Cheswick-BBQ

We went to Cheswick park near Henrico Hospital, henrico VA for Barbecue on 25th May 2015.

Brief Summary
Place : Cheswick Park
Location : Henrico, VA
Distance : 0.5 miles from Henrico Hospital.
Group: 15 members.
Duration : 1day

Experience: On 24th evening we have decided to meet and discuss regarding plan for having a barbecue. We discussed couple of options for place like pool in our society, cheswick park and deep run park(little far off from where we stay) and for food we thought of options like barbecue, preparing on gas near pool and ordering from outside. Finally we decided the place to be pool and food will be prepared on the grill and will get backup food and will start around 11:00 am(as soon as the pool opens). So changed the name as well to pool party instead of barbecue. We have come up with list of all the items needed for the arrangement and decided to go next day morning before the pool party starts. On 25th morning around 9:15 am had a call with Hemant(Key person behind the event) and came to know that plan is changed and we are having barbecue at cheswick park. We both first went to Walmart and bought majority of the necessary items, then picked Vaibhav and went to Indian Store, Dollar Tree and Halal to buy the rest. We brought corn hole game as well as an activity to all during the barbecue. I boiled potatoes and then took few chopping boards and knives, picked up Hemant, Amol and Akshay(also brought chopping board and knives) and left for Cheswick park.

It was a bright sunny day. There were not much cars at the parking. We parked the car, collected all the items that we bought in the morning and headed towards our barbecue spot.It was few hundred meters walk from parking to the pot and fully covered with huge trees on both sides protecting from heat. With the shade of the trees and little sunshine all over the place it was a very good climate for having barbecue. We four were the first to reach. We then started preparation of food by chopping necessary items, mixing and marinating them with various masala and sauces. Soon Other members arrived along with their family and kids. There was a big ground near the barbecue spot where the kids were playing and having fun. Soon we were done with food preparation and decided to light up fire and prepare corn. The corn took longer than expected time to get heated. The Corn was ready, applied masala to it and they were very tasty. The nice aroma of the burnt charcoal in the midst of the jungle added to the corn flavour made it delicious.

While corn was getting ready few of us started preparing for the barbecue (sticking all the marinated vegetables to skewers). After corn is completed, we started the veg barbecue. All the vegetables are getting cooked on the barbecue grill very nicely. Soon first round of barbecue was ready and it was superb in taste. And the climate also made us feel very comfortable with nature and enhanced the taste of the food. After two rounds of Veg Barbecue, we had chicken on the grill for those who eat. It also turned out to be very delicious. After finishing with chicken also we started an activity Corn Hole. Made teams, comprising two, among ourselves and those with families one team and others were grouped to form one team. Rohit and Amol won in the game potting highest number of corn bags into the hole. Total three rounds were played and we had lot of fun while playing. We again had veg barbecue on the grill and called the day off. Had a wonderful and memorable time outside with great team and of course had amazing and wonderful food. All our efforts were really successful. All is Well.

                        

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Buck Hollow

I had done hike on Buck Hollow on 16th May 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park.
Hike Location
Name: Buck Hollow
Distance: 105 miles from Richmond(approx)
Total hiking distance: 9.0 miles(approx).
Altitude: 3400 ft.
Hike Team: Ravi, Sujay and me.
Hiking Experience: Started around 6:10 am from our place and picked up Sujay from his place around 6:34 am and left for our destination (Buck Hollow Parking). We took a halt at 7-Eleven around 7:30 am and had coffee. Reached the parking area by 8:40 am. There were few other cars already parked at the parking area. Had home made breakfast and started the hike around 8:54 am. It was not so bright and there was ool breeze as we started the hike. The trail is narrow and there were small small stones on the path. It was a blue blazed trail. The trail was surrounded by huge trees and it lead us straight into the middle of the jungle. We crossed couple of streams. The slope was normal for initial few minutes of hike and gradually steep increased as we hiked further. Due to the tall dense trees surrounding us we didn't feel the fun heat and there was cool breeze throughout. The steep was very high but with cool breeze and not much heat we were able to hike without much difficulty. There were so many earth worms on the path and it looks as thought it had rained yesterday. There were beautiful flowers on the side of the trail. The trail path is covered with rocks for some part, then grass and leaves and then with some big rocks. Soon we reached Skyline Dr around 10:15 am.

