Trip: 42
Nights: 140-143

What better place for the unofficial start of summer than the beach?

We left after work on Thursday, as it's only a 2-hour drive, so we can beat the Friday traffic and get an extra night of camping. When I made the reservation last fall and our site was the only W/E site available this weekend. I was a little concerned that the site would kind of suck, but instead it was kind of perfect. It's across from the camp host and bathrooms, meaning no noisy neighbors across the road. And the neighbors to the sides of us were far enough away and shielded by vegetation that we barely knew they were there. The ocean was a 5 minute walk.

Friday featured a lot of rain, so we went to the Virginia Military Aviation Museum, where we saw an amazing collection of flight capable WW1 and WW2 planes. We got lucky and timed it just right to be there as their P-38 Mustang took off for a maintenance flight.

The volunteers there are super knowledgeable and happy to spend hours talking about military aviation. I'd call it a must visit if you are vacationing in the VA Beach area. Right at the entrance to the museum there is a small park with aver a dozen dinosaur sculptures or models. I didn't see a sign or any explanation about why that park exists, but it was a 5 10-minute diversion and dino obsessed kids could probably spend an hour there. (edit - it is Jerrassic Park.) After the museum we visited a local microbrewery on the way back to the campground. I only had one beer at Reaver Beach Brewing, and it was a nicely balanced IPA. On Friday night we met a high school buddy for dinner. Not a bad day for a beach rainout day. After dinner we sat around the campfire for a bit.

Saturday was A+ perfect beach weather, sunny, breezy, and about 76F. We got out early and spent a couple of hours chasing birds through the park. I don't think I added any lifers but I did check off a bunch of shorebirds as seen in 2024. After that, we spent the majority of the day relaxing on the beach and reading, before heading out to dinner at our favorite local seafood joint. After dinner it was back to the beach for sunset and then back to the campfire. After campfire I won our gin rummy match and got my ass kicked in Boggle.

Sunday was mostly the same as Saturday, except we skipped the AM birding and took our time getting out of the camper for the day. After dining out at local seafood joints the previous two nights we brought our average dollars per meal number down a bit my cooking at the camper.

First Landing State Park had a different vibe than I've seen in the past. It was very international. I'm not exaggerating when I say english may not have been the predominant language spoken by campers over the weekend. I heard a lot more Spanish than English. I also heard German, Russian, French, and multiple Asian languages. I joked to Michelle that it felt like we were back in Puerto Rico with all the salsa music and Spanish we were hearing around us on the beach. It made for a very festive and fun environment.

We had planned to go birding again on Monday morning, but there was a line of heavy storms on the way so we packed out and headed home.

It's been a busy week around the house, filled with contractors doing work, interspersed by medical appointments, and other necessary business. I was looking forward to some down time with much anticipation. There's been a bottle of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon sitting on my shelf since a friend gifted it to me at Christmas. It was high time to open it. I selected an El Centurion  H-2K-CT by My Father Cigars to enjoy with the smooth Double Oaked.

With retirement just a couple weeks away, I was looking to treat myself to an early retirement splurge. Hogsheads Cigar lounge held a Drew Estate event last Friday evening, which provided the perfect opportunity to indulge myself. 

Watershed started rocking Columbus in the late 80s. They never hit the record contract home run*, but it's not for lack of trying, and certainly not for lack of deserving it. I can think of no other band that I'm familiar with that "should of hit it big" more than Watershed.

So I was thrilled when they announced a new full-length album recently. I got my digital copy last night, and I'm currently on my 5th listen.

This is classic Watershed. Imagine your platonic ideal (or sexy ideal) of a Midwesteren rock band...that is what you get here. Songs that never exceed 4 minutes, strong Cheap Trick influences, and tight melodies that beg to sung along with are classic Watershed trademarks, and they are all here in abundance.

There is no record company involved this. This is music from the heart from 4 dudes that all have real jobs, kids, etc. You should buy the record just because of that. The fact that it's damn good is icing on the cake.

