Here is some really good news about the endangered American Shad. The dam at the Ashland Mill site on the South Anna River in Ashland, Virginia, was removed in September 2024, restoring more than 400 miles of historical spawning habitat for seven species of migratory fishes, including American shad. During post-removal assessment by DWR and partners at Randolph-Macon College, a healthy American … [Read more...]
All Aboard!
For a Valentine’s celebration this year, Nancy bought us two tickets to the Virginia Scenic Railway in Staunton. It was a delightful experience Virginia Scenic Railroad We made the 45-minute drive to Downtown Staunton and huddled in the small station room beside the tracks, making friends with the 24 or so other people who would travel with us on our three-hour tour. At exactly 10:30 AM, the … [Read more...]
The Gloucester Wine Festival
There are “Festivals” for everything – Oysters, Crabs, Blueberries, Garlic, Apples. You name it and it has a “Festival”. There is one Festival, however, worth remembering, and that’s the Wine Festival in Gloucester. This one is special. We were on a mini vacation at Gloucester last weekend, and someone mentioned the Wine Festival in town. The event was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but it … [Read more...]
Gloucester: The Land of Forked Roads
We took a long weekend vacation to Gloucester last week. Gloucester, as in Virginia, and in the heart of the Middle Peninsula. Gloucester is both a city and a county and is the general description of about 400 square miles of flat, salty land somewhere west of the Piankatank River. It’s a large area and we had rented a waterfront cottage on Ferry Creek – in Gloucester. Fortunately, … [Read more...]
A Chance of Rain
Hi! Jim Cantore here with the Weather Channel. Checking the forecast here along the Road to Hana in Maui, it looks like rain throughout the day and into the evening. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for – let’s see - more rain, followed by rain throughout the rest of the week. In fact, it looks like rain every day this month. We are predicting over 150 inches of rain this year – sometimes as … [Read more...]
Destination Deltaville
When you own and run a small business (Nancy B’s House of Lights), long vacations can be few and far between. For the past 20 or more years, Nancy and I have taken shorter vacations. We call them mini-moons, 3- and 4-day escapes, often to the Outer Banks. We took another mini-moon last week to the coast, but the Virginia coast. Deltaville, to be exact. I had spent a lot of time in … [Read more...]
New Bridge to White Oak Canyon
By the VDGIF A new 35-foot span bridge across Cedar Run offers hikers and nature-loving community members improved access to the popular White Oak Canyon trailhead outside of Shenandoah National Park and opening up three miles of stream habitat to native fish for the first time in decades. The effort is a public-private partnership between Shenandoah National Park, The Piedmont … [Read more...]
Exploring Virginia: Rt. 58
Virginia is really an interesting and diverse state with five distinct regions - the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, and the Appalachian Plateau. You can be dipping your toes in a native trout stream in Nelson County, then four hours away, toss a crab line in the Mattaponi River. In this series, we’ll do a little exploring … [Read more...]