Satirical Thoughts on the States: Virginia

    If you will remember, in July (three months ago, I know!) I shared that I was traveling the United States. During a period of two months, I went through 14 different states, spent at least one night in 11 of them, recorded 46 state license plates (I got Hawaii and Alaska!) and 2 Canadian (Quebec and Ontario). During the trip, I couldn't help noticing the differences in culture, topography and weather.

     I used to live in East Tennessee, so as we headed north, the first states on our trip were those of the Mid-Atlantic. While I passed through most of the Mid-Atlantic states (Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York) I spent the most time in Virginia and New Jersey.

     Over the next several days, I will send out my thoughts on each state that made an impression on me, representing at least one state from each of the different regions of the U.S. that I visited.

Virginia:

    As we drove to our campground in Meadows of Dan (Southern Virginia) it was 8:00 at night, the sun hadn't set, but the fog was thick. We couldn't see more than a few yards in front of us. It was a strange yellow-ish colour. There wasn't another car around for miles. I felt like we'd fallen off the edge of the earth and were driving through unidentified matter. We pulled into the campground and set up under the dripping trees. There was a monstrous hole off to the side of our RV slot. Backing a 32 ft vehicle past that was no easy task---especially when it was on a slant, dark, rainy, you're tired...

     That hole (or cave?) off the side of the road doesn't accurately represent Virginia's roads, though---at least not in the south. The most back of back woodsy roads you can imagine are smooth and paved. What a huge difference from where I used to live! If I took a back road in East Tennessee to the grocery store, I would be dodging potholes and wondering about my suspension. In Virginia, I think the state department of transportation knows that people love to whip around the mountainous curves in their cars---pick-up trucks or no. There are a lot of confident (or crazy) drivers in the mountains there. Generally, they stay on their side of the yellow line.

     As for the culture, while we were in Southern Virginia, in the mountains, we did exactly what you might suppose we would do. We attended a country dance and had a blast. I learned how to sachet and do the broom dance, among others. Picture me in a green print dress with a twirly skirt and bare feet, dancing in the wet, muddy grass at 8 at night, the air thick with fog and sparkling with lights along a fence. Also, many of the teenagers who were attending the graduation party even took a duck into the pool at night. (It was freezing. It was still May, and it had been drizzling and blowing all day.) It was so. much. fun. I also helped take care of baby goats, rode bareback and saw an Amish horse and buggy running by on a regular state road. I felt like a farm girl through and through.

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     The District of Columbia---Washington D. C., of course---did not have lovely roads. They had a lot, but they weren't lovely. I saw my first self-driving car on the way to D. C., though. A man was holding his phone in one hand, with his other out the window, gesticulating to the music he was listening to. He saw me gaping, and I can't think of another word besides 'smirk' for the expression he sent my way.

     The escape from the web of D. C. was also fraught with peril. Did you know you can get tolled up to $40 solid dollars if you're leaving around 5 when the tourist attractions are closing down? And did you further know that if a friend tells you how to avoid that (i.e. avoid the main interstate) you can spend up to two hours in traffic just leaving the city? I suppose the important question to ask yourself is: would I rather save $40 or two hours of my precious life? I argue that paying the $40 may not save any hours of your precious life; you could get hit by some crazy driver who pays to be in the Express Lanes every day and knows better than you the rules of city driving.

     It's important to remember why you were in the city to begin with though. When you remember that you saw The Spirit of St. Louis, parts of Apollo 11, The Eagle that landed on the moon, a model of Luke Skywalker's X-wing, a model of R2-D2, the suit of Yuri Gagarin, first man in space, the Washington Monument, the Capital Building, the Lincoln Memorial, the old Smithsonian (looks like a castle!) NASA headquarters (or at least a division of it) and a road-side stand where you can buy an ice cream for $10-15, you wish you could go again.

It also makes the trip worth it if you get a picture with the American flags and the Capital building behind you and then use it for your Google Account photo for months to come.

The Mall area of D. C. was especially beautiful to walk, and the weather was gorgeous. We had our picnic on the steps of the Air and Space museum. I employed my new camera and took many pictures. My favourite was jet exhaust running perpendicular to the Washington Monument.

The idea for the photo was my sister's.

   Memories of D. C. get better when you think about the National Gallery of Art, where you almost saw a Da Vinci painting but didn't because the museum closed at 5, and you got there with 35 minutes to spare. Seeing a presidential portrait of Washington made up for that, though. The enormous painting of General Washington on a horse was awe-inspiring as well. Standing next to the painting, I could have reached halfway up to the plant in the foreground. (But I didn't reach---there were guards around.)

Excuse the strange angle of the photo. 5' is not an advantageous height for taking pictures of large paintings.

     So, my overall experience of the state of Virginia? Excellent!

Would I move to Southern Virginia?

Absolutely. D. C.? Never.

I learned so much, and loved (almost) every minute of it. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. If I were you, I would expect the next email (on New York and New Jersey) to be sooner than next week. :)

     In Christ,

     Autumn