Kelly and I are both lucky enough to have grown up on Missouri farms. These farms ultimately benefited from Cyrus McCormick's 1831 invention, the mechanical reaper - only 50 miles from Charlottesville, near Lexington. Cyrus was only 22 when he invented and built the reaper on his family farm. Today, the Cyrus McCormick Farm is managed by our friends at Virginia Tech and is a beautiful place to spend the afternoon enjoying the outdoors, walking the trail, and visiting the blacksmith shop, grist mill, and museum.
The drive from Charlottesville to the McCormick farm is a beautiful trip through the George Washington National Forest, across the Blue Ridge Parkway, and into the Shenandoah Valley. Luckily for us, our route takes us by the Wintergreen Winery in Nellysford and Ron King's kettle corn booth at Afton Mountain, offering important victuals for what is about to come.
The final stop of the day is Hull's Drive-In Theater in Lexington. If you miss the good old days of the Fork Union drive-in, then this theater is for you. It is the nation's only non-profit, community-owned, drive-in theater. And like Fork Union used to be, it is more a field than a parking lot. The theater is packed to see Man of Steel, a fun movie to watch on a cool night under the stars, a bright moon, and fireflies galore.
Yours in celebrating our fathers, men of steel both,
Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment