With the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains as a back drop, enjoy a sampling of wines from one of 17 Virginia wineries along with enjoy festival foods while watching hot air balloons (and even a few lawnmower races).

In it’s 12 year, the Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival at Historic Longbranch had lots of fun activities throughout the day, including:

• Live entertainment
• Mansion tours
• Antique cars and the ld Dominion Fire Society antique fire engine display
• Kids activities
• Monster Truck rides
• Crafts and area artisans
• Radio-controlled planes
• Lawnmower races

Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival at Historic Longbranch 
Longbranch Historic House
1830 Longbranch Lane 
Millwood, Virginia 22646 (map it)
540-837-1856

Dates and Times – Friday, October 17 – 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Tickets – $10.00 per person admission, plus $10.00 for wine. under 12 free. 

Parking – Free

Images – Flickr – drinking wine, balloons

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Post from: The DC Traveler

And there’s one corn maze about an hour southwest of Washington, DC, that celebrates not only Virginia tourism, but is designed for serious “mazers”.

The maze at Cows-N-Corn, a working 300 cow, 1800-acre dairy in Northern Virginia, boasts a 9-acre corn maze. And that’s about the size of nine football fields, plenty of space to get lost perhaps for days.

The design of the maze uses the Virginia tourism slogan and logo, “Virginia is for Lovers”. And is large enough that it can probably be seen from space.

The Cows-N-Corn maze is not the largest in the U.S., that’s a 40-acre maze outside of Sacramento, California.

Besides getting lost in the maze, learn about life on a working dairy farm, pick a Halloween pumpkin from their pumpkin patch, take a hayride, watch butter being made, and don’t miss the chance to get face-to-face with a live dairy cow.

Cows-N-Corn – Fall Corn Maze
5225 Catlett Road
Midland, Virginia 22728 (map it)
540-439-4806

Dates and Times – Fridays – 3:00–9:00 p.m., Saturdays, 10:00–9:00, Sundays – noon–7:00, through November, 2008.

Tickets – $8.00 per person, kids under 4 – free

Parking – Free

Image – Virginia Tourism Corporation – Virginia.org

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Post from: The DC Traveler

The base is  just 3 hours from Washington, DC and the East Coast’s only Master Jet Base, the largest type of tactical fighter air base. It  manages a sophisticated array of attack and support aircraft of over 250 aircraft, including both F/A-18 Hornet and Navy F-14 Tomcat squadrons.

From vintage aviation to the latest in military firepower, the show includes demonstrations from the hottest fighters in the U.S. arsenal including the F-22 Raptor, F/A-18C Hornet, the Super Hornet, and the E-2C Hawkeye warning and control system plane.

Here’s a link to the long lost of scheduled performers and aviation demonstrations.

Oceana Air Show – 2008
Naval Air Station Oceana
16 miles East of the City of Norfolk
Virginia Beach, VA – about 200 miles or 3 hours from DC, (map it or click here for basic directions)

Dates and Times – Saturday and Sunday, September 20 – 21, 2008. Gates open at 8:00 a.m., flying starts at 10:00 a.m. and the Blue Angels perform at 3:00 p.m. check the website for the schedule.

Tickets – Admission is FREE, with additional paid seating available. Bleachers – $4.00, General – $8.00, Reserved – $12.00 and are available online.

Parking – Free.

Images – Raptor – U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker, F/A-18 – DOD photo/Navy Lt. Peter Scheu,

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Post from: The DC Traveler

And during a couple weekends over the fall, you too can experience driving not one high-priced super car, but four, all in one day. At the Capital Dream Cars – Power Driving Tour, get behind the wheel of four hot cars, that are out of reach to most drivers, for 3 hours of driving excitement.

The tour puts drivers behind the wheel of 4 exotic cars for three hours of fun driving through the twisty two-lane roads around the Blue Ridge-Piedmont regions of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia.  Plan on getting about 40 minutes behind the wheel of each car.

Tour participants take turns driving the following dream-cars:

• Ferrari 360 Spider (convertible), a $160,000 exotic that looks fast even standing still.
• Lamborghini Gallardo – 0-60 in under 3.7 seconds, top speed 200 mph powered by a V-10, 500+ hp engine.
• Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster (convertible) – At $126,000 you would think it would have a tilt steering wheel and one touch power windows, but who cares? It’s said to be a delight to drive.
• Bentley Continental GT – the ultimate in luxury performance with its twin-turbo W-12 engine (552 hp)

Drivers must complete a pre-tour orientation and get a catered lunch at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia.