We then crossed the road and continued hike along the blue blazed trail.There were other hikers along the trail. This trail was very steep from the start itself and path is full of small rocks and fallen trees. And now the jungle is not much dense we could see little sunshine along the path. We slowly hiked further and gradually steep increased and there was no cool breeze. We soon reached an intersection with Appalachian Trail(A.T.) We followed the path of A.T.(white blazed trail). This trail was narrow and not much steep. We saw a huge fireplace structure made of bricks as we hiked on the A.T. We reached a huge patch of rocks from which the view was wonderful and cool breeze started flowing. We could see entire valley of Shenandoah National Park. We continued our hike and reached an intersection with blue blazed trail(Buck Hollow Trail). We followed the blue trail. This was a short but steep trail. we reached the top of the hill and there were huge rock patches. The view was spectacular from the top. Could see different colours of leaves of trees in the valley. We sat there and took snaps trying to capture nature's wonderful views. we then returned to our car parking area. We followed the same trail through which we came up until Skyline Drive. Since it was descent without much effort we could reach the Skyline Drive. While ascent we have not felt the steepness of the trail but while descent we could see that the trail was indeed very steep. We reached the road around 11:47 am. At this point we covered 6 miles of trek.

We decided the complete the hike and then have lunch. We then crossed the road continued our path on an yellow blazed trail(another route to reach our parking). The trail was narrow covered by huge trees and not much steep for initial few minutes. Soon we reached an intersection with blue blazed trail. We followed the blue trail and continue further. There were small beautiful flowers on the side of the trail. After sometime there were steps(having wood log at the end of each step) leading us down the hill. It was a direct descent and steps are very steep and there were small stones on the steps. We were having pain on toes due to the steep descent. As we approached the bottom the hill the steps are done and it was a gradual slope and path is covered with thick roots of the tall trees surrounding the path. We reached the parking around 12:59 pm thus completing the hike. We hiked 9:00 miles in 3 hours. We had lunch in the car and left for home around 1:22 pm. Reached home by 3:30 pm. Overall it was one of the very good hikes of the season with great weather and awesome views from the top. All is Well.

                     

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Turk Mountain

I had done hike on Turk Mountain on 2nd May March 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park.
Hike Location
Name: Turk Mountain
Distance: 95 miles from Richmond(approx)
Total hiking distance: 10.3 miles(approx).
Altitude: 5440 ft.
Hike Team: Rajtilak, Rohit, Sujay, Vaibhav and me.
Hiking Experience: Started around 7:00 am from our place and picked up Sujay from his place around 7:18 am and left for our destination(Jarman Gap).  We took a halt at Starbucks around 8:12 am , had coffee and home made breakfast. Around 8:45 am we started from Starbucks. We reached the destination parking spot around 9:28 am. There were few cars parked and met group of 10-15 fellow hikers at the parking who were also ready for hike. It was a bright sunny day with cool breeze. we had map with us for the trail. We started along the yellow blazed trail down the hill. In 0.2 miles we came to an intersection with Appalachian Trail(A.T.),a white blazed Trail and continued our hike on yellow blazed trail. The trail is wider, wet and surrounded by huge trees. There was a river stream along the side of the trail which we crossed multiple times. It was a down trail. Soon in around 35 mins we reached an intersection with Turk Branch trail.

We followed the turk branch trail(yellow blazed). The trail is wide and gradually the steep of the trail increased. Due to tall trees surrounding the trail, we have not felt the intense sun heat. The slope started increasing more and more. We crossed small streams along the path. Due to hot summer the water level was low. There was no breeze while hiking along the trail. We reached turk branch parking where we saw few hikers cars being parked. We crossed the parking and followed A.T. The A.T. was downhill and soon we reached an intersection with Turk Mountain Trail. We followed the Turk Mountain Trail(blue blazed Trail) to enjoy the good scenic view of Shenandoah region. The trail is little narrow and was downhill initially. Slowly the steep increased and it was very steep towards the end with lot of stones on the trail and not much trees along the trail. With Sun almost above the head and scorching heat it became much more harder to continue along the trail. We reached the top of the turk Mountain and view of Shenandoah from the top is fabulous. Cool breeze was flowing and we sat at the rock patches on the top and enjoyed the view. We retraced the trail back to the intersection with A.T.

We continued our trail on A.T. and looked for a decent place to have lunch. Around 12:25 pm we sat for lunch. Had delicious home made food, brought and shared by all. We had lunch by 12:55 pm and continued for rest of the hike. It was downhill all along the trail and with huge tall trees on both sides of the trail, we had lots of shade. We reached main road after hiking around 1.4 miles. We continued on A.T. The trail was downhill initially, then the slope of the trail increased gradually. The trail was narrow and almost like we were passing through middle of the jungle. we traversed through the mountain along the trail. We reached the intersection which we have come across during start of the hike. we followed the yellow blazed trail(which was uphill) and reached our parking spot by 1:52 pm. We did some stretching and left for home. Reached home by 3:50 pm. Overall it was a very good hike and memorable one. All is well.

                      

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