Driving up the Shenandoah Valley from Roanoke yesterday reminded me of how fickle spring can be in Virginia. From Lexington up through Staunton there was a dusting of snow on the fields and trees. It looked like someone had frosted the part of the valley.
As we moved off of Interstate 81 and took Interstate 66 towards Washington, it occurred to me that we had pretty well driven out of spring. We left the Carolina coast earlier in the week, and there were a few Bradford pear trees blooming. By Raleigh they were in full bloom, and in Roanoke there were more in bloom than on the coast but fewer than in Raleigh.
Northern Virginia seems stuck in that moment just before spring when the buds are just waiting for a couple of more warm days.
The crocus picture was taken in Roanoke on our mountain where a crocus bloom is truly a quickly disappearing reminder than spring is on the way. Usually the deer or rabbits devour any early spring flowers almost instantly.
I was impressed to see that Virginia still has some highway construction dollars since they are working on finishing the eight lanes of I66 to Gainesville.
Getting that done is important since traffic was backed up miles before the exit. I believe we saw more traffic in the last twenty miles of our trip than we will see in the next year or two on the coast. There is nothing like eight lanes of stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic for miles to convince you that you have made the right decision.
Just yesterday I heard that fighting traffic was bad for your heart. The guys in the Virginia Legislature seemed to have missed that point.
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