Culpeper

Day 4 GDMBR, Sunday June 15th 2025

A surprise day today! I was not aware what Wayne and Dianna had organized. When I had contact with them in the Netherlands, they asked me what I would like to do, visit or experience while I was with them. I responded by saying, I like to do everything and you surprise me when I am with you!? Well, they did what I asked and surprised me every day with fun things, like you all did read!

While we waited Wayne was preparing the meat for the BBQ we would have at the end of the day. Wayne likes to BBQ and is an expert in it. We had beef, which was cooked and smoked long and low during the day John and I were away.

Today was no different, John, their son, who lives nearby and I knew from previous visits and the surprise party for Jim yesterday, took me for a surprise to visit. He is working hard and taking not enough time to do outside his home, work, or even Culpeper. After a full Wayne breakfast and some yoghurt with blueberries, a banana and raspberries we took off in his car to…..?

It turned out we were making a beautiful tour to our goal over the Shenandoah National Park and crossing the Blue Ridge parkway we arrived at the Luray Caverns in the rain. Because the main attraction was underground, the Cavern tunnels system is underground it didn’t matter! We started with a Coca Cola and entered the Caverns, a US National landmark! It was a well-maintained path system with all kind of formations of stalagtite’s and stalagmites with a variety of colors, structures and reflections in still waters, where it was mirrored beautifully. There are several pictures taken, but in real it was enchanting! After a self-guided tour, we went to have a small lunch and continued to see the other, small, museums that were on the terrain.

A small nicely organized Toy Museum, with all kind of beautiful preserved toys, some of which I recognized myself from when I / we were young! Then came the Car, carriage and Caravan Museum. A beautiful and very nicely preserved collection of very old carriages, cars and some caravans. It showed how small the people were in that age /time. Also it showed on several signs what the car (not the other vehicles) would have cost in that time. This wouldn’t say much since it couldn’t compare it with the present-day situation. It would have been nice to give an estimate of the earnings of several professions in that time. But it was very interesting nevertheless!

After driving the same route again back home to Wayne and Dianna, it rained again for the most part. John and I did talk about the different in politics in the USA and The Netherlands (NOT HOLLAND!!) Also, he explained some of the systems I didn’t understand. The different systems are so far apart and neither one is perfect, far from it!

When we came home at Wayne and Dianna’s place, the smell of well-cooked food came through the door when we came in! Wayne was still cooking the meat and we had some drinks and some small things to snack. At the table we were treated, John and me, with sweet salads, zucchini bread, baked potatoes and of course the big steaks. The steaks almost fell apart, which made them very well cooked. The flavor was fantastic and the whole meal was a great success!

Another very successful day with Wayne, Dianna and now John!