Fourth of July on the Potomac

We spent most of the 4th of July out on the Northern Neck, at the annual party of friends who own a home on Lower Machodoc Creek, off of the Potomac River. The drive out there is about 90 minutes for us, but it’s a quiet, peaceful ride through an area we rarely otherwise see. We caught up with old friends, relaxed by the water’s edge, and enjoyed plenty of good food and drink.



Their house sits on a very narrow spit of land that juts into the water, with no more than about 50 feet of land on either side of the road.



Here are a few photos from the neighborhood:







We came across quite a few osprey nests:



Here's something that was new to me: potato guns. These boys were shooting potatoes across the water, aiming for the ramshackle boathouse across the way (no boats, people, wildlife, or ramshackle boathouses were harmed in the firing of the potato guns).



Here's the ridiculous Hummer limo we encountered at a gas station on the way. I have no idea how this thing actually manages to pull up to a pump:



We made it back into town to catch about half of the Bluemont concert, featuring Scott Ainslie, an excellent blues guitarist and musicologist whose concert is like a workshop in the history of the blues.



As always, we watched the fireworks from Old Mill Park (not realizing that this was apparently an unauthorized fireworks-viewing venue this year), and then stopped at Carl's on the way home, where we ran into some old friends that we hadn't seen in way too long, making it a perfect ending to the day.