Virginia, Home Again

There's a quote that goes around sometimes that says, essentially, that to be a Virginian by birth, marriage, or adoption is a benediction from God above.  I couldn't agree more.  After a long week of driving across the country-- and America is very wide-- I have returned to what I consider my native state, if only by adoption.  The leaves are still gold and red and orange, and this morning the sky is very, very blue.  I plan to have a Cheese Shop sandwich this afternoon, and some hot apple cider as I walk down Duke of Gloucester Street, just as I imagined.  I almost cried yesterday I was so grateful to be home at last, surrounded by all the things I love and that make me happy.

This road trip, from Seattle to Virginia, was much shorter than the one going out.  I have fewer pictures and made fewer stops.  Mostly we pushed through, with 14 hour days.  We made a short stop in my mother's hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, and had Barbosa's Mexican food for lunch.  Then we stopped by the house my mother grew up in, my grandparent's home, just to see it, although they haven't lived there for eight years. The longest stop we made was in St. Louis, where I spent the day at the zoo-- the BEST zoo-- complete with the traditional helping of Dippin' Dots.  I love the St. Louis zoo, and how historical it is, built over the remains of the 1904 World's Fair.  I would move to St. Louis just for that zoo, almost.  And I had a lovely evening with two of my childhood best friends, Maggie and Christina, catching up in an English-style pub with cider and homemade potato chips and French onion soup.

Then, suddenly, we were in the Alleghenies, then the Blue Ridge Mountains, then home home home.  Is there a more beautiful state than Virginia, from the mountains to the coast?  Especially Virginia in autumn?  If there is, I have yet to find it. 


(Photo by me, please do not repost without credit)