Capital Dream Cars – Power Driving Tour
Lansdowne Resort and surrounding area
44050 Woodridge Parkway
Leesburg, VA 20176  (map it)
703-785-9357

Dates and Times – Saturday and Sundays, sessions at either 8:30 – 1:30, 12:00 -5:00 or both, on:

• September 20 & 21, 2008
• November 8, 2008

Cost – $795 for a single driver, $550 per driver in pairs, but you only get 20 minutes of driving per car, versus about 40 as a single driver. Not a bad deal, when you know the Ferrari and Lamborghini each rent for over $1,000 for a 12-hour rental on weekdays.

Requirements - Drivers must be at least 25 years old, hold a current and valid driver’s license, have a clean driving record, and be able to get rental car insurance coverage.

Parking – Free.

Images – Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Aston Martin,

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Post from: The DC Traveler

There are so many things to do at the Fair, so here’s the short list:

• Pig races
• Rodeo complete with bull riding
• Watch a chainsaw sculptor in action
• Travis Tritt in concert (Aug. 29),
• Walk around the animal pens and see thousands of animals from alpacas to dairy cattle, chickens to baby lambs
• Decadent chocolate contest
• Horse and dog shows
• Hundreds of traditional food and produce competitions

And don’t forget to check out some of the 40 carnival rides.  And if you get hungry, the Maryland Food Pavilion offers all kinds of fair favorites form local producers including corn on cob, fresh home-grown fruit, all kids of beef and lamb dishes, the highly recommended  catfish and of course, Maryland crab.

Maryland State Fair
2200 York Road
Timonium, MD  (map it) (north of Baltimore)

Dates and Times – Through Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.  Midway hours noon a.m. on weekends, noon on weekdays, until 10:00 p.m. Livestock and horse shows open at 9:00 daily.

Tickets – Adult – $8:00, Seniors and kids 6-11 – $3.00, under 6 free. Rides not included. ride prices range from $1-$6. Discounted ride tickets available 50 tickets for $45.

Parking – Limited paid parking is available. Free parking is available at the Park & Ride on Deereco Road west of the Fairgrounds.

Public Transportation: You can travel from DC’s Union Station to the Fair grounds, using MARC trains, but it’s a 2-3 commute requiring multiple bus transfers.  Visit Maryland’s MTA website for details. .

Images – at night, cow

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Join Baltimore Aquarium staff and Captain Mark Sampson, a recognized shark lecturer and writer, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a half-day on the water tagging live sharks off the coast of Ocean City.

Tagging sharks helps marine biologists and scientists, by providing valuable  on shark populations, habits, identity, migration and life span.

Shark Tagging in Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City, Maryland  (map it)

Dates and Times – a few weekends in late August (see below).

• Saturday, August 23, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
• Sunday, August 24, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
• Saturday, August 30, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
• Sunday, August 31, 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Tickets – $250 per person, limit 5 per session. (Join the Baltimore Aquarium and save $50.) Must be 15 years old or over (15-17 must be accompanied by an adult).  Includes lunch.

Reservations – For reservations, call 410-727-3474, Monday – Friday, 8:30 to 4:30. Directions and departure point to be provided  with reservation confirmation.

Images – shark tag, leopard on line, tagging one

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Post from: The DC Traveler

I recently took a short rafting with Front Royal Canoe Company and the entire experience was great.

FRCC rents canoes, one and two-person kayaks, inflatable rafts and tubes for rides down the Shenandoah River.  You start out at their facility, grab a life jacket, and they shuttle you and your choice of water craft to the drop off point.  After some directions and basic instruction, off you go. 

Trips range from under 2 hours, about 3 miles (30-4 hours on a tube) to their 3-day, 40-mile excursion.  On overnight trips, you need to bring your own camping gear. You an make about 20 miles a day, (7-8 hours).  Timing and distance traveled depends on the speed of the river and your paddling speed. The river ranges from calm and slow, to brisk (after big rains). So check current river conditions on their website.

Trips include water craft, paddles, life vests, maps, shuttle service and basic riverside instruction.  Tube trips also include a floating cooler. Weekdays are much quieter on the river, and 10%-25% discounts are available.

Make sure to bring sunscreen, a hat, a cover-up to get out of the sun, a small cooler with ice and drinks (and food for longer trips), as there aren’t many places to stop along the way. 

