they have a generator there and I was able to get hot coffee as well as a breakfast burrito. Yes, I had a second breakfast. Don't judge. I needed to warm up my core.

In the afternoon I hiked the 3.2-mile Lewis Springs Falls loop. By then the sun had come out, the wind had died down, and the air temperature was perfect. Mountain laurel was in bloom, covering some of the slopes.

For the bird nerds among you, here's a list of birds I detected along the way, mostly by ear (in no particular order): American Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Chipping Sparrow, American Robin, Eastern Towhee, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, Northern House Wren, Ovenbird, Veery, Blue Jay, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-and-white Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Blackburnian Warbler (!!!), Cerulean Warbler (!!!), Hairy Woodpecker, Eastern Wood-pewee. I was pretty excited about the Blackburnian and Cerulean, but I didn't get to actually see them. Also, full disclosure, I would not have known they were there without assistance from the Merlin app. Sometimes Merlin hears things I miss, and vice versa.

In the early evening I drove up the road to Skyland Resort, about a half hour from Big Meadows. The taproom there is a larger space than at Big Meadows, and also opens directly to the dining room, so the potential audience was much larger. 

Setup in the Skyland Resort taproom

I had a really good crowd, which included a table of people from the previous night. Good thing I switched up the setlist! Apparently, people like to leave notes for the musicians around here, and this time I got one on a piece of paper wrapped around some bills. I liked this one a lot better than the napkin note!

Anonymous note: "You are killing it! Please come back!"

On Sunday, after checking out, I drove up to northern Virginia to visit a good friend who is moving to California for a new job, since her old job got DOGE'd. (Fuck Drumpf, Elon, and all those assholes enabling them!) Had to snap a few more photos on the way out.

KW's house is in manic packing mode, so we went out for lunch, then a little hike at Lake Accotink Park nearby. Got a decent picture of a snake getting ready to molt (note the milky eye).

Back at the house, I did my small part to relieve my friend of excess stuff by taking her patio set of a table and two chairs. And then it was time for goodbyes.