These pictures are [a] obviously not about sailing, and [b] being posted way out of sequence, but what the hell; it's my blog! I found myself home alone on my birthday (October 2), so I decided it was a perfect early Fall day for a hike. I have a book of hikes along the Skyline Drive, so I picked out one nearby that looked manageable: Turk Mountain.

The hike was about 2 1/4 miles round trip from my parking spot along the Drive and the trail was well marked and for the most part not as rocky as pictured here.

Here's the birthday boy at the summit (2981 feet). The total climb, point to point was about 370 feet, but considering the trail went down before it went up, I'm guessing my climb was a more like 450 feet.
View from the summit, looking NNW.
I love sailing and I'm certain it will be my extracurricular activity of choice for a long, long time, but this hike helped me to see that I don't really take advantage of all the great adventures right in my own back yard.

Patsy and I went to the boat this past weekend for one last sail before our next two week trip to the Outer Banks. (It'll be almost a month before I'm able to get back to the Potomac!)

We got up there late afternoon Friday, and after getting all our stuff on the boat and having "happy hour," we headed out to the Driftwood for a typically great dinner. Most of Saturday morning was taken up with maintenance items, but we did get out mid-afternoon for a sail over to Tall Timbers and back (very light winds over and very nice winds back).

For Sunday's sail, I decided to check the wind direction, pick a destination accordingly, and sail to it and back. All too often, I just get out in the river and go wherever the wind is best, but if I ever want to cruise one day, I know it's not going to work that way. We tacked up river towards the Maryland side and then back down to Branson Cove on Lower Machodoc Creek - basically from one side of Cole's Point to the other. At best, we were making 4 to 5 knots which is fast enough, in my view, to give you a bit of a rush, but also calm enough to let you sit back and relax. The downwind leg was typically calm, but we made good time here too.

Here's Patsy at the helm motoring on the homeward leg Sunday while I got the sails down.

A good shot of our wing-on-wing down wind stretch on Sunday.
The ancient, and hirsute, mariner in bad need of a beard trim and haircut! (I like the way you can see the sun on the water in my sunglasses.)
One interesting addition to this sail was the presence of scores of monarch butterflies in the area, presumably making their way to Mexico for the winter. We saw quite a few out over the river as we sailed, but when we went to AC's, the marina restaurant, for a pizza before heading for home, there were hundreds more floating by as we looked out over the river.

"Where do you keep your boat?"
I get that question alot, so I thought I'd show you if you're interested. It's at a marina in the little town of Cole's Point on the Virginia shore of the Potomac River, 70+ miles northeast of Richmond and about 20-25 miles upriver from the Chesapeake Bay. There's a link to the right under "Websites I Like" if you want to zoom in.