Lewis Nelson

So we moved to Earlysville a few weeks ago and decided to forgo remaking a large garden this year. Instead, Holly found these great raised beds for sale by Sunnyside Projects. We bought two 2′ x 8′ raised beds that Nathan Hanley builds using Envirosafe Plus™ lumber. The wood is not treated with harmful chemicals that can leach into the soil.

Holly picked out the placement of the beds to surround one of our two back decks, the side that gets more sun. She also put smaller brick planters on each side of the beds. We then bought a yard of compost from Panaroma Pay Dirt to fill all of the raised beds. Holly planted basil, cherry tomatoes, jalepeños, cucumbers, lettuce, and green beans.

Our final task now is just to keep the deer away!!

I love Charlottesville… I have ever since I first moved here in December of 2000. I missed it my whole seven years in the Army from 2001 – 2008, and I came straight back the day I left the Army. But now I have to judge places to live by how kid friendly they are for our three little ones. The Army did not send me to glamorous places… two deployments to Iraq not included, we had our first two children in Clarksville, Tennessee, and our third in San Angelo, Texas. But what we’ve found in three years back in Central VA… we really miss the playgrounds and gyms!

Playgrounds and Trails

The closest example to the playgrounds we are used to enjoying is the Dream Come True Playground in Harrisonburg. Playgrounds that are handicap accessible, soft surface, self-enclosed, new equipment, exciting… I can go on and on. I think the only playground that comes close to what just one of the many playgrounds in San Angelo may be Tonsler Park… but the condition of the playground scares me. Pen Park is decent but it’s not . Am I missing the really big, cool playgrounds in Charlottesville? .

As for trails.. both Clarksville and San Angelo took great advantage of their primary draw… the Cumberland and Concho Rivers. Both towns made the effort to pave beautiful river front trails that connect to downtown and are large enough to host community wide events. In Charlottesville, the Rivanna seems so neglected. There’s a great paved portion of the Rivanna Trail at Riverside Park along a portion of the river that I enjoy for walking and bike riding, but it is not part of the essence of downtown like these other towns. I am not including mountain biking or horse riding, or higher level hiking trails… I’m talking about kid-friendly trails that offer more than a walk.

Gyms and Pools

Our next disappointment has been access to gyms with child care and swimming pools. We are not City of Charlottesville residents so using their facilities can be pretty pricey… but even if we did, they don’t compare to what we had. We joined ACAC for over $200 a month for our family to gain access to the indoor facilities and the outdoor pool at Four Seasons. Over $200 a month. And that came with an initial fee to join the club and a one year commitment. Granted ACAC is one of the finest gyms I’ve ever used. But in Clarksville, TN, there were multiple gyms with indoor and outdoor pools that cost us less that $75 for our entire family and they offered child care on site (with no minimum contracts). Being Army, we also had access to Ft. Campbell where we could work out for free or use the pool for under $5, but that is an unfair comparison. In San Angelo, the YMCA had a great indoor pool and gym with limited child care for $50 a month. That was too pricey for us so we chose the gym owned by the local hospital at $35 a month for the family with child care and an indoor pool (and no contracts). In addition, for $50 for the entire summer, we had access to the Goodfellow Air Force Base swimming pool that had zero depth entry and our kids basically spent three hours a day there (once again, an unfair advantage of being by a military post). I am not saying Charlottesville doesn’t have this, but it comes at a premium cost. And it just KILLS me that there are people in the community fighting so hard to stop the construction of the Piedmont YMCA. Charlottesville and Albemarle could really use a health facility like ACAC that has no time contract commitments and is affordable, which to me is under $100 a month.

Not Complaining Too Much

This is less what Charlottesville doesn’t have and more what I miss about where we used to live. There are so many reasons we love it here and have decided to stay when we could easily be somewhere else. We love the culture and way of life here. We are pleased with the schools. There are many great restaurants, large ticket events (we’ve taken our children to Cirque Du Soleil, Barnum and Bailey’s Circle, and Cats at JPJ), and opportunities to participate sports or other activities.  So before anybody things I’m anti-Charlottesville, I have included a very short list of links to area parks and the children’s museum. There are so many more great things to do with kids than what I’ve included, but most seem to be happening at one of the parks anyways!

• Virginia Discovery Museum – downtown mall
• Charlottesville City Parks
• Albemarle County Parks

Veteran’s Day for me is a day to both honor fellow veterans but also be humbled by the fact that I had the privilege of serving my country. I wanted to use this blog entry as a way to thank the many veterans in my life:

My family:
My wife Holly (US Army, 2002-2003) My father Loren (US Army 1971-1977), My father-in-law Wayne (US Army), half of my aunt and uncles (Roger Nelson, Albert Nelson, Frances Bowers, Richard Nelson, Arnold Nelson), my cousins Charles Hahn, Jason Nelson, and Larry Nelson (hope I didn’t miss any of you on this one), and my cousin’s son Cody Nelson.

