A Wicked Day

My last day in Virginia was spent watching the rain fall. Finally, around 4 PM, the weather cleared enough for my niece and I to go out and indulge ourselves. We went downtown to buy the most awesome Woodwick candles. Not only do these made in Virginia candles smell amazing, but the wick is wood and when it burns, it sizzles, like a fire is burning. They were on sale, so I indulged for both of us. It was the least i could do since I burned most of hers down when it was dark and stormy on Saturday. Continuing in the vein of indulgence, we went for pedicures. A completely girly thing to do and a necessity when on vacation. It was fun and sort of like that episode of Seinfeld when Elaine takes George's dad to the salon to interpret for her. These women were discussing their English language pronunciation of the word tomato. It was funny.

With perfect feet, we went to the Blue Light Grill for dinner which was over the top. If you're ever there, take my advice and get the noodle bowl, the grilled romaine salad and the Colorado rack of lamb. You'll not be disappointed. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. We drank a bit of wine and then some. I had a rather late start for my drive home on Tuesday, but it was worth it.

It wasn't until I was halfway up the Skyline Drive at a decent elevation that my phone began to ring. All my peeps were checking in to see if I was ok. They were concerned that we'd been in the storm's path. This was the first I'd heard about the tornadoes that struck less than 1 hour away. While we were dipping our feet in warm water, folks just down the highway were getting inundated with wicked weather. I hope for them, all will be right again soon. Houses can be replaced but lives can't.

These are a few of my pictures from my way out of Virginia driving south to north on Skyline Drive. Not a thing looked out of place up here. It was cold though. Way cold. It's very rugged up there and incredible to look down one side of the mountain seeing nothing but brutal back country and look down the other and see homes, churches and farmland. I've hiked that back country and it is beautiful.

The deer actually stopped to check me out. Being the good visitor that I am though, I heeded the signs not to feed the wildlife. I wish I'd seen a bear. I think all the other creatures were snuggled up someplace warm. Did I mention it was cold up there?




I'm sorry the photo didn't catch the water running off the rocks here. It was pretty and perhaps the only sign that it had recently rained.

Next trip, I plan to spend some time exploring these battlefields. Maybe Gettysburg too. I've spent some time at Antietam National Battlefield and Brandywine too (2 different wars, I know.) I find American history to be fascinating. Look at these landscapes here and imagine yourself having fought in terrain like this: poorly shod, poorly clothed hungry, cold (or hot) and tired. Imagine you walked to get to each battle over miles and miles of unforgiving land. These were some strong and probably very stubborn people.