Spring is one of the best times of the year in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I can still remember how much spring break meant to me when I was a college student many years ago in Cambridge.
It was not just the time off from studies that was important, it was getting out of New England's cold, damp weather and enjoying a Shenandoah spring morning that made the trip worthwhile.
Mostly I did the long drive from Boston to Mount Airy, NC alone. I would time it so that I hit the northern part of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley just at sunrise. By the time I had traveled another 200 miles to my exit for Mt. Airy, NC, I had enjoyed watching spring march through the valley. In those days, the best way from Interstate 81 to Mount Airy, involved taking Highway 100 in Pulaski to Hillsville and then following Highway 52 south to home at 347 West Pine Street.
Today the ride is even better. You can catch Interstate 77 at milepost 81 and watch spring unfold as North Carolina appears as a world of green just as you head down Fancy Gap after traveling about 30 miles south. While the upper reaches of the Virginia might be just awakening to spring, the Piedmont of North Carolina can easily be in full blown spring. If you time it right, you can catch the most beautiful display of redbuds in North America.
I recently traveled from the North Carolina coast where the Bradford pear tree blooms are already turning to leaves. Here in Roanoke, the Bradford pear trees are just now at their peak of blooming. What this weekend's heat will do to them is anyone's guess, but I know that the leaves coming up the mountain will take an impressive growth spurt with all that heat.
We are all ready for spring, and the weather on the coast is going to be nearly perfect for a visit, but it is hard to leave the mountains when spