i long to hear you
Oct. 6th, 2003 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jfbVirginia was the first Eastern state on this trip that struck me, from the interstate, as beautiful.
Everything from Louisiana to North Carolina was pretty, and there were breathtaking moments, like Lake Pontchartrain and the chapel in the mountains. But Virginia--the part that I-81 runs through--was beautiful through and through.
Part of this is natural--rolling hills, mountain ranges, rivers--but the built landscape is great too. Lots of farms, with red barns and colonial houses and horses roaming around on the hillside.
All of it looks old--in a good way--perhaps because of Virginia's general attention to history and preservation history. But the period-piece look isn't limited to the 1700s. Much of downtown Roanoke--as creepily deserted as any science fiction city--looks frozen in, oh, the 1940s? I don't know architecture, but I know what I like. And there's a wall full of old ads, restored in the 90s and now fading again.
Downtown Roanoke is also home to Tudor's Biscuit World, a cafe restaurant whose entire menu consists of, yes, biscuits, with optional stuff on them. Let me clarify: Heavenly, to-die-for biscuits, with anything you could want on them. For breakfast I had three.
Later in the day I thought I would head over to Shenandoah National Park--home of the folk song--and head up Skyline Drive, rejoining the interstate near the Maryland border. But Hurricane Isabel had thrashed the whole park, and it was closed to through traffic. So here's my view of this scenic byway:
It's just as well, though. The interstate was scenic, too, with not nearly as far to fall.
Everything from Louisiana to North Carolina was pretty, and there were breathtaking moments, like Lake Pontchartrain and the chapel in the mountains. But Virginia--the part that I-81 runs through--was beautiful through and through.
Part of this is natural--rolling hills, mountain ranges, rivers--but the built landscape is great too. Lots of farms, with red barns and colonial houses and horses roaming around on the hillside.
All of it looks old--in a good way--perhaps because of Virginia's general attention to history and preservation history. But the period-piece look isn't limited to the 1700s. Much of downtown Roanoke--as creepily deserted as any science fiction city--looks frozen in, oh, the 1940s? I don't know architecture, but I know what I like. And there's a wall full of old ads, restored in the 90s and now fading again.
Downtown Roanoke is also home to Tudor's Biscuit World, a cafe restaurant whose entire menu consists of, yes, biscuits, with optional stuff on them. Let me clarify: Heavenly, to-die-for biscuits, with anything you could want on them. For breakfast I had three.
Later in the day I thought I would head over to Shenandoah National Park--home of the folk song--and head up Skyline Drive, rejoining the interstate near the Maryland border. But Hurricane Isabel had thrashed the whole park, and it was closed to through traffic. So here's my view of this scenic byway:
It's just as well, though. The interstate was scenic, too, with not nearly as far to fall.
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Date: 2003-10-06 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-06 09:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-20 01:26 pm (UTC):)