Since some have mentioned enjoying hiking

I ran up to Harper's Ferry, WV today to test out a new camera and took some shots.  If you're interested, pop on over to my photo site at www.picasaweb.google.com/halffastpaddler/ and check out the Harpers Ferry album.  Some art shots, some scenery, a few portraits of my sister and daughter, and a few beautiful sunset shots.  One real curiosity, and the reason I am posting it here, is that one shop had a player BANJO in it that worked on the same mechanical principles as player pianos. 

For those not familiar with the area, Harpers Ferry, WV is a national landmark (the entire town).  Much of it is run by the National Park Service, but there are private residences and businesses in it too.  It's the site of two major 19th century events.  The first is that the armory at Harpers Ferry is where John Brown the militant abolitionist's raid took place.  Some consider this raid to have initiated the American Civil War.  The other significant event is that the armory there some years before was the manufacturer of the model 1803 flintlock rifle that was used by the Lewis and Clark expedition on the first journey to find America long before Simon & Garfunkel sang about it. 

A number of the photos were taken standing on the tow path to a canal (the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal) that was conceived by George Washington, and built in part with his money and some investors (the Ohio Company) before he was President - when Virginia and Maryland were still colonies and West Virginia didn't exist as separate from Virginia.  The shots of my sister in front of stones - those stones are the bulwark of Lock 33 on that canal.   The tunnel pictures are what remains of pump and storage areas.  The water has long since drained back into the Potomac but the locks remain and the C&O Canal is now Americas narrowest (and longest) National Park. 

- Zurf