1,900 miles.... found what I needed.
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label road trip. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
gertie's country store
It was hard to make myself leave Crabtree Falls because it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever camped, but I got on the road and made my way west on Route 56. I drove past Gertie's Country Store and BBQ (and chicken farm, liquor store, used trucks and farm stand) and remembered Dan said it was good ("Gertie is a real old lady from the back country so you know her cooking is the best you're gonna get anywhere.") so I pulled over and grabbed breakfast before getting back on the road. I had the Little Fawn (two eggs, bacon and toast) and the best short stack I've ever had.
Gertie's is one of those little side-of-the-road places that I've almost driven past and then stopped in on a whim, and then was so glad I did.
Gertie's is filled with a little of everything... Southern civil war memorabilia, ragtag antiques, dusty canned goods and coolers of Miller Lite, and tens of thousands of signatures, quotes and destinations written on the walls - even a marriage proposal - from people passing through either on the road or hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was really cool. I left mine, and then got back on the road headed north.
Gertie's is filled with a little of everything... Southern civil war memorabilia, ragtag antiques, dusty canned goods and coolers of Miller Lite, and tens of thousands of signatures, quotes and destinations written on the walls - even a marriage proposal - from people passing through either on the road or hiking the Appalachian Trail. It was really cool. I left mine, and then got back on the road headed north.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
riverside
After packing up my tent in Shenandoah National Park I drove the rest of the ridge road. The sky was bright blue, but the valley was filled with clouds right below the road for almost the entire ride. It was pretty wild driving on winding roads alongside this for so long.
After a while the road went beneath the clouds and I got an almost endless view of the Shenandoah Valley. I've only seen the Appalachians in passing (when driving from Massachusetts to Tennessee for Bonnaroo, and from Georgia to Ohio for a boy) and to camp and weave slowly through the mountains now was really incredible.
(This is my road-tripping partner... a 10-year old Nissan Xterra that I have had for six years, 100,000 miles, 28 states and a LOT of road-singing. I love it almost a little too much.)
From Virginia, I explored North Carolina and Tennessee. The area of far western North Carolina outside of Boone is so pastoral, with so many small farms and animals enjoying themselves in the sunshine, small cabins with rocking chairs on porches overlooking rolling blue and green hills, and patches of wildflowers everywhere. At one point I got out of my car on the side of a dirt and gravel road and sat on the hood for half an hour just smelling the warm, clean air and listening to the awesome silence... nothing but a couple cow moos and rustling grass and trees. Amazing.
I planned on going much further south, and I'm not sure why I turned around back to Virginia... it just felt right at the time, so I drove out of Mountain Home, Tennessee on some backroads and back towards Shenandoah. It was late afternoon and I realized along the way that I wouldn't make it there in time, so I found another campground 40 minutes away very deep in George Washington State Forest. I hesitated a little; as a female traveling alone most of the time you feel safe, but sometimes you don't, and that hesitation is an instinct that deserves attention. After discussing with Mike the possibility of camping in the pouring rain alone (decision: it sucks, but I should do it anyway) and asking the cashier at the gas station if she knew the area ("It's beautiful up there... and don't worry, we mountain folk aren't too crazy and dangerous." Ha!), I headed up Route 56 on the darkest, most winding mountain road I have ever driven on. It was midnight and pitch dark out when I finally got there. The campground was nearly empty, so the manager gave me a small cabin to stay in for the same price as tent site.
This is what I woke up to:
My cabin.
The view from the cabin porch.
The Tyro river.
The campground I was at calls itself the best kept secret in Virginia and they're right. The whole night I could hear the river but had no idea it was ten feet in front of my cabin door. The north fork of the Tyro river runs through the campground and is the cleanest, coldest water I have ever seen or felt, fast-moving and surrounded by lush green forest and moss-covered rocks and wildflowers. The cabin porch faces away from the rest of the campground (which was only 3 other cabins and about 15 tent sites, all empty) and I spent most of the morning drinking coffee, sketching, listening to the river and being scouted out by a little cat, then hiking most of the Crabtree Falls trail in the afternoon.
After getting back, I stuck some beers in the river to chill and sketched and made art for the rest of the night.
After a while the road went beneath the clouds and I got an almost endless view of the Shenandoah Valley. I've only seen the Appalachians in passing (when driving from Massachusetts to Tennessee for Bonnaroo, and from Georgia to Ohio for a boy) and to camp and weave slowly through the mountains now was really incredible.
(This is my road-tripping partner... a 10-year old Nissan Xterra that I have had for six years, 100,000 miles, 28 states and a LOT of road-singing. I love it almost a little too much.)
From Virginia, I explored North Carolina and Tennessee. The area of far western North Carolina outside of Boone is so pastoral, with so many small farms and animals enjoying themselves in the sunshine, small cabins with rocking chairs on porches overlooking rolling blue and green hills, and patches of wildflowers everywhere. At one point I got out of my car on the side of a dirt and gravel road and sat on the hood for half an hour just smelling the warm, clean air and listening to the awesome silence... nothing but a couple cow moos and rustling grass and trees. Amazing.
I planned on going much further south, and I'm not sure why I turned around back to Virginia... it just felt right at the time, so I drove out of Mountain Home, Tennessee on some backroads and back towards Shenandoah. It was late afternoon and I realized along the way that I wouldn't make it there in time, so I found another campground 40 minutes away very deep in George Washington State Forest. I hesitated a little; as a female traveling alone most of the time you feel safe, but sometimes you don't, and that hesitation is an instinct that deserves attention. After discussing with Mike the possibility of camping in the pouring rain alone (decision: it sucks, but I should do it anyway) and asking the cashier at the gas station if she knew the area ("It's beautiful up there... and don't worry, we mountain folk aren't too crazy and dangerous." Ha!), I headed up Route 56 on the darkest, most winding mountain road I have ever driven on. It was midnight and pitch dark out when I finally got there. The campground was nearly empty, so the manager gave me a small cabin to stay in for the same price as tent site.
This is what I woke up to:
My cabin.
The view from the cabin porch.
The Tyro river.
The campground I was at calls itself the best kept secret in Virginia and they're right. The whole night I could hear the river but had no idea it was ten feet in front of my cabin door. The north fork of the Tyro river runs through the campground and is the cleanest, coldest water I have ever seen or felt, fast-moving and surrounded by lush green forest and moss-covered rocks and wildflowers. The cabin porch faces away from the rest of the campground (which was only 3 other cabins and about 15 tent sites, all empty) and I spent most of the morning drinking coffee, sketching, listening to the river and being scouted out by a little cat, then hiking most of the Crabtree Falls trail in the afternoon.
After getting back, I stuck some beers in the river to chill and sketched and made art for the rest of the night.
Monday, September 19, 2011
shenandoah
An early morning in Shenandoah National Park. And by early I mean, I left my tent at 5:00am to charge my camera's battery in the bathroom of the campground, cleaned my telephoto lens, then walked to a clearing in the dark and hoped to catch a good sunrise and see anything worth shooting. It was freezing (part of why I woke up) and the frosted grass crunched beneath my feet the whole time.
All of these were taken with a Canon Rebel t2i, using either 200mm telephoto or 50mm f1.4 lenses.
The last few were just taken on the Skyline ridge drive, the C&O railroad in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, at my campsite in Big Meadows, and one during a traffic jam while I was bored :) I'm so excited to begin new artwork with these and the interesting stuff I've collected along the road so far.
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