Saturday, July 22, 2006

Didn't Find the House, but We Had Fun


We spent most of the day driving through Virginia, but took a lovely break to play in a creek. We waited around for quite a while this morning, hoping to hear from the realtor on the brick house, but he didn’t call, and we decided to look at a few houses that were “possibles” in Virginia. I thought it would take a few hours, going by Streets & Trips estimate, but didn’t reckon with our uncanny knack for getting lost, or with the twistiest roads either Ed or I have ever seen! Even Ed, normally a devil-may-care, free spirited driver was paying a little attention to the “sharp turn” signs and was even spotted with Both Hands on the Wheel. I know I said it already, but I just can’t get over how beautiful those mountains are. We stopped so I could take pictures, but the pictures don’t do the scenery justice.

None of the three houses turned out to be “the one.” The one that almost was is situated on a hillside with incredible views of the town below and the mountains beyond, and the air was so fresh, smelling of grass, wind, pine trees, and cows, that I fell in love without ever having seen the inside (which was convenient, since the owner was friendly and walked us around the lot, but said her realtor wouldn’t let her show the inside herself). Unfortunately, it is also at a four way corner of fairly fast traffic and no visibility.

The last house we looked at was a run-down farm house on four and a half acres, and it was very cheap but in need of stout hearted renovators. We sat in front of it for quite a bit, while Ed tried his best to like it, but he finally admitted that it was beyond what we are capable of. While we were driving down country roads, though, getting lost in the way that only we can, the children spotted some “little tiny birds!” They were goldfinches, perching among the Queen Anne’s lace and some pretty blue flowers. The mountainsides, which we saw close up as we turned sharp corners, were covered in beautiful rhododendrons. Did I mention that I am in love with Virginia?

We’ve been driving past creeks for the past few days, and I’ve been dying to give the kids a chance to splash around in one. We spent most of the afternoon driving through Mount Rodgers National Recreation area (I think we drove almost the whole length), and I talked Ed into stopping at a camping area. There was a lovely creek, and we had the best time we’ve had so far on this trip wading and playing in the water. The water was cool but not painfully cold, and the kids were just amazed at such a clear, fast moving body of water. They both, but T. particularly, fell down more times than I would have believed possible, but they always got up laughing.

Ed has been thinking that maybe our dream home is in Bristol, so we are staying here tonight, and will take a look around tomorrow.

1 comment:

Cherrypie said...

Sounds like you are having a great time and I'm loving reading all about it x