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On Saturday, I went with some friends to visit a distillery in Sperryville, VA. It was far too cold to be outside so this was a superb opportunity to experience something new. I was not keen to spend all day indoors, so excellent idea Tim!
I was keen to try out the Wasmunds whiskey after reading about it on their website and it was awesome to learn we had a famous distillery almost on our doorstep. I was also amazed to discover from the website that it was sold in the local ABC store, walking distance from my home.
We arrived and immediately started the tour. The place had a welcoming homey atmosphere with a fire blazing and the owners' cats sleeping on nearby chairs.
This is Chip, a massive affectionate tabby.
I would love to work at this desk!
Here's the owner Rick, smelling the mash. We were invited to smell it also so I promptly shoved my head down and took a deep sniff. And just as promptly recoiled as my nose lining disintegrated and my eyes watered. I couldn't even speak, the smell was so bad. Of course this was the desired effect and Rick was immensely amused.
He explains here how the whiskey sits in these used bourbon barrels with smoked fruit wood chips suspended in them. He let us smell the small jar on top of the barrel and this time I smiled with delight at the gorgeous aroma, sweet, woody and smokey. I was itching to take a sip but managed to let go of the jar as the next person gently prised it from my fingers.
Here's some barrels with the whiskey aging inside.
This is the station where the bottles are labeled and then sealed with wax.
Our group. Tim holding his barrel kit which he'd just purchased, Jay holding his bottle of malt whiskey, and Pam and I holding copies of The Town Crier, just in case this local paper prints our photo.
The small store where the whiskey is sold. It also sold souvenirs such as t-shirts, shot glasses and model trucks. I bought the Copper Fox Rye Whiskey simply because I liked the label. We were allowed to taste the whiskey due to laws but we could sniff them.
After chatting to Rick and petting the animals, 2 cats and 2 dogs, we wandered across the way to an antique store. The place was massive but cold with only a wood stove near the register. We didn't stay too long but I shall come back when it's warmer. Our tummies were crying out by now so we went into town to find food.
Pam had been recommended a restaurant by a friend so we headed there and I had a wonderful chicken burger accompanied by a superb local beer. We headed back to Tim's car with full bellies and drove back home. As soon as I got through my front door I staged a photo with my bottle of whiskey and called Barb to invite her round and sample the stuff. It was all I could do to not open it until she arrived but she was in my rocking chair within the hour and we spent a few hours chatting and sipping the golden nectar. Cheers!
On Saturday a small group of us decided to visit the Skyline Caverns in Front Royal. Scott volunteered to drive which was awesome for me to be able to just sit back and enjoy the day. It was another freezing day but the caves were supposed to be at a constant 54 degrees so it would be much warmer inside than out.
We were led by our tour guide underground and learned that the caves were discovered in 1937 and only 20% of them are open to the public. In fact there are still tunnels which are not fully explored.
A river flows in the caves and at various points the lights make wondeful reflections in the water.
There are supposed to be living creatures down here but we saw no evidence of that but did hear of how a group of Valentine Beetles were discovered here and on identification were found to be the only ones in existence. All seven of them died so they were extinct as soon as they were found!
This formation is called the Eagle since it looks like an eagle with its wings outstretched. We saw stalactites and stalagmites but I was most intrigued with the Anthodites, known as Orchids of the Mineral Kingdom.
There are few places in the world where these can be seen and they only grow an inch every seven thousand years. This has likely been thwarted since their ideal conditions have now been disturbed. The lights in the tunnel are only turned on while we were there to try and maintain their preferred living conditions. Skyline Cavern boasts the largest Anthodite formation in the world.
Throughout the tour we experienced sporadic moments where we stood in complete darkness. Our tour guide informed us that if we were to stay underground in the blackness, after a week we would be blind, and after two weeks we would go mad. I was happy to take her word on that.
The tour lasted nearly 2 hours and we'd walked over 2 miles yet I was sad to reach the end. I much preferred this friendlier non commercial tour to the Luray Caverns. There were places where we had to duck and times we had to be careful with our feet since some of the floors were slippery or steep but apart from lights that had been set into walls, they had been very careful to retain the integrity of the caves.
We were all ravenous as we emerged into daylight and drove to Front Royal to find a restaurant. We followed our noses to a wonderful little place where I had the most delicious pulled caribbean chicken wrap with tangy ginger sauce, mediterranean pasta salad and fries. We sat and chatted as we warmed up then decided to go for a hike at Shenandoah River Park. I'd never been here and was excited to visit new terrain.
There's some great hiking trails here with the river running through for kayaking possibilities in the spring but for now, it was iced over.
