Smith Mountain Lake: So long, folks!

This last post mostly just contains photos I got from Dear Husband's phone, but this one is from my aunt: that's me on "Michael Island." After tooling around in a rented pontoon boat on Wednesday, we dropped anchor for a little swimming and fishing. Several of us struck out for this island about 50 yards away. Although I reached it first, my uncle "planted the flag" (really, a flagstone--a flat wide one) and so named it for himself! It was a tiny piece of land supporting a variety of small plants, one dead tree, and a conifer that had tipped over and made the island look larger than it was. A sandbar with mussels birds had opened stretched back toward the shore, and the rocky outcroppings around it quickly dropped off.

On the last full day of vacation (Thursday), we had planned to stick close to the lake house before heading out to a local winery for an afternoon tasting. Then I made an idle remark to my brother that Dear Husband and I had considered visiting Appomattox on our way home. My mother seized upon the idea, and although it was already midmorning, most of the family gathered themselves to visit the site of the signing of the unconditional surrender of the Confederate troops that ended the American Civil War.

Actually, although there is a courthouse and a little town, the signing took place in Mr. McLean's parlor. His house was disassembled at one point and moved to Washington, D.C., for exhibition--and then the National Park Service ran out of money, and who knows what happened to the original! So the NPS has a reconstruction (above), down to the furniture. There are interpretive actors who tell the history, and a number of historic buildings are available for viewing.

I actually chose to stay back to work on job applications while my father and cousin busied themselves with their respective electronics. Can you blame me, when this was the view? Check out the clouds above the mountain peak! Then we all rendezvoused at a local Japanese/Chinese restaurant for a late lunch. The winery was just down the road, but we had to maneuver through a sudden heavy thunderstorm to get there (mostly dry). The wine was good, so we all stocked up before heading back for quietude and leftovers for dinner.

In the later afternoon, somebody on the deck noticed a bald eagle across a fingerlet of the lake, so there was much excitement, and DH managed to snap a photo with his phone through a pair of binoculars. (Its head is the tiny white blip in the photo above.) This is the owner's boat in its dry dock, with the placid water stretching out beyond it.

The last day was capped with a soak in the hot tub overlooking the vista, as the temperatures had significantly dropped after all the rain, so the water was suddenly much less enticing than at the beginning of the week, when it had been sunny and 90+ degrees.

The horse and covered-bridge puzzle we finished. The super mega New York Times Crossword was only half done by the time we had to pack everything up and leave after breakfast on Friday. DH and I had come down on the West Virginia side of the Appalachians, but Google Maps suggested driving back on the Virginia side. Unfortunately, it recommended taking the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, and despite the fact that he drove the speed limit or less, we were both carsick from the ups, downs, and curves by the time we reached highway 81. A little Dramamine later, DH was ship-shape to keep driving, and I dozed off and on for 4 hours, catching up on sleep I had missed the night before. We ate sandwiches in the car to save time and money but did stop at a family-owned place on the National Pike for ice cream and to stretch our legs. Imagine my surprise when I tried to check in on Yelp and was told the place was "permanently closed"! We finally arrived home at 5pm. Rosamunde was nowhere to be found, so DH napped while I did laundry and unpacked. Rosie came out later to let us know how much she had missed us!

Here are two final photographs, one of me at the State Park, when we found out the Discovery Center was closed, and one of the two of us together playing Wild West-themed putt-putt.