Mason Neck, VA (USA)

Stephanie indicated that she was interested in looking for mushrooms at Mason Neck State Park and asked if I would go with her after work on a nice day (since she knew I visit the park often).  She picked me up just before 1700 and we drove to Mason Neck.  I showed her several places where we could hike and she liked the option of stopping at the Wilson Spring Trail parking area.  We looked around for a while there (no luck with the mushrooms) and then got on the Bayview Trail.  I couldn't remember going that way and it was really nice.  We did encounter more people than we wanted (including people relaxing on the beach).  There were pretty swamp views, a beaver lodge and a boardwalk on Belmont Bay.  Stephanie liked seeing the fishermen and we got a closeup view of a little muskrat. The weather was great (not a cloud in the sky and just a light breeze).  We looped back around to the Visitor Center parking area and then took the Kane's Creek Trail into a more wooded area.  We didn't encounter any people at all but we still didn't find any mushrooms.  Stephanie said she was getting hungry.  When we reached the junction with the Wilson Spring Trail, we headed back to the car.  We drove towards the exit and stopped again to hike the Marsh View Trail.  It was a very short walk but had a nice view of Kane's Creek (and no people).  We left the park at about 1845 and drove back to US-1 so we could pick up some dinner.  We explored the Food Lion shopping area and decided to order food from a Korean restaurant called ChoongMan (CM) Chicken.  We ordered at around 1930 and then got a big bag of food (Garlic Soy Chicken, Lemon Spring Onion Chicken, Shrimp Tempura, Curly Fries and Cole Slaw) 15 minutes later.  Stephanie just wanted to eat in the car but I suggested we go to my apartment.  She agreed and I think this ended up being a good idea (lots of room to spread out and get "messy").  Because it had been light out for so long and we'd ordered late, I was very shocked to see that it was 2030 and we called it a night.  After so many of normal social engagements have been canceled recently, it was nice to get away from the house with one of my friends!