Weekend wrap-up: Danette and I were looking forward to a concert with my brother and friends on Saturday but – on a whim – decided to make a quick drive down to Blacksburg on Friday night to have dinner with the boys. I love impromptu trips like this. Not sure why, but they are freeing to me. Just jump in the car and go. No calendar weight/pressure (is that a thing?) We brought the dogs and planned to hit the Natural Chimneys park on the way home Saturday morning. Anyway, we get there on Friday and the visit was going well until I got a text from my bro:
“are you close?”
“close to what?”
“the restaurant? The concert is tonight!”
“Are you kidding?”
“not kidding.”
“ugh, sorry. We are not in town”
Heart sinking feelings. Ah well, no regerts. We had the tickets for months and I guess all this time I just assumed it was on Saturday night. The good part of the sinking feeling was that we were 250 miles away so there was no panickey scramble to shoot over to the venue.
Saturday morning we changed our plans and went to Natural Bridge instead of Natural Chimneys on the drive home. It was a beautiful day and a really pretty hike.
Other notes:
- Lots of bike riding in the back half of the year. I had all but abandoned my goal of 1000 miles back in June but averaging close to 200 miles per month from July – October got me right back in the game. Bike needs some love though: the back tire is worn almost all the way through, the bottom bracket is clunkier than ever and the big ring shifter barely works. The highlight of 2023 was riding the tour de mount vernon with my buddy Andrew.
- Loving Scavengers Reign on Max. Sci-fi, animated. It’s the story of star ship castaways on an alien planet. Incredibly imaginative. Great animation. (RT 100%)
