In which The Mrs. reflects on the first daze of the New Adventure

Well, as you all saw from the last post, we made it! The animals are both well, and seem to be adjusting to life pretty well. Mostly because I am keeping The Cat high on catnip and The Dog tired from walks and chewy things.

At present, we are staying at the Red Roof Inn for the next couple of weeks… hopefully we will find a place before then. Today I am meeting up with the rental agent to go and look at some places. She has been pretty wonderful since we began this entire process, and I am looking forward to meeting with her.

As The Man said yesterday, I took a walk in Huntley Meadows Park, located just a few miles away. It has over 1400 acres of lush hardwood forest that surrounds a huge wetland area. Here is what the Friends of Huntley Meadows website has to say about it:

Huntley Meadows lies in a wet lowland that was carved out by an ancient meander of the Potomac River. The resulting freshwater wetland is one of the rarest habitats left in Fairfax County. Acre for acre, a healthy wetland supports more life than almost any other habitat. Wetlands also purify polluted waters and control the destructive power of floods and storms.

In colonial times, this land was part of the extensive plantation holdings of George Mason IV. (Oh yeah, we’re in Virginia. Former plantation… that's nice.) Thomson Mason, a grandson of George Mason, built a home on the property in 1825. The house, now known as Historic Huntley, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Virginia Landmarks Register, and the Fairfax County Historic House Inventory.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed papers authorizing the donation of 1,261 acres to the citizens of Fairfax County, "exclusively for public park or public recreation purposes in perpetuity." Under the Federal Legacy of Parks Program, the County paid only one dollar for the land. In 1992 the Fairfax County Park Authority, with financial assistance from Ducks Unlimited, purchased an additional 165 acres of adjacent wetland and upland.

This place is going to help keep me sane these next couple weeks. The best part is that is does not smell like sewage, which seems to be an omnipresent scent this side of the Beltway. Poop.

Some pics of our walk…

The trail:

The wetland:

There is a boardwalk that meanders through the wetland, but no dogs allowed on that part- will have to see that another day.

I almost turned back when I saw this sign…

… because I just about crapped my pants laughing. As it was, the trail was comparable to a well-maintained trail in Kodiak, or Oregon for that matter. I mean, look at it. What a bunch of wusses.

The temperature was around 80, with the % humidity about the same. It’s actually kinda neat… the forest is still so lush (with just the first hints of Autumn color beginning to show), and with the sounds of crickets, frogs, and birds all around me, I could almost fancy myself in a tropical place. However, I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune in the summer when the temp is about 20 degrees warmer.

Well, that’s all for today. Since I am gainfully unemployed at present (but looking!), you can expect to have the pleasure of my writing every now and then for a little while… Elizabeth