As you can tell from the picture of our local ACE Hardware as Southwest Plaza here in Roanoke, the ground is even getting warm enough for us to start planting things like frost hardy vegetables and pansies which shockingly can actually survive most winters here in the South, especially south of the North Carolina and Virginia border. Bill, the owner of our ACE, tells me that by Monday he will have a full supply of plants.
I was a resident of the Canadian Maritimes for sixteen years, so I think I know what you Maritimers need this time of year, and Florida isn't it. What you need is a real Virginia or North Carolina spring.
You find plenty of warm days, like yesterday when the temperature hit 86 Fahrenheit or 30 Celsius. You'll also find some nice transitional weather or Maritime summer weather as you probably know it.
Looking at the weather for Halifax, NS on the weather network, I noticed that for the next week your high temperature is 9 degrees Celsius. Thanks to NOAA's Meteorological Conversion Page, my Canadian induced knowledge of the metric system is gradually returning to my consciousness. I know that 9 Celsius is under 50 Fahrenheit. I also know that 4 Celsius is under 40 Fahrenheit. Halifax has three days where the high is forecast to be 4 Celsius or less and only one day when you are going to get as high as 9 Celsius. Unless I am wrong those cute little graphics indicate you might get some snow mix. To be blunt, you're still freezing your rears off, and even those heated walkways above the streets aren't going to change that.
On the other hand, our weather is rapidly improving. Even though we're running through a spot of damp weather (ignore the potential flood alerts, we have plenty mountains for high ground), you'll find our climate warm. Remember you're from the Canadian Maritimes so you're used to cold moisture, and ours is a lot warmer than yours.
If you go to the Weather.com and check Roanoke's month forecast for April, you'll notice that starting April 22 our average daily high is 70 degrees Fahrenheit or around 21 Celsius which is what good Canadians heat their houses to anyway so you should be plenty comfortable here.
My suggestion is that you make your first stop Colonial Williamsburg which of course is in Williamsburg, Va. To be honest the only times to visit Williamsburg are the early spring or late fall. The rest of the time it is too hot even for Virginians especially those with kids. If you were in Colonial Williamsburg today, you could hear a re-enactment of a debate between Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry on the Separation of Church and State which is certainly a very appropriate debate these days in our grand old experiment of a country.
According to AAA, it is 1138 miles from our old Halifax address of 4 Woodbank Terrace in Clayton Park. Just plan to hit Boston, New York, and Washington at times other than the rush hour. Don't worry, once you get off the Trans Canada, everything is four lanes or more. Remember the rush hour in Washington only slows down between 10 and 11 am in the morning and from 1 to 2:30 pm in the afternoon. The roads are plugged at night because that is when they have to do construction. Other than that you should be fine. As you come through all the congested cities just remember, I'll send you back a more peaceful way.
After you have your fill of old stuff which is what my New Brunswick neighbor, Harvey, used to call anything manufactured before 1960, you can head over to Roanoke which is a very manageable 240 miles, an easy one day drive. Roanoke is a peaceful blue collar town, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We have a great farmers market and we make a great base for these day trips which include Lexington, Va. and Staunton, Va. You be on top of things since the film War of the Worlds featuring Tom Cruise had some scenes filmed in the area and will be released on June 29. You can also catch a little Shakespeare in Staunton to fill up your culture quota. Then you can enjoy a drive back up the Shenandoah Valley and continue to enjoy the unfolding of a wonderful Virginia spring.
Just stay on Interstate 81 until you get to Scranton, Pa., and then take Interstate 84. That will take you over to the Boston area and I'm sure you can find your way home from there. I would send you by the Steamtown Historic site in Scranton where you hit I-84 but that would get me kicked out of Roanoke which was founded because of the railroad and steam trains. Anyway you'll probably like our Virginia Museum of Transportation more since you can also visit the O. Winston Link Museum which has some of my favorite photos of steam locomotives. Besides it will probably still be snowing in Scranton this time of year and you won't want to leave your warm car.
Well, we'll be looking for you. I don't know which tourism site to send you to, but this one claims to the official one and has a great title, "Escape to the Southeast." I just saw a Bluebird in one of our bushes so that is the sign of good luck on your trip. Don't forget to try some of our barbecue. You can check out my other website for an article on the importance of barbecue to our region or to the country for that matter. We'll come closer to settling the debate on church and state than we will on which barbecue is best. I know you know where we are since I see your cars driving through all the time on the interstate. Oh and one more thing, would you mind bringing some fresh clams....
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