False Spring

Um, hi, this is what we woke up to this morning:


You have to be kidding me.

I felt sorry for all those Cherry Blossom Festivalers stamping around to keep warm while trying to figure out which puffy white things were flowers and which were snowballs. Unbelieveable.

We, meanwhile, were having a delightful weekend, snow and all. As a birthday treat, Jason booked a night at the Marriott Ranch near Front Royal, Virginia, just shy of the Shenandoahs. It's the one bed and breakfast in the Marriott chain and was once the vacation home of the Marriotts...after it was the home of James Marshall, brother of John Marshall, the Supreme Court Chief Justice. That was in, like 1814.

We'd hoped to spend the weekend walking or bike riding, assuming that the 70+ degree weather from last weekend was here to stay (ha!). Even so, we enjoyed curling up with cheese and books and napping under blankets just fine. We had a fabulous dinner at Apartment 2g in Front Royal, where we ate five courses, watched the chefs cook, and had to roll ourselves on of the restaurant and back to the Ranch.


We stayed long enough for breakfast today and then drove back, and we felt fantastically rested. The heart just pumps a little slower outside of the city.