Last week was the Juneteenth holiday, and in spite of That Man™’s proclamation that all of us layabouts should get back to work, I took a long weekend, and my lovely spouse and I, along with the dog, took our what’s-becoming-annual camping trip to tick a few more State Parks off the list.

It was a refreshing break, with lots of time spent out in nature, hiking, climbing, enjoying beautiful scenery, having encounters with wildlife, and checking out some of the local color of the region we happened to be in.

Also, we climbed a mountain.

That was part of our trip to Grayson Highlands State Park out in the southwest, where we visited and climbed to the 5th highest elevation in Virginia, Little Pinnacle on Haw Orchard Mountain, at almost 5100 feet above sea level. From there you can *see* the highest place, Mount Rogers, which is in the national forest nearby just off the Appalachian Trail, which passes through the park for a couple of miles near its northwest boundary. I’d have loved to go that way (in part, because of the wild ponies, but we’ll save that for next time; while Tifa loved bounding up the rocks on the climb we did, the distance out there site would be a challenge.

It was gorgeous, of course:

We camped at Claytor Lake (which we first visited last year), and also visited Hungry Mother and New River Trail State Parks; the latter being one I’m going to hit again; it’s main feature is a 57 mile rails-to-trails space along the river, and I really want to do it as an overnight bike-packing expedition one of these year. We spent our time in and around the Foster Falls area, the site of an 18th century industrial village and rail stop, which scratched my history buff itch. I was hoping for more from Hungry Mother; it was quite nice, of course, but I’ve seen plenty of tourist-swamped CCC lake rec areas in my time, and this was certainly another one. The origin of the name is an interesting story, however.

The other highlight, honestly, was our Saturday visit to Moon Hollow Brewing, which is a wonderful women owned and operated brewery that also acts as a LGBTQ+ safe space in a conservative area that truly needs one. As we enjoyed our very good beverages in the outdoor biergarten, a red hat goober in a huge pickup truck threw the middle finger and lazily shouted vulgarities (I mean, he wasn’t even trying…) at the gathered patrons, which to me said we found exactly the right space to spend a relaxing afternoon.

So that was my long, forget-about-work-and-the-world-for-a-bit weekend. Now it’s back to the usual bullshit bluster, Shroedinger’s war in the Middle East, and anger-inducing memos from Cabinet Secretaries.

Joy.

Actually, this really is joy, watching my dainty flower of a dog avoid getting her feet wet in the New River (which is actually one of the world’s oldest rivers):