Picnic at Sky Meadows

Sky Meadows State Park is a jewel of a small park about 20 minutes from Winchester and nestled up on the eastern flanks of the Blue Ridge in Fauquier County. I had intended to take Ann there on our very first date three years ago, but the weather did not cooperate and we enjoyed our picnic at the island in her (now our) kitchen. Ann's been on some meds recently that preclude her drinking any alcohol—poor dear—so I decided that this just might be the weekend to go to the park, where alcohol is prohibited.

View from Overlook, Just Below Appalachian Trail

We hiked from the parking lot, proving to ourselves just how out of shape we are, up to the overlook just below the Appalachian Trail. Two days later, my calves are still sore!

Splendid Dogwood, the Only Trees Turning Color

On the way up through the cow pasture, we took breaks at opportune locations including by this gorgeous dogwood. Dogwoods are the only trees turning color now, though some persimmons in other locations were showing a flash of red. Poison ivy is turning red now as are sumacs, but there are no sumacs up at this elevation.

Bumper Crop of Persimmons This Year

The chef in me is always excited about wild edibles and I couldn't resist showing Ann all the good things to eat on the way up to the top. Persimmons were everywhere and the crop of pawpaws is good as well. We've been serving pawpaws at the restaurant for about three weeks, but none of these at elevation were yet ripe. We also saw lots of rose hips, black walnuts, and hickory nuts just screaming to be foraged.

Lots of Pawpaws This Year Too, Alas None Ripe

Ann and Mystery Flower

During our drive out, we passed big fields of goldenrod in all their fall glory and as we got closer to the park, big fields of another golden flower that I couldn't recognize from a distance. We got up close and personal with it at the park and it looks for all the world like a Helianthus, a sunflower, similar to a Jerusalem artichoke, but with a different flower.

Olive Oil, Focaccia, Olli Calabrese, Boerenkaas, Figs