Virginia Oh Virginia !!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia

Oh Virginia Oh Virginia!!!

Last two days have been full fulll fullll of Virgina.. Tuesday morning I left Frank and the lovely Woodburn hill community with its classic and timeless Amish carriage-driving neighbors for all the temptations and highways of the life I've come to know so well. Yet nowhere did I find the excess of Government bureaucracy and Military intruding into Virginia's green hills and "blue" mountains as I had expected. I did find plenty of evidence of retired east coasters with their nice houses and manicured lawns butting up to more impressive hills. However, this was countered easily by the pleasant downtowns in most cities filled with old brick architecture.

Below is a list of this cities I've encountered. Anywhere along the west of the state (from Charlottesville to NC) would be a lovely place for a community/agriculture/architectural experiment, literally anywhere it seems! Mineral and Louisa are home to two of the oldest IC's in the country, and Floyd is an old countercultural hotbed; they have a very nice Food Co-op, but not many young people or much AT&T service! :-)

Staunton seemed sizable enough and pleasantly old. Charlottesville the same, perhaps overrun with College students- for better or worse. Roanoke was similar to Staunton, with a pleasant (in my mind) number of downtown buildings/businesses for sale-- as i think (probably wrongly) is usual for the South. The remaning towns were small, but there--- more Appalachian/provincial I suppose.

The entire western highway of Virginia is bordered with forests (many national forests) and cattle and corn farms. However, they are so much greener and more beautiful than those that I grew up with in Central Texas! This trip could rightly also be called: "The onethousand and one Barns" or "Hemlocks, Rhododendrons, Pines and Oaks Oh My" or "All the world is a coffee shop". There were many beautiful barns along the roads in Virgina. I do wish that there were more Evergreens though (mostly seen as landscaping!). It appears that North Carolina has some taller mountain ranges that will sport more of the Firs, Spruces, Hemlocks, and Pines i love so much.