Getting out of bed this morning was difficult. We were wrapped up warm in our cozy room, still toasty from the fire that had been on last night. The patter of drizzle and the low-hanging cloud outside our window didn't help.
Nonetheless, we had stuff to do today: a trip on the Cass Scenic Railroad had been booked for late afternoon, and we still wanted to visit the Green Bank Observatory beforehand.
Jumping in Fin, we headed through the gloom down the mountain and reached warmer and sunnier skies as we reached the historic town of Cass. We carried on through and soon reached the Green Bank Observatory, home to the iconic Green Bank Telescope and other facilities making up the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
We paid our 6 bucks each to get on one of the tours, which started with an introductory video and a short presentation from our guide Rebekah. We then hopped on a bus which took us around the facility to see the many radio telescopes on site. We were told that we had to turn off all electronic equipment, including phones, cameras and smart watches. Sam's FitBit - a primitive device that can't actually be turned off - had to be imprisoned in a Faraday Cage (a copper-lined box inside the bus) before we could proceed.
We got out of the bus at the jewel in the crown of the facility: the Robert C Byrd telescope. Being right at the base of the world's largest fully-steerable telescope was pretty impressive, but as it unexpectedly whirred into motion to track a different target, we all grinned ear-to-ear and marveled at this 17-million pound piece of engineering effortlessly gliding into position.
The bus dropped us back at the Visitor Centre and once Sam had liberated her watch, we headed inside for a lunchtime snack. The grilled cheese sandwich and homemade soup was just what we needed to warm us up and send us on our way into the Catching The Waves exhibit hall. This was a great little collection of informative and interactive exhibits. We probably had a bit too much fun in here, as before we knew it too much time had passed for us to hit any other local attractions before our train ride.
We opted for a quick snooze back at the room before heading back down the mountain to Cass, where a 2-hour round trip on a steam-powered train back up the mountain awaited us.
Despite the chilly air and the failing light, this ride was a lot of fun. Heading through the woods, spotting deer on the way, we negotiated two switchbacks whereby the train changed direction before hitting Whittaker station. We got off to stretch our legs and bladders before heading back down the mountain.
Fin deployed his heated seats and hot blowers and took us back up the mountain once again. Now hungry, we headed to our 'local' and grabbed the last two chairs at the bar for some food, drinks and banter. As ever, I couldn't resist the chicken wings, and Sam had a mighty fine half rack of ribs. Our bartender Sandy kept us hydrated with beers and cocktails.
After a couple of huge flashes of lightning, the snow - that had been forecast but we never believed would arrive - did. It was a little surreal being in a bar in mid-October watching the swirling snow outside. It made us both long for our forthcoming ski trip to Les Gets in January, but also made us fear our short walk back to our room in less-than-appropriate clothing.
Battling snow-laden gusts, we made it back to our room and immediately cranked up the fire, took off our wet clothes and slumped into our armchairs.
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