Veterans I served with:
The “Black Lions” from basic training (October 2001 – January 2002) at Ft. Jackson, SC, fellow language students at the Defense Language Institute (January 2002 – June 2003) in Monterey, CA, technical school at Goodfellow AFB (June 2003 – November 2003) in San Angelo, TX, fellow soldiers in the D Co. 311th MI Bn and B Co 4th BSTB, 4th BCT, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) (November 2003 – July 2007) at Ft. Campbell, KY, and my fellow instructors and students from B Co, 344th MI Bn (July 2007 – November 2008) at Goodfellow AFB, TX.

I also have many classmates from high school and college (and even younger as I’ve learned from Facebook) that have served honorably or still serve today. I thank all of you too for your service.

How did I celebrate this 11/11/11?
I started by thanking a few via Facebook. I made an appearance at my daughter’s elementary school for their Veteran’s Day celebration. I couldn’t stay long but Holly was able to enjoy most of it. I then head over to Stanardsville, VA, to join my fellow American Legion Post 128 members for the annual Vet’s Day ceremony at the Greene County Courthouse. I served in the rifle squad and was happy Holly and the kids were able to make it.

How else did I celebrate? I gave a $10 donation to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). IAVA is a group of like minded veterans that served in either Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. If you want to do more than just say thank you, I have a few suggestions:

• Text ‘IAVA’ to 20222 to make a $10 donation or visit the IAVA donation website
• Send a care package to a vet via Any Soldier
• Support my friend’s video games for troops charity – Operation Supply Drop
• Sponsor a veteran by purchasing a one year membership in the American Legion
• Own a business, considering hiring a vet
• Support the USO
• Give your veteran employee a paid day off today!

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

I made it to my first University of Virginia football game in exactly 10 years. My last game was the homecoming game in 2001… and UVA beat Duke. So today they upset the #12 team in the country, previously unbeaten Georgia Tech. So yeah, UVA is undefeated when I’m at Scott Stadium. My next game will be vs. Virginia Tech in November… can the streak continue?

Last year my neighbors Jim and Trista called and asked my wife if she and I would want to go to the UVA-Miami game. My wife declined… I made a sad face. Free tickets??? But I justified it by saying, oh well, Miami is ranked and is probably going to dominate them. But no… UVA won. So earlier this week, Jim called again, but got me, not Holly… and he invited just me. I jumped on that opportunity with the thought… Georgia Tech is going to dominate them, but maybe, just maybe, they can pull off another upset! And boy did they.

Oh and really loud speaker guy? Telling a homecoming crowd they aren’t allowed to storm the field after the game? Whatever:

But for real… Who else was nervous when UVA missed that field goal and the chance to go up by three scores? Who else was nervous when GT scored 14 points in like… I don’t know, a minute? But the Cavaliers pulled it off! Their defense was superb after the first drive of the third quarter (with the help of two very well timed blocks in the back by GT). I tip my had to Coach London and the 2011 Cavaliers… now 4-2 and 1-1 in the ACC. Coach London stated to his players that “this is one of those wins that can change the perception of what you think about yourself.” It’s also the type of win that can turn this program around. If the team continues to play at this level for the rest of the season, I believe they will really be able to compete with FSU and VT at the end of the season. Best of luck to you and see you again on November 26th!

Update… I made it to the season finale against Virginia Tech so this record no longer stands.

There are plenty of places near Charlottesville where one can pick a pumpkin. Places such as Carter Mountain Orchard, where I took the kids last Friday for apple picking, Chiles Peach Orchard, Greenfield Fall Fest near Ruckersville, and Hess Greenhouse‘s Back Home on the Farm in Harrisonburg where my daughter’s kindergarten class went last year for a field trip. But based on a recommendation last year and a Groupon for $15 season passes, I decided to take a trip to Belvedere Plantation in Fredericksburg, VA.

Like Back Home on the Farm, Belvedere Plantation is a large farm experience for children with countless activities including a corn maze, pig races, face painting, pony rides, hayrides, petting zoo, slides, and of course, pumpkins. But what was very clear is that Belvedere is on a much larger scale! Of course, it’s twice the price for admission as well.

I brought my two oldest, but also grabbed my sister’s two youngest as well. My sister lives near Belvedere and all of her children spent time at the plantation during preschool field trips. With so many activities to choose from, I assured them we would end the visit with a hayride and picking a pumpkin then let them go in order picking activities for all four of them to do.

The Fun Barn will immediately catch your attention. It’s a large white barn with a huge smiley face drawing your gaze. And that’s where my niece chose to start the festivities. Inside the barn are about five or six rope swings taking riders from hay stacks piles up on each side.

Going in order of age, my oldest picked the next activity, the pedal tractor track. They have two tracks, one for the shorties and one for tall people. They look like any modern go-cart track but these bad boys and kid-powered.

While they rode I heard the announcement for the pig races and moved my little herd of kiddos to watch four pigs in colored vests run the track to the cheers of a few hundred spectators. We worked our way back the main area taking a few minutes to visit the petting zoo. But Jack was anxious to get the slide so we didn’t linger.

The Pumpkin Mountain Slide is a 100ft underground slide that riders descend on burlap sacks. The gravel hill going up is steep and slippery but the kids absolutely loved the payoff… they rode it about six times each!

By now we had well exhausted the hour and a half I thought we’d spend at the plantation. Over the next three and a half hours, the kids got their face painted, rode a pony, jumped for 15 minutes on a basketball court sized inflated mat, took multiple rides down the ziplines, played in the sand at the Little Farmers Corral, had balloon animals made for them, and then took the five minute hayride to pick their pumpkins.

With the four kids all picking pumpkins, Belvedere does have a great deal on ‘all the pumpkins you can carry.’ I believe it was about $26. But I told the kids they could have any pumpkin they wanted, the only stipulation was they had to carry it to the car! My total came to $24 and I considered grabbing a few extra to take advantage of the deal, but I passed.

If you plan on visiting, Belvedere Plantation is open on Friday evenings after 5, Saturdays from 10 to 10 and Sundays from 10 to 6 through October 30th. They are also open tomorrow, Columbus Day, 10 to 6 if you read this blog entry in time! They do serve food and beverages (burgers, hot dogs, french fries, soda, bottled water, and funnel cakes is all I remember from the menu). While they have plenty of bathrooms, I didn’t see any water fountains. If you want to avoid paying $1.75 for a bottle of water, I’d bring your own! I’d plan at least four hours for you visit to make it worth the admission charge. There were lots of people but the parking was well organized and the plantation is so large that there were not long waits or unreasonable crowds anywhere. We didn’t even have to wait for the hayride, they accommodated everybody in line both there and back.

So if you’re debating the drive and cost and asking yourself, “Is it worth it?” My answer is definitely yes. If you just can’t swing it, I also highly recommend Back Home on the Farm in Harrisonburg… it’s smaller and cheaper but also very fun! I will note that the pumpkins themselves were much higher quality at Belvedere this year than what I picked in Harrisonburg last year. Belvedere definitely led to lots of smiles and fun for the kids… as the pictures prove!

* Saturday October 8, 2011 – Belvedere Plantation album on Flickr

For as much as Holly and I talk about loving living history museums, we’ve hardly been to any together! We tried to bring the kids to Colonial Williamsburg a year or two ago, but it was a 100 degree disaster. Holly and I finally made it back there recently and I’ll write about that later I’m sure. Surprisingly, it took Holly’s sister moving to Charlottesville for us to discover a wonderfully magnificent living history museum around an hour from Charlottesville.

Through a combination of it being the annual Oktoberfest celebration and also my brother-in-law getting free passes through a work relationship, our family and my wife’s sister’s family met up in Staunton to visit the museum last weekend on Saturday.

Staunton’s Frontier Culture Museum is a tribute to the first colonial Virginia settlers and is organized on a circular trail with tiny houses / villages representing different colonial era settlers. In the words of the museum’s website, “To tell the story of these early immigrants and their American descendents, the Museum has moved or reproduced examples of traditional rural buildings from England, Germany, Ireland, West Africa, and America.”

Not only does the museum recreate the buildings, but they have full time staff in period costume doing daily tasks and answering questions for the visitors. I often tell people that even though I was a history major, I don’t have tons of historical facts roaming through my brain at any given time, but I do know enough to tell if somebody is completely wrong. I tested the staff at times to hear their responses and was very impressed with their knowledge. And as a bonus, I left feeling comfortable that I had learned a great deal about the 16th and 17th century life in the Americas.

If you go, take some time to research the website and Facebook site; the museum has plenty of special events and you may want to plan your visit accordingly!

