Weekend Recap

 Ahhh Labor Day weekend, it came and went with an alarming speed!  How does a three day weekend go by just as speedily as a two day weekend?   I'm really confused at how that can happen!!!  NO matter the speed that the long weekend flew by, we had a great weekend!

Saturday Shopping and a New Travel Carrier for our Bird

We started out Saturday bright and early.  We knew that we had to get up to Hagerstown to pick up a package that I had mistakenly had shipped to my billing address and not my shipping address.  OOPS.  We also knew that it was grocery and errand day, so we set off to get that stuff done.  UP to Hagerstown, Aldi, The Organic supermarket, Petsmart, Target, Sierra (just because you never know what you might find) and downtown to the Trail house (Jason needs new tail shoes).  The list went on.   We did manage to get outside a wee little bit!  We went to the Gambrill Mill area of the Monocacy Battlefield and walked a wee little bit.   It had flooded badly when we got the rains from hurricane Ida....so we were a bit restricted on where we could go....but hey, It got us outside!

We finally headed for home and ripped open the package that we had picked up early in the morning in Hagerstown.   We bought a new travel cage for Kiwi!   We had a cheapie $40 cage...which he seemed to HATE  and we wanted a backpack carrier!  SO we went with the Celltei Pack-o-bird.  (which was anything but frugal...so it will NOT appear on any of my frugal Fridays)   We couldn't wait to put it together!  It is very well constructed!  Of course Kiwi had to try it out right away!  He hung out in there for a bit...and we let him that night, just so he could get used to the bag.

Sunday Hiking

We knew that Sunday was our day to hike!  So we got a move on!   We were ready and just had to decide where to hike!   We talked about it and decided that we wanted to hike one of our favorite trails....the Thurston Griggs Trail up to the Appalachian Trail and over to Black Rock and Annapolis Rock......then back.  It's a pretty good hike.  A good workout and neat things to see and encounter.  Off we headed, out of our apartment and into........drizzling rain!

We hiked the other week in rain so we were not deterred, besides, it was only supposed to be sporadic light rain. We did momentarily talk about switching trails because the Thurston Griggs trail is somewhat steep and washes out.  (You can check out a video about the trail and a bit of history about that area here....)   IT. RAINED. THE. WHOLE. HIKE.   

Ok, hiking in the summertime woods (thinkin lots of leaves and trees overhead) in the rain is not that bad!    We got about 8-10 miles of hiking in and we loved every minute of it!  (My legs are still doing GREAT and I enjoyed this hike, just like the hike from a few weeks back!

Lazy day Sunday

On Sunday we took a lazy day.  We put Kiwi into his carrier and we headed out for a practive 'desensitization' trip.  We stopped to visit my mom for a few minutes (Only a short visit since I'm off work on Friday and plan on spending the day with her.)  And we stopped by Jason's parents for a visit.  Nice and relaxing!  

But then the weekend was over!  BOOOOOOOOOOO  So back to the weekday grind we went!

Weekend Fun

We had a good weekend.  It wasn’t chock full of exercise and activity, but it was a fun weekend regardless! 

This past weekend was a grocery weekend.  When we get groceries we swing into at least stores. (Sometimes more if we need to hit targeted the pet store.). This takes quite a chunk of our day.  But that’s ok, it is part of life.  By the time we finished all of our shopping and general errands we didn’t have a whole lot of time left in the day for fun and excitement.  So we headed to our little ‘go to’ place.   

Gambrill Mill

Gambrill mill is an area within the confines of the Monocacy National Civil War Battlefield.  This area of the park is relatively small but it is just a neat place to visit.  It is our easy and quick place to go to reconnect with nature.

The main (only???) trail at this location is only a mile or so.  It starts on a boardwalk at the corner of the parking lot.  The boardwalk was just redone and is in great shape.  On the boardwalk you will meander by and over a stream that leads to the Monocacy River. It also will walk you by the site of an old shed that is in ruins.  

Eventually the boardwalk will deposit you at an access to the Monocacy River.  There is an overlook in case you don’t want to walk down to the river bank. (Overlook is a nice term…you are maybe 10 feet above the level of the water.)  In the summer this area is full of people swimming, picnics, canoes, rafters and so much aquatic activity.   

The trail now meanders around the edge of the field and follows another stream that flows into the Monocacy River.    The water in this stream is so clear. It is the perfect place to wade!

As you make the circle back to the parking lot you will see the Gambrill Mansion (used as offices) and the old mill that sits alongside the pond.  I have never seen either building open and available to the public.  But irregardless…it is a neat place to get out in nature if you just have a short period of time!

On Sunday we took a lazy day.   Seriously, we lounged around all morning.  We watched tv, played around online and I messed around with my cameras a bit.  It was a lazy morning!

During the afternoon we spent some time trying to get Kiwi, our Green. Geek Conure acclimated to traveling.   Yes we took him for an outing.   Some birds get car sick.  Apparently Kiwi get sick…but it’s definitely not from motion sickness…he has panic attacks!  I kid you not…this bird gets sick before we even turn on the car! Each outing he gets a bit better…so we hope that by vacation time he will be good with travel because he is going on vacation with us.  (Mertz is staying at home…she is more self sufficient and will only need someone to come check on her one or two times.)

Before we knew it, our weekend was over!   They go so fast!  The only consolation to the drama of going back to work?    We only have a three day week!   Both Jason and I are off on Thursday and Friday!  Yay!!!!!!