We started walking to warm up and had thought that we were following a small loop of about 1.5 miles. The first mile or so was all uphill with great views from the top.
We wound up hiking about 3.5 miles and reached the car at dusk with the moon already in the sky.
It had been a wonderful day and I finished it with my feet up sipping a glass of red with a purring Kota on my lap.
The next day was going to be spent urbexing with Steve but he'd sprained his knee badly and I was actually grateful to have a lazy day as I was feeling the start of a cold and didn't really want to spend another day shivering. So instead I caught a movie, (Black Swan, which was terrible), and then sniffed my way round McKays where I got a larger than expected credit on my returned books. I didn't buy any as I was feeling more ill by the minute and raced home to crash on the sofa again with Kota and share some homemade chicken soup.
Saturday was freezing cold but Jeff and I were determined to go out and take photos in Baltimore; do some exploring and just see where the roads took us. We wrapped up warm and threw camera bags and tripods in the car. Reaching Baltimore, we just cruised around looking for possible exploration sites and came across this old building down a side street.
I nearly got blown away as I stepped out of the car, the wind whipped at my hair and jacket with icy fingers. I rushed to the building looking for an entrance which I found immediately. Jeff bravely stopped outside to shoot some photos but I dove inside the building and pulled a handwarmer from my camera bag.
The place was pretty desolate and feeling so frozen I had a really hard time trying to pull some creativity from my lens. I stomped around clutching my handwarmer which was only lukewarm and doing nothing to thaw out my fingertips. Jeff finally came in and we headed upstairs.
The building was empty and was difficult to ascertain what it had been previously used for but we assumed storage. We messed around with some portraits of each other which seemed silly as we were frozen and I felt my face was cracking as I smiled.
Jeff did a better job than me that's for sure and he was shooting a lot more frames than me. I was eager to vacate the building and jump into a warm car so we decided to leave. I had to sit in the car for a few minutes to let my fingers come back to life before I could drive, but soon we were off again. We drove towards Fells Point and stopped to take some shots of the Dominion Sugar sign.
The Museum of Industry was also nearby and offered some awesome photo possibilities but after just a few minutes, the biting wind was too much and we had to seek sanctuary in Stuart again.
Once again, I had to chaff my poor hands back to life before I could drive. We'd had a late start and were now hungry so decided to head for Little Italy and have a late lunch.
The warm food was welcomed, thanks Jeff!, and soon we had mustered up more energy for just one more project. Dusk was fast approaching so we decided to shoot the nearby red light district which was contained in just one block. As the light faded and dodgy looking men started appearing, I was glad I had Jeff with me and decided all my shots would be processed to look dark and sinister.
This gentleman agreed to let me take his photo but others were reluctant. I wonder why?
We soon had enough as the temperature was dropping even further as the sky darkened.
With my poor paws languishing once again, I stuffed them into my pockets and we headed back to Stuart for the last time.
One more image and the lens cap was finally fastened. We'd had a fun day but I couldn't help feeling bad for the poor homeless folks out there who were still trying to maintain body heat while I sipped a hot chocolate with Jamesons...
Earlier in December a small group of us braved the freezing cold and winds to photograph some of DC by night. It was absolutely freezing and I'd not brought any gloves with me thinking it would impede my camera actions. So stupid! I didn't even think about carrying my metal tripod around and it sometimes felt that my fingers stuck to the legs.
We didn't wander too far and for the first 20 minutes or so stood like penguins staring at each other and clapping our stiff arms in front of us. Finally someone was brave enough to open their mouth against the icy wind and suggest walking the short distance to the Capitol. No one argued and we mutely plodded towards the building.
The views of the Mall were impressive and we swiftly snapped our shots and then decided to head for the back of the building where it would hopefully afford some protection from the elements.
We spoke with a very friendly policeman who begrudgingly informed us that we weren't allowed to use tripods to take photos on Federal land without a permit, but showed us where we could get one. We snuck in a few anyway when his back was turned but most of our shots after were hand held or taken with cameras balanced on walls.
I loved the Art Deco lighting lining the walkways in front of the building. After the Capitol, we walked to the next closest building of interest which was the Library of Congress.
This fountain is called the Court of Neptune' created by Roland Hinton Perry in 1895. Our group numbers had dropped by now and we decided warming up was a necessity. Rushing back to our cars, we then drove to a bar on Pennsylvania Ave where we chatted and drank beer until we'd thawed out. Times such as these when the weather or other factors are against us make me wonder why I take part in some of these activities but afterwards I'm always glad that I did!
