It has come to my attention that our Saturday post was synchronistic; our photo of a budding tree was taken on Tu b'Shevat, the Jewish celebration of the "New Year of the Trees."
Sunday, while the weather was still gloriously warm and we were still reliving our awesome time with Ira Glass the night before, we set out to Crozet, VA, a small town west of Charlottesville that is undergoing a suburban renovation. The new neighborhoods were great, eclectic and with gorgeous views of the Shenandoah range. There were kids running around, learning to ride bikes, and fishing in the community pond. We walked around an old family cemetery, and drove through some construction zones to see the Old Trail Village progress.
Then we made the mistake of driving toward downtown Crozet, into a depressing hamlet that could have been any rural, post-industrial Podunk outpost situated along railroad tracks. After the trailers gave way to a tiny orchard, we found Mint Springs Valley Park, where we hiked up a small hill along side dog-walkers. Feeling we couldn't let this day disappear, we headed further southwest out toward Wintergreen by way of lunch in Waynesboro (the short story about Waynesboro: we never have to go there again!).
Because our car road map isn't particularly detailed when it comes to rural Virginia, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway south -- which didn't quite get us where we wanted to go. However, it did take us toward the Humpback Rocks Recreation Area, home to a recreated frontier village.
Then we made the mistake of driving toward downtown Crozet, into a depressing hamlet that could have been any rural, post-industrial Podunk outpost situated along railroad tracks. After the trailers gave way to a tiny orchard, we found Mint Springs Valley Park, where we hiked up a small hill along side dog-walkers. Feeling we couldn't let this day disappear, we headed further southwest out toward Wintergreen by way of lunch in Waynesboro (the short story about Waynesboro: we never have to go there again!).
Because our car road map isn't particularly detailed when it comes to rural Virginia, we took the Blue Ridge Parkway south -- which didn't quite get us where we wanted to go. However, it did take us toward the Humpback Rocks Recreation Area, home to a recreated frontier village.
We were about 2,500 feet above sea-level here, where the frontiering conditions were ... hardscrabble.
We particularly enjoyed the spring-time pen for fall-scavenging pigs who were just plump enough to tempt the local bears by the time of the spring thaw.
We also saw a number of fences. I have been trained by my mother to enjoy looking at rough hewed fences. Please to enjoy.
Moral of our Sunday excursions: we're learning to avoid what we assume are nice, bustling towns, and sticking to the nature byways, where the bears stalk fattened pigs and tourists attempt to interpret fences and outhouses.
Posts
Enjoy your explorations of the Old Dominion, especially when it's sunny. Enjoy, too, living in the 21st Century, when you can see hardscrabble without having to live it, as the early settlers did.
ReplyDelete