Almost Heaven - Virginia

Hi friends and anyone who has joined us! I now know what John Denver was singing about - I have been singing his song "Country Roads" all week. Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains - Shenandoah River. Life is old there, older than the hills younger than the mountains. blowing on the breeze. Take me home country roads. to the land that I was born - West Virginia - Mountain Mama Country Roads.

Well, I guess you can see that we have been caught up in the Shenandoah Valley and everything that surrounds it. It is impossible (I think) to come to Virginia and not get caught up in the history of the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, the great generals and Presidents who came from this state and the beauty of the rolling green hills.

For the last week we visited Mount Vernon, Monticello, General Robert E. Lees birthplace and burial, Stonewall Jackson, many battlefields, and the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, Appalachian trail . . . it starts the mind a spinning. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and on and on. It seems the great minds and great leaders loved Virginia. Both Washington and Jefferson said that there was no place on earth that they would rather be.

So needless to say we ate it up. I apologize - the pictures are few and far between. The picture of Jon is on the Skyway National Park Hwy above the Shenandoah Valley. So is the bear - the largest and prettiest Jon says he has ever seen.

We started at the North end of the Shenandoah at Winchester. A fascinating history. A town that saw so much Civil war action (changed hands 70 times)! We ended up at Lexington, VA - the home of the Virginia Military Institute and the Washington-Lee University. Also the home of Lee and Jackson. Wow. We loved it and the two pictures that I enclose mean nothing to you - but to say how impressed we are with this little
town.
Of all the places we have seen and enjoyed - this is the area that we would choose to live. The Western part of Virginia. Within reach of the Shenandoah, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Appalachian Trail and the rolling green hills.
Today we say goodbye to Virginia and head for The Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Tennessee. Thanks for checking in and indulging my love for Virginia!