For a second choice, check out one other company, located in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Front Royal Canoe Company
8567 Stonewall Jackson Hwy.
Front Royal, VA 22630  (map it)

Dates and Times – 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended, especially on weekends.  Call 540-635-5440 or 800-270-8808 to make a reservation.

To allow enough time to complete the trip, tube trips start weekdays between 9:00 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. and between 7:00 a.m. & 1:30 p.m. on weekends.

Costs – Prices depend on type of watercraft and length of trip.  Trip Raft traps range from $40 – $140 for 3 up to three people, canoe trips (up to 3) $40 – $130, Kayaks $28  – $130 for one or two person kayaks, and 3-4 hour tube trips cost $16.00 per person. Each person must sign a waiver (under 18 requires a parent’s signature).

NOTE: No child under 6 years of age is permitted except on raft trips, where children 4+ are allowed only with two or more adults in the same raft.

Parking – Free

Images – from personal collection   ©2008, Jon Rochetti 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Discovered in 1878, Luray Caverns are the largest underground caverns on the East Coast and a Registered Natural Landmark. 

The 1.25 mile walking tour (paved walkways), takes you about 16 stories deep into the earth and winds through pristine and natural underground caverns, including the massive, 10-story tall Giant’s Hall.

The path traverses through a few tight passageways with low ceilings as well.

The stalactites and stalagmites are formed by dripping crystallized calcite that collects on the floor or sticks to the ceiling and dries, slowly forming the long pillars. Many of the formations are still growing, at the slow rate of about one inch every 120 years. 

Stalactites (hanging tight to the ceiling) and stalagmites (might eventually reach the ceiling from the floor), reach over 35 feet in some areas.  In other areas walls or sheets of formations have formed hanging curtains.

Near the end of the tour, you’ll stop to hear the Stalacpipe Organ, which uses no pipes, only electrical charges and vibration devices run through stalactites which in turn creates musical tones.  And don’t miss the  “fried eggs” as well.

The Car and Carriage Caravan Museum next door (admission is included in your ticket price) displays a collection of antique cars, carriages and wagons, dating back to 1725.

After your tour, check out the confusing Garden Maze. Using 8 feet tall hedges, maze-walkers must navigate a fog-misted half-mile internal path that allows you to make 40 “which-way-do-we-go” decisions.  But fear not if you get lost, there is an elevated platforms to climb, which gives you a bird’s eye view of your way out.

That is, if you can even find the platform.

Luray Caverns
970 W. Main Street
Luray, VA 22835-1060

Dates and Times – 75-90 minute guided tours start at 9:00 a.m. daily, until 7:00 p.m. through Labor Day. Tours start about every 10-20 minutes, depending on crowds. The caverns close earlier during other seasons.

Tickets – Includes admission to the car museum, Adults – $19.00, Seniors – $16.00, kids 6-12 – $9.00, under 5 – free with adult, and are available onsite.  Garden Maze – Adults – $ 6.00, children 6-12 – $ 5.00

Parking – Free parking is provided.

Note: This tour requires walking and has three staircases and steep grades along the route and is not considered wheelchair accessible.  Strollers are allowed.

Images – from personal collection – ©2008, Jon Rochetti
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Post from: The DC Traveler

And as I mentioned couple days ago, I visited Baltimore with my niece and nephew recently and while there, we also toured the aquarium.

The 2 million gallon aquarium is home to over 600 species of fish, rays, sharks, and other marine life, including birds, penguins, amphibians and reptiles.

The aquarium is split into several major sections and levels. Some of the more interesting include:

• Atlantic Coral Reef -  This area is most children’s favorite stop, as they get to visit with their pals, Nemo, Marlin and Dory. Adults can marvel at the more than 500 colorful salt-water fish. Check out the strong-jawed triggerfish, the cute hovering cowfish and the psychedelic Mandarin fish.  Walk inside the ring tank and watch larger fish swim by, seemingly with somewhere important to go.
• The quarter million gallon Open Ocean tank is home to larger sharks, that lets visitors walk inside the circular tank, giving you the feeling you are in the water, as you come face to face with infamous man-eaters.
• Wings in the Water – stingrays, skates, turtles and small sharks can be viewed from above or below water level.  Try to catch the periodic feeding by scuba divers. And look for the rescue turtle, missing one of its front flippers.
• Maryland: Mountains to the Sea, covers the Chesapeake Bay region from tidal marshes to the fishing and crabbing industry.
• Amazon River Forest – See some of the worlds largest river fish of the Amazon.
• Surviving through Adaptations – Shows people how fish adapt to survive form built in fishing lures, electric eels and fish that create their own light.
• Animal Planet Australia: Wild Extremes – Take a tour of the land down under and the great barrier reef.
• North Atlantic to Pacific – Watch puffins play on a simulated Atlantic sea cliff, and check out the undersea kelp forest and Pacific reef.
• South American Upland Tropical Rain Forest – Poisonous frogs,
  man-eating piranhas, sloths, birds and monkeys all play in the rainforest.

