April 2004

Roanoke, VA Explore Park: This is an interpretive park where costumed actors portray inhabitants of their particular time period in Virginia history. You walk through the 1600's and see the typical Indian settlement, the 1700's with a typical settler's cabin, and into the 1800's with a typical farm, mill, school, etc. The park is lovely to just walk through and we understand the fishing in the Roanoke River there is outstanding. We took a picnic and enjoyed the picnic area in the woods.

Left to Right: Indian village, 1700's settler's cabin, and 1835 house (actual restored home)

Easter Weekend: I had picked up a copy of Waterfalls of Virginia and West Virginia by Kevin Adams at the library this week, and after looking over all the waterfalls within a short drive's distance, we found that one of his favorites that was rated a "10" wasn't too far from us. So, yesterday's "adventure" was to what became one of our all-time favorite hikes. Of all the walks (hikes for us, but walks for you 'younger folks') we've taken this one was superlative the whole way. Cascades Waterfall is in the Jefferson National Forest, reached by a small road out of Pembroke, VA which is north of Christianburg. The Lower Trail that follows along Little Stony Creek was breathtaking on the early Spring morning. The whole 2-mile hike to the waterfall you are walking along the thundering cascades with rhododendron bushes surrounding you (when they bloom it will be even more breathtaking) and just appearing on the forest floor are tiny wildflowers of all types. The waterfalls were anticlimactic in my opinion because they looked like so many other falls. "It's the journey, not the destination!" It took us over 4 hours to do the 4-mile hike because of all the stops to just enjoy the scenery and to do LOTS of photography. We were ahead of the crowds (only 4 other cars in the parking lot when we arrived), but by afternoon, there were a number of people on the trails, so we were happy we had the morning to ourselves to enjoy it. We'll try to return in a couple of weeks to see more wildflowers...should be a carpet of them soon.

I also checked out the Blue Ridge Parkway again this week, but still no sign of Spring arriving there. The trees are still in "winter mode."

One of the nicest things about fulltiming in an RV, are the surprises you get during the season changes. Like now...I opened the door to the RV yesterday and found that overnight loads of wild violets had popped up all around our RV. They won't last long, since the owners here will soon be mowing, but they're nice while they last! When I go for a walk, trees that were bare yesterday, all of a sudden are pink with new blooms, or some new bulbs have begun to flower! Spring in the South is not to be missed!

Below, a scene typical of those along rural roads in this part of VA.