About Me

My photo
West Virginia
When I started my retirement travels in 2009, I wanted a way to share it with family and friends as it was happening. Hence, "My Travel Journal". However I realized I wouldn't always be on a trip and wondered what to do with the blog in between times. My daughter pointed out, wisely, that travels can also include trips to the kitchen to try a new recipe, trips to visit family, trips to my neighborhood Starbucks, or a fun day trip with a friend. You're welcome to join me on any of these journeys! I've set up individual pages for each of my major trips (see tabs above).

Also, I have an Etsy shop where my current needlework resides. The last pieces I posted here were in 2013! So if you'd like to see what I have accomplished recently, go to (and I apologize for having to copy and paste):

www.etsy.com/shop/thedollhouseneedle

I recently added an "Italian Word a Day" thingie which shows up at the bottom of every page. You see the word and can click to hear it pronounced. I've been enjoying it and I think my accent is improving as time goes by.

July 16, 2010

Rollin' on the River...

You know how you run into people that you know slightly and you chat, and then exchange phone numbers saying "call me!" and then neither of you do?  Well, one of my daughter January's grade school teachers is one of those people.  My excuse is that I'm too timid (I know - ME timid!? - but yes...)  Well, yesterday I got a call from her (Anne) wanting to know if I'd be interested in joining her and several of her friends (most of whom I had also met when they were with her at a cooking class and that wine-tasting event a few months ago) for a wine and cheese tasting river cruise!!  How neat is that?!  So, of course I said yes and went right out and bought my ticket.

We boarded the Mark Twain riverboat docked at a new riverfront restaurant called "Schooner's Grille" which looked full of happy diners when I got there.  We left the dock at about 6:15 pm in the blasting heat of the sun.  Fortunately, in addition to the roof deck, there was also an air conditioned cabin!  And before we even pulled away from the dock, the wine "guy" was very much in demand.

The pretty little Mark Twain...


Our happy group:  Front to back on the left:  Bev, Irene, Anne, Georgeann.  Front to back on the right:  Nina, Sharon, me.

And the captain is at his wheel so off we go.  I was upstairs taking pictures when he blew the whistle(?)/horn(?) and took about 10 years off my life!

The rest of this will be pretty much just pictures, so I'll say now what a really fun outing this was.  We all did our share of tasting, the evening, though hot, was beautiful, the river of course I love, and the company was very convivial.  In fact, we decided we're going to get together for a cookout/party on my building's rooftop deck in the next week or two - steak and shrimp!  Mmm-mmmm.

First I'll clump together the pictures I took of houses along the banks of the river.  I didn't work too hard at this - there are a lot of gorgeous, big houses especially on the Ohio side (left side in these pictures).  Poor West Virginia has a railroad track that runs along the river on its side so the nicest houses are tucked away high up on the hills (the wood house way up high is one of those).

 Ohio...

 Ohio...

 Ohio...

 Ohio - a little hide-away below one of the houses...

And, finally, West Virginia...our hills are prettier! :)

Leaving the bridge behind, we headed up river (northwest) and I was so glad - he started out going the other way, but a woman I talked with about why we had turned around said it was because she had asked him to go upriver instead because it's much prettier.  I took seventy-nine pictures(!) while on the river, but I have really winnowed them down here.

I love this bridge!

Pretty big and pretty wonderful...

On one of my forays up to the roof, this young couple and I had a little visit. They're Bruce and Andi and they were celebrating his birthday.  I borrowed a pencil to write down their names, telling them I'd put their picture on my blog if that was all right, and then I broke their pencil!  Such a klutz...

After probably a couple of miles, we turned back, got around a bend in the river and there was the bridge looking even more beautiful...

Here's our return target and I thought we'd just pull right in, but no...

we got to go under the bridge...

then make a sharp turn, go back under again, and then to the dock.  Neat!

 And, as we turned, I took the opportunity to snap this shot of the Guyan River emptying into the Ohio...

And, so ends a delightful evening.  From the noise level of the conversations and laughter all evening long, I'd say everyone had as good a time as I did and I'm just so glad Anne called to suggest it!

5 comments:

Christopher said...

How nice! So glad it will turn into a bbq too---always nice to have several folks to choose from, with similar social interests. And the pics of the bridge (particular the sunset one) are really nice.

Mary Lynne said...

Thanks, Chris - I took so many pictures of the bridge that I had a hard time deciding which ones to use. I think it's probably one of the prettiest bridges I've ever seen...

Unknown said...

In response to "how neat is that," I'd say it couldn't be any neater!! Such a fun idea and such a nice evening. Makes me want to take a riverboat cruise when I come to visit whether or not there's a wine tasting. Neato also that you got to under the bridge which is indeed beautiful. xoxo

January said...

I'm commenting! That sounds like a perfectly nice way to spend a summer evening. And when you have your rooftop cookout with Ms. Dragovich, you'll have to give her a hug from me, or at least say hello, if you feel weird hugging :)

Christopher said...

LOVE the new photo in your blog "header" area! Very nice!

Italian Word Word of the Day

My Trusty Followers

Blog Archive