And don’t miss the entertaining Atlantic bottlenose dolphins show, and if you want to remain dry, avoid the “splash zone” (the first few rows). 

The National Aquarium
501 East Pratt Street at the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21202

Dates and Times - Friday, March 23rd – 4:30 p.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Tickets - Adults – $21.95, Seniors – $20.95, kids 3-11 – $12.95, add $2.00 – $7.00 for including the dolphin show, the 4-D Immersion Theater or both. Timed tickets can be purchased online, avoiding any ticket counter lines, or sell outs of sp

Parking – Paid garage/lot parking is available in the area, for around $14.00.

Images – from personal collection – ©2008, Jon Rochetti 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Recently, my college-aged niece and nephew visited me from the West Coast and we took a day trip up to Baltimore.  We visited the National Aquarium, (which I’ll write about in a couple of days), and also the impressive Body Worlds 2 exhibit, at the Maryland Science Center at the Inner Harbor.

The exhibit is not for the squeamish, but a must for anyone interested in biology, physiology or how the human body works.  The exhibit displays a series of posed placistized human bodies, which detail what you can’t see inside the human body – the skeleton, muscles, bones, the respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems.

Ranging from full-size bodies to the smallest of individual human systems, the exhibit provides a unique view of the inside of the human body and its phenomenal complexities.

Body Worlds has been commended as one of the few human body exhibitors that can properly document the sources for all of its bodies on exhibit, as most bodies were willed to the exhibit by the person before they died, and died from natural causes.

Many of the bodies are posed an athletic activities, including a skateboarder, a soccer player in mid-kick, a baseball player completing a swing, and a pair of ice skaters in the head spin. Additionally, there are several animals on display as well, including a camel who’s head is sliced in three dimensions.

While your first reaction may be to cringe, the bodies are actually beautiful pieces of art, just human art; all portrayed in a responsible and respectful manner.

The preservation process is complex multi-step process that takes months, first starting with the removal of fluids, and ending with the injection and application of a silicone polymer that preserves the body.

My niece, who is interested in studying veterinary sciences, had to be literally dragged through the exhibit, as she was mesmerized with each display and read virtually every placard and description.

On the other hand, I had only one section of the exhibit which made me a bit uncomfortable, the section on human development in the womb. Not by the way it was portrayed, but by the fact that these embryos and unborn infants didn’t get a chance to live.

And if you’re a smoker, get ready to be shocked into quitting. The display of healthy lungs, smoker’s lungs and the lungs of a coal miner suffering from black lung disease is enough to make rational smoker quit on the spot.  There’s even a drop box for smokers to leave their cigarettes in the exhibit. 

Body Worlds 2 runs through the first of September.  It’s an educational and amazing exhibit that mature children, teens and adults of all ages can both enjoy and learn about the body and how it works.

In fact, just before our visit, a military team of nurses and medics toured the exhibit before being deployed, as part of a refresher on the human body that you can’t get out of any book.

Viewer discretion is advised. Parents should seriously consider any possible impact on young or more sensitive children.

Body Worlds 2
Maryland Science Center
601 Light Street, at the Inner Harbor
Baltimore, MD 21230 (map it)

Dates and Times – Daily 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Fri. 9-5, Sat. 9-6, , Sun. 9-5, through September 1, 2008. 

Tickets – Tickets include admission to the Maryland Science Center.  Adults – $24.00, children 3-18 – $18.00, Seniors 62+ and adult students with ID – $23.00.  Tickets are available online at Ticketmaster.

Parking – Paid garage/lot parking is available in the area, for around $14.00

Images – Taken with permission from Body Worlds 2, personal collection ©2008, Jon Rochetti.

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Post from: The DC Traveler