On the web: http://www.frontiermuseum.org
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frontier-Culture-Museum-of-Virginia/55813996379

* View my Album – 201010 – Frontier Culture Museum

Growing up in Northern VA, I have many memories of trips to Luray Caverns… I’ve probably been there between 7 to 10 times, but not since maybe 1990. I was really excited last weekend when Holly and I were trying to think of things to do and she mentioned Luray Caverns. As it turns out, she has been driving to Harrisonburg every Monday through Thursday this summer to take Ben to a camp at JMU and she passes a few signs for the caverns in Stanardsville and Elkton. I thought it was a brilliant idea and even suggested we then drive south along the Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive… yet another thing I loved as a child but have not done with my own children since moving back almost three years ago.

Luray Caverns was discovered in August of 1878 (99 1/2 years before I was born) when a Luray, VA, tinsmith’s candle was blown out by a cold wind coming from the hillside while his party was actively searching for caves. The group of four descended into the cave by rope and used candles for light and their first glimpse was of the massive Washington Column, still the main focal point as you enter the caverns today. The men discovered what would later be revealed as the largest cavern system on the East Coast.

Tourism to the caves began immediately as well as the admission charge. To celebrate the many means of travel used to reach the caverns, the facility also has a car and carriage museum, started in 1957, that is included in the price of admission. Visitors will notice that the tour area within the caverns are brick and concrete… first poured in the 1950s. In 2000, they added a garden maze which looked like it may be fun, but it was nearly 100 degrees and required an additional fee. I had never seen it before though. Then across the street, and also included in the price of admission, is a small museum dedicated to life in the Shenandoah Valley.

The caverns get over a half a million visitors a year so you won’t have a private, quiet tour. However, our tour was self-paced with tour guides standing at each main feature, repeating their speech every 10 to 15 minutes. We spent about one hour walking the caverns and that was with a 7, 6, and 3 year old going at their own pace. It is easily walked by children (even though I remember having some pretty sour feet at the end when I was a kid, mine never complained once on their first visit). The one disadvantage: it’s costly. We spent $68 for our family to go with our youngest being free. But you can research that using Luray Cavern’s Plan Your Visit website.

Our drive home was along the peaceful Skyline Drive. I have a lifetime access pass so we get to drive on the road for free, but normally it costs about $15 a car I believe. The kids enjoyed the view and we stopped at a few observation areas for pictures and so that the kids could climb on rocks. After the first 12 miles though, the kids were pretty much done and I think Holly fell asleep. We made some plans to return when the weather is cooler to camp at either Lewis Mountain or Big Meadows! There are so many hikes that I’d like to do; it’s time to get started!

Flickr Photoset – Skyline Drive

We finally packed up the kids and made it over to the new Preddy Creek Park off of Burnley Station Rd in northern Albemarle County. Years ago a co-worker of mine volunteered some time to preparing the trails with the Charlottesville Area Mountain Biking Club so I’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening. I’m not much of a mountain biker, in fact I just bought my first mountain bike today through Craigslist so we’ll see how that goes, but I was still excited to take a short hike with the kids.

If you have young ones, the elevation and natural elements will keep them both entertained and able to make the trek. We did about 1 mile starting with the Preddy Creek Loop going right from the entrance and cutting back through Sue’s Trail. This is only touching the surface of the park and based on the contour lines of the Preddy Creek Trail map, as you progress down the loop, there’s definitely a bit more complicated elevation features. I look forward to using the park as my testing grounds for mountain biking. If I enjoy it, maybe I’ll be upgrading the bike and hitting more of the Charlottesville trails. I mean it is one of the reasons people love this area right?

The park is over 570 acres, is suitable for hikers, bikers, and horseback riders and has clean restrooms and clear trail map posted at the entrance. There’s plenty of parking too! However, just to be safe, I must note that a few friends of mine claimed to have seen a rattlesnake in the park while running there a few weeks ago and there was a cub in my neighborhood earlier this week, just a short half mile through the woods!

Preddy Creek Trails Park: 3690 Burnley Station Road, Charlottesville, VA 22911

Flickr Photoset – Preddy Creek Trails Park

I’ve already written about how much I love Barboursville Vineyard. In addition to what I still think is the finest red wines in Central Virginia, it is also home to one of my favorite photography locations. Fernando, the vineyard’s viticulturalist and long time friend, found a batch of kittens on the vineyard and we were happy to give one of them a home (we named her Merlot). We decided to make an afternoon out of it and purchased a bottle of Chardonnay, a cheese plate, and headed up to the Barboursville ruins, the burned down shell of a home owned by the former VA governor James Barbour that was designed by Thomas Jefferson (and also the namesake of the vineyard’s finest wine, Octagon).

I decided to bring my camera and tripod along in hopes of snagging a family photo. We don’t have many of those; I think the last intentional attempt at a family photo was in September of 2008 while I was still in the Army and living in San Angelo, TX.

