Nelson County Rocks

This past Friday I joined a local hiking club for a hike in the (10,000+ acre) Saint Mary’s Wilderness, which I’d never visited before.  My hiking companions were a congenial lot, but there were around thirty of them, which did make the wilderness seem rather populated.  Still, it was a beautiful hike through terrain quite different than I’d been familiar with elsewhere along the Blue Ridge.  For more pictures, click here.

Our route started at milepost 23 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and followed the Mine Bank Trail through down to the St. Mary’s Trail, where we turned right to visit the main St. Mary’s falls; we then backtracked and hiked out along the St. Mary’s Trail to the forest service road parking lot at FSR 41.  The rock formations and deep pools along the St. Mary’s River, along with the mountain laurel and rhododendron forests and the prolific variety of mushrooms along the Mine Bank Trail, were spectacular.

In a joyous celebration in Roanoke, Tim and Megan were wed on July 31st.  The long hot and dry summer spell ended the night before, and unfortunately the marriage ceremony had to be moved inside due to a light rain.  But it was still a lovely and lively event.  As at Nic and Alison’s wedding two years earlier, John, Justin, Cally and Sylvia did a wonderful job of supplying the music before and during the marriage ceremony.

Family and friends converged on our home over a two week period before and after the wedding, and it was wonderful to spend time, explore,  and celebrate together.

click here for pictures from these two wedding weeks

Everyone who had been at Nic and Alison’s wedding and had heard Tim’s toast to the newly-married couple agreed that Nic had a hard act to follow as best man at Tim and Megan’s wedding.  But he fully met the challenge with a witty, funny, and moving  speech.

click here a video of  Nic’s toast to the bride and groom
(unfortunately grainy because of poor lighting)

[Note: Tim’s wedding toast to Nic and Alison in 2008 may be accessed here.]