I got an advance digital copy of the record via backing it on Kickstarter and as far as I can tell, they haven't even released it to the streaming services yet. So as much as I want to share a tune with you, I can't do it yet. I'll update this with a link or video when one is available. In the meantime, enjoy this golden oldie from them.

Watershed - How Do You Feel

*They did get a one record deal in the 90s, and their debut album was produced by Jim Steinman (the guy that produced Bat Out of Hell). However they got dropped while touring to promote the new record. So to torture the baseball analogy, they got throw out at first in their only MLB at bat.

This coffee break supported by the Liga Privada Undercrown Maduro from Drew Estate. The temperature was in the mid-60° range -- not cool, but warm enough to not require any supplemental heat. I think I can finally bring in the portable heat sources until the fall.

Another tease of Spring weather meant coffee and a cigar on the deck. I was in the mood for a lancero, a desire that often arises when I'm looking for an afternoon smoke, usually with coffee. As with this day, those situations often include some acoustic blues coming from the outdoor speaker.

The 2024 camping season is off to a great start. We spent the weekend at Cave Mountain Lake campground in the Jefferson National Forest. It's our 3rd trip there. No hookups and large, private campsites with no ell service at all. There are restrooms and showers available.

Friday night was clear and cool, with a low in the mid-40s. We spent the night catching up with friends who were camping in the neighboring site.

On Saturday morning, we went birding around the campground to contribute to Global Big Day. We bagged 20 species, including a lifer with a Northern Waterthrush. After lunch at the camper, I took a 25-minute drive to a trail head on the Appalachian Trail to do a fairly easy 4.5-mile hike. I forgot to download an offline map for the trip, which was an issue since we had no service at the campground and I needed to navigate a few country roads to get to the trail head. I'm an old who learned map reading in school, and I keep both a Rand McNally and Virginia back roads map in the car, so I navigated the old way. It was fun, and there was a sense of accomplishment on getting there after using a paper map that you just don't get from Google Maps. While on the trail, I met Viking Man, a through-hiker who was not through-hiking this year. He is doing 172 miles to celebrate turning 72 years old. I’ll repeat that because it is so damn amazing.

He is doing 172 miles of the Appalachian Trail to celebrate turning 72 years old.

Some afternoon rain chased us into the camper for a couple of hours before dinner. After dinner, we hung out around the campfire with our friends.

I have one maintenance issue after winter. The cassette toilet won't flush, so I get to do camper maintenance this week. It's not a huge deal as a cup of water works just well. After doing some YouTube research I think it's either a fuse or the water pump. I'll know later this week when I have time to look into it. I upgraded the battery and power center last month so it’s possible that something was missed in the power converter swap, but simple is more likely, and I’m thinking the water pump didn’t survive winter.

I didn't realize how much I missed camping over the winter. I need time in the woods. Next is VA Beach for Memorial Day weekend.

I decided to dig deep in the humidor for something to smoke on a recent evening. Pulling out the bottom tray where I had put cigars "for later" led me to a Fratello DMV Virginia. I have just two left from the original 2018 release, and looked forward to seeing how the cigar had aged.

Many folks assume a dark wrapper means a cigar is strong and full bodied. The assumption is often incorrect. Admittedly, I am guilty of an opposite assumption, that all lighter colored cigars are mild and boring. It's true that Connecticut wrapper cigars can disappoint me, but that's not a universal truth. For one such case, meet the Blanco Liga Exclusiva de Familia Connecticut Robusto.

I enjoyed a fun "Italian" dessert after dinner this week. I had the urge to enjoy one of the Toscano cigars I brought back from Italy last fall. An espresso seemed fitting to go along.

The Toscano Antica has a strong wood fire aroma even before lighting. The flavors when smoking bring to mind smoky BBQ with some sweetness added in. Despite the rough, dry appearance the burn has no issues and gave about a 40 minute smoke. That was plenty of time for a couple of double espressos.
I do enjoy these cigars on occasion. Fortunately Tuscano packages them for export and they can be had, rather inexpensively, from many online retailers.