View from the Mountain

Benson, NC- not a place to speed through

If you are traveling through North Carolina on Interstate 95, Benson, NC  might just seem like another town on an exit sign.  However, if you are speeding through North Carolina, you just might end up remembering Benson more clearly than the Google Map in the post.

Yesterday we were in the Benson area searching for a quick sandwich.  When we went to get back on Interstate 95 to go back to Interstate 40, we noticed policemen on both sides of the bridge where Highway 50 crosses Interstate 95.  They had radar guns.  On the north bound entrance ramp we counted five police cars waiting to be dispatched to catch speeders.

My guess is that there was an equal number on the south bound ramp, since they were checking speeds on both sides of the bridge.

I guess Benson has figured out how to close any budget deficit.

Well I hope they target the nut cases who are out there driving fast and crazy.  There were plenty of those on the road yesterday.

Cool mountain breezes

The heat has arrived on North Carolina's Crystal Coast just in time for the 4th of July.  Heat is welcome on the coast during July.  It makes the waters warm for swimming and keeps the tourists happy.

There are a few downsides like having to mow your lawn really early in the morning, but you get used to those ways around the heat.

Still it is nice to get a break from the steamy temperatures.  Last night when we opened our car doors we knew that we were someplace different.

The last few days on the coast, it is still warm and humid well past nine PM.  Here in Roanoke, late in the evening the air has cooled.  With mountain humidity which runs a litle below ours on the coast, the evenings are very pleasant on the mountains surrounding Roanoke.

There are still a few weeks before Roanoke starts to really cook with the hot days of August.

Early heat does have its advantages.  We are bringing homegrown tomatoes to our friends in Roanoke.   The garden season at the coast will start to wind down around July1 after the watermelons become prolific.  The Roanoke area's vegetables will just reach their peak in July.

This morning's sunrise reminded me of how beautiful the Roanoke Valley can be.  The early morning peace and quiet is a reminder of life before all the factories.  It is a time to enjoy the day before the summer heat makes it tough to survive without air conditioning.

The greening of the valley and mountains

It is the start of spring, and the Roanoke Valley is not going to disappoint us.  The grass is turning green, the Bradford pear trees are in full bloom, and the daffodils are probably at their peak.

Certainly they look a little perkier than the ones in my post, Damp Daffodils, from March 27, 2005.

While today the temperatures only got into the mid to upper sixties, the forecast for the next week has the Roanoke area getting to seventy by the end of the week.

I wish it had come a week earlier.  We drove up from the beach earlier in the week.  Just before we left, we had been enjoying some very good beach weather which required shorts.  When I got out of the car in Martinsville to pump some gas, it was pretty obvious that the temperature outside the vehicle had dropped around thirty degrees.

While the temperature is all over the place both at the beach and in the mountains, the swings are becoming more tolerable. Also a cool morning is a lot easier to take with blooming trees and bright sunshine.

I was kayaking on the river by our house earlier in the week.  It was great to be out on the water, and it was especially nice to see some fish jumping.  Before we left, I also saw some strawberry plants blooming down at the coast.

It is no surprise that the grass is starting to grow quickly in Roanoke.  Some eager beavers have already mowed.  Since I have been keeping records for the last four years, we have done our first mowing of the year in Roanoke sometime between March 24 and March 29.

From the looks of our yard, we will once again fall right in that range.  We have a few spots that already could use mowing, but by the middle of next week, the whole yard should be ready for a clipping.

After everyone has done that first mowing, the Valley will be truly green, and I suspect also decorated with Redbuds.  Today we saw the first Redbuds starting to show some color along Route 419 between Oak Grove Plaza and the Post Office.

Early spring in the Shenandoah and Roanoke valleys is about as pretty as spring gets.  A few years ago I issued an invitation to Canadians to visit in early spring. While our Ace Hardware that I mentioned in the post is long gone, spring is still outrageously beautiful here in Virginia and North Carolina.  

April is usually a great month in the south.  You can enjoy all the blooming things, and by then some fresh produce is starting to hit the market. Once you have tired of the beauty in the mountain valleys, you can head to the coast.

Since we have been spending time on the North Carolina coast, we have had fresh local strawberries before the middle of April each year.  It is also in April when the beautiful flowers of Tryon Palace in New Bern, NC are at their peak.  We visited April 20 last year and just missed the tulips but caught lots of other flowers and plenty of warmth.

If you cannot stretch your visit until the middle of April, you can always swing by Newport, NC and visit their Barbecue Festival on April 4 which is billed as the largest "whole-hog" barbecue contest in the US.  I can vouch for the deliciousness of their eastern NC style barbecue.

If you can make the visit last into April, northerners have been know to stick their feet in the southern ocean water before the end of April.

In fact the two people in picture in the post almost had to be dragged off of the beach that April day.

Drifting sand

Winter weather is always a topic of conversation.  This year our friends to the north have had a rough go of it in early winter. 

Today a blizzard hit the Canadian Maritimes.  I think the northwest part of the United States is also getting hit with a storm.

Yesterday was a beautiful day here on the coast. Today has not been as nice with cool temperatures keeping most of us inside.

I snapped the picture with the post yesterday at the Point on Emerald Isle.  It was something of a relief to be dealing with drifting sand instead of drifting snow.

The wind was not strong enough for the sand blasting that you can sometimes get at the beach, but it was enough to make people search out more sheltered areas of the beach for their walks.

Being on the beach at all on December 31 is something of a victory as far as I am concerned.  We are in the depths of winter, so each day we can steal on the beach makes winter one day shorter.

The long range forecast for the east coast is a toss-up for the rest of the winter.  I know that I will be rooting for a short, warm winter.

Based on the number of New York and New Jersey cars in the parking lot at the Emerald Isle grocery store, I would venture to say a number of northern residents have already voted with some travel dollars to escape some of winter's harshness.

Fall thoughts

Yesterday we took a short drive down to Beaufort, NC.  It happens to be one of our favorite places to visit.

Walking the docks in Beaufort is a good way to see what is moving on American's waterway, the Intracoastal Waterway.

It is always a changing cast of characters and boats.  Here in coastal North Carolina, boats heading north or south are as much a sign of the seasons as Crab Pot Christmas Trees.

Beaufort has been a special place of ours for a long time.  Just when I think there is nothing more to say about Beaufort, I manage to come up with another article.  Even the renewal of Beaufort is an interesting story.

It is amazing that a town as old as Beaufort could reinvent itself so successfully.

I am beginning to think that reinventing oneself is going to become a critical skill in these tough times.  With a radically changing job market and ever more demanding skill sets for jobs, there is little choice.

Yet picking the right path in unsteady times is never easy.  It is a stress that many people deal with every day.

Finding jobs that you do not create yourself is becoming more and more of a challenge.

Perhaps the unsettled nature of the world around us is why the escape to Beaufort is such a welcome adventure.

Where else could you lose yourself in watching someone else dock a sailboat?

I posted a video of just that on Youtube (watching in high quality is suggested if you have the bandwidth) and on MobileMe for Mac lovers.

If we could just find answers as easily as the sailboat docked, we would have very easy lives.

Speaking of finding answers easily, check out the calendar of events here on the coast.