The Barboursville ruins offer many great backdrops for a photo. The ruins themselves offer a unique background and I even used it for my bio photo on my side business website – Ilex Web Design. The home is surrounded by century-old English boxwoods that have been maintained well and have plenty of room within them for exploring. Then, there are also the wonderful views of the mountains, pond, stream and vineyards at your disposal.

Well I’m definitely not an expert photographer, but I did my best! Unfortunately, some of them were a bit too bright and lost some of the color definition. I don’t shoot in RAW so I guess there’s no salvaging some of them, but I definitely have a few that I’m going to professionally print and hang on the wall!

View the entire album on our Flickr Barboursville Ruins Family Photos photoset!

As I prepared to write this blog post, I realized that my father has pretty much lived and worked in all the same places as George Washington, only in opposite order. While a soldier stationed at Ft. Belvoir in the mid-1970s, he lived just a few miles from Mount Vernon, where George Washington spent his last 45 years. About 5 years ago, he owned a small store called the Ferry Farm market, just miles from Washington’s childhood home (Ferry Farm in Fredericksburg, VA), and for the last year, my dad has worked as the gardener at George Washington’s Birthplace at Popes Creek, VA. Even as a history major loving U.S. history and studying George Washington’s endeavors as a soldier and government leader, I never studied (or even heard of) Ferry Farm or Popes Creek. On my first family visit it to my dad’s new house near the monument, we decided to take a personally guided tour from the park’s gardener!

Popes Creek is located on a small bay (Popes Creek) connected to the Potomac River near King George and Colonial Beach, VA, about 45 minutes SE of Fredericksburg down VA State Hwy 3. The farm was first settled by George Washington’s great-grandfather John Washington, who came to Virginia in 1657 and married the daughter of Nathaniel Pope. Pope gave them 700 acres to start a tobacco farm. The couple would eventually own over 10,000 acres including the land that would become Mount Vernon in Alexandria, VA. George Washington’s father Augustine expanded the holding to nearby Popes Creek where he married Mary Ball and had his first child, George.

George Washington lived at Popes Creek until he was three years old when he moved to Little Hunting Creek (now Mount Vernon) and then Ferry Farm for a majority of his childhood. He returned to Popes Creek often as an adolescent to help his brother farm the tobacco crop. After George Washington’s death in 1799, Popes Creek had fallen into ruins. The home where George Washington was born burned in 1779. His grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, placed a small stone marker at what he thought were the ruins of the birth house in 1815. The property was acquired by the state of Virginia in 1858 who passed it to the federal government in 1882. The Army Corps of Engineers erected a granite obelisk at the birth site foundation in 1896. In the 1920s, the land was acquired by a private foundation who turned the grounds into a national monument in 1930. The group moved the granite obelisk to its current location and constructed a memorial house at the suspected birth place site in a traditional style they believed would resemble the actual birth place estate. They also constructed the Colonial Kitchen and Colonial Garden. In 1936, archaeologists uncovered the original foundation, reburied it to preserve it and created the outline seen today. The Colonial Farm was added in 1968.

George Washington Birthplace National Monument is not very big or fancy, but it is one thing…. FREE! In addition to very beautiful walking trails, the park boasts a few living history exhibits, 100 to 200-year old trees, the memorial house designed and built before archeologists discovered the original dwelling, a large picnic area, a well manicured family burial ground, a beach, live animals, a memorial obelisk (small scale model of the Washington Monument), and a colonial garden. At the park, you can get a glimpse of life in the 1700s and see the land where the Washington Family planted and sowed their tobacco crop as well as the Bridges Creek area where the tobacco was loaded onto barges for shipment. The visitor’s center is small, but has some neat artifacts and the Park Rangers give guided tours of the property on the hour.

When my father began work as a gardener last year, the Colonial Garden has not been maintained for years. He removed the overgrown grass, preserving any of the native varieties still present, and repairing the fence and brick walkways. He then researched the herbs and flowers that would have been present in the 1970s and replanted the garden to its present state. I must say I was more than impressed with what he has been able to do there in just one year!

I recommend this trip for anybody in the area. It is definitely worthy of a day trip, although I do not think it’s worth a multi-day stay in the area. I highly recommend it those who live or work near Colonial Beach, Dahlgren, Ft. A.P. Hill, Fredericksburg, or Stafford, VA. It’s an easy drive. It is also great for school field trips or to bring your school aged children. On occasion, such as this past weekend, they hold special eventswith more live demonstrations (for Memorial Day they had an ox and cart team providing rides and they sheered the sheep in the Colonial Farm). Be sure to check out the Colonial Garden and feel free to post links to your pictures in the comment section below!