Our anniversary celebrations did not end with our visit to Harrison Park. The next day we joined our son and DIL for dinner at Pebbles, a popular buffet style restaurant just south of Durham. Good food and lots of it! Ironically this may have been where we caught Covid!
Pebbles is in the hamlet of Varney, at a spot where there once was an old motel, the Cardinal Motel, which we stayed in when I was about 14, while we went skiing over at the old Talisman Ski Club. Now it's a very popular large restaurant, often with a line-up if you arrive on the diner hour. During the pandemic they renovated extensively, creating smaller dining areas. Their frozen meals are now available in our local grocery store. Varney is where I last saw a train go by on one of the now abandoned rail lines in the area - about 60 years ago!
After dinner we headed home through the rolling countryside.
We drove past the only solar farm we know of around here, a fairly small property, but it was fascinating to see it under construction over the past few years.
There's a cluster of windmills along here, probably about a dozen.
The crops here are mainly corn, wheat and soybeans. This field of corn won't likely get harvested until much later in the fall.
Soon we had turned north and were headed down into the Beaver Valley, with the village of Kimberley down there at the lowest point.
They have a huge issue with speeding and truck noise, so they've waged a campaign to slow traffic down. Personally I find these radar signs that tell you your speed, to be very effective. Mrs. F.G. certainly pays attention!
All the wheat here has turned a golden brown; about half of the what fields are harvested now.
And the third major crop is soybeans; it also won't be harvested until much later.
Here's another corn field. If you see the crop rows at right angles to the highway, it's easy to identify.
And of course there are lots of fields of hay or straw bales still to be gathered in. And thus ended our 50th anniversary celebrations! One to remember.
You have more crop variety than I've seen here, I think.
ReplyDeleteWhat an adventure, aside from COVID. Sigh.
Buffet style is great. Covid is a bad thing. The crops look great. I have a neighbor with solar panels and they are under cover of snow all winter. I wonder how the farm works out in the winter.
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful pictures showing a really delightful landscape where you live. I smiled at the picture of the solar farm, thinking it looks like they grew them! :-)
ReplyDeleteA beautiful collection of photos. There is one of those speed signs right before you get to our town.
ReplyDeleteMy new phone is a Samsung too and so was the old one. Still a lot different than my last one. Making a little progress with it. :)
Unfortunately we don't have any solar farms here in the midst of the Marcellus shale gas field. A local powerplant owned 4,000 acres, much of which could have grown solar panels but it burns coal and supposedly will be converted to natural gas. I've never found those radar speed signs to be very accurate, sometimes above our speedometer, sometimes below and sometimes right on.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful country views.
ReplyDeleteI think many of us are so fortunate to live here in these rolling rural Ontario farmlands with their endless country roads wandering aimlessly through fields and forests.
ReplyDeleteI love that countryside you share with us. The open space is good for the spirit!
ReplyDeleteGood dinner (except for Covid ) and tour.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your anniversary, and what a lovely drive. I miss the wide open skies and fields from when I grew up in Missouri. Here in the mountains, there are vistas of other mountains! Thanks so much for really great photos!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your anniversary! I'm glad you were able to spend time with family, though it's a bummer you caught Covid.
ReplyDeleteThe vistas are simply beautiful! The panoramic view heading down into Beaver Valley is my fave!
Many congratulations on your Anniversary.
ReplyDeleteYou've shared a beautiful collection of photographs.
All the best Jan
Pretty scenes. I always notice radar signs and to try to comply.
ReplyDeleteall of the buffets closed in this area due to covid. they have yet to re-open or have gone out of business. a beautiful ride...gorgeous views!! a reminder of how important the farmers are, i know they are having a really rough year with the drought here in new jersey!!
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