It was a Bang-up Vacation!

In many ways I could just say Ditto!

1. Over the long Labor Day weekend, we went to a spot in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where, a couple of years ago,  the Yard Man (oops; he's now HM) and I took every last one of our descendants on a prior vacation.

2.  We rented the same large house with a pool and hot tub.

 

3.  We oohed and aahed over the same mountain views

4.  Oohed and aahed over the same train whistles (I'm only taking this on assumption; the trains may have been upgraded with new equipment since the last visit).  I may have exclaimed over these sounds of the train whistles more than any one else in our group. Dear Reader,  I found the night whistles especially lovely (slightly mournful, nostalgic, carrying me back to an era of time in which no one ever exclaimed, "A train?! Why would you take a train when you can get there so much faster by plane?!"

5. We took the same mountain hike as on the previous visit here.

6.  We oohed and aahed over the same fine children's museum that we visited in the nearby city of Harrisonburg the last time we were in this area. (There are so many activities at this museum that I can't begin to name all of them.  But,  I'll show you, Viewer Dear, the  theater where I enjoyed several short shows by the Small Actor and Tiny Actor (yes, they were brief.  The story lines were a bit chaotic and hard to follow.  But, oh my, this studio was rife with possibilities.  One could do costuming, apply make-up, run the camera, do set design, operate the sound system [during the performances that I watched, night cricket sounds were a frequently-used part of the story line, as well as the cracking and rolling of thunder (I've got to admit, sometimes those sounds were the only story line)].

Then, too, my performers had to work with any other actor or actress who simply walked in off the street and wanted to share the costumes and the stage! In spite of this handicap, I'd give the shows I watched great reviews!

(The director was a little short-staffed.  I put the sign on the marquee [using nearly all available letters; available letters, in fact, determined the name of the show.  If this ever gets to Broadway, Viewer Dear, the show's going to be re-named]).  

7.  We oohed and aahed about how smart we were to come to this spot (again).























There were lots of never-before's, as well, and I'll enumerate them in a still-to-come post, Reader Dear