Mason Neck, VA (USA)

[Mollie woke up at 0730 - I went to do errands, returning at 0830 - by then, Mollie had eaten breakfast (cereal) - we packed up and drove (via Nicky’s house, to get Mollie’s shoes) over to Mason Neck State Park for the 21st Annual Eagle Festival - I’d been trying to take her since right after I went in 2012 but something had always happened to cause her to miss the opportunity - when we got there (0930), we tried to get a head start for the fun activities (camping, Heron Rookery rides) but learned that the whole festival schedule had changed over the years - we did get to see the renovations in the Visitors Center (before the ribbon cutting ceremony) - after determining that there wasn’t anything structured to keep us from roaming around the “fee free” park, we decided to take a hike in the woods (Kane’s Creek and Eagle Spur trails) - the weather was nice and we saw lots of squirrels and insects - Mollie told me that she wanted to start hiking on the AT with me (longer distances) - I told her that would be nice and we discussed Memorial Day weekend travel plans - after turning around at the Raptor Observation Platform, we walked back to the main festival area and ate a picnic lunch (turkey and cheese sandwiches, ClifBars, apples, raisins, cookies) - we then walked around to all the exhibit tents - I don’t think Mollie was really interested at first, since most of the booths were connected to Virginia State Government agencies, but she quickly warmed to the experience as she learned about volunteer and internship opportunities - we met a lot of interesting people (Mollie liked the BLM and REI tents the best) and we got a lot of free stuff - Mollie even got another plant (sunflower) - we didn’t do a lot of other things at the festival because it started to get really hot at around 1300 - after looking over the events tents (Reptiles Alive, live acoustic guitars, pony rides), we made our way back to the car - Mollie wanted to go home for a shower (rather than go shopping, as I’d expected), so we did that - she spent the rest of the day studying (while I put together IKEA furniture) - I had hoped to go with her to Mass but she cancelled out on me at 1645 (“so I can do more practice tests”) - we ate dinner (leftovers) independently - towards the end of the evening, Mollie joined me on the couch and we watched episodes of different Star Trek series on Netflix - we went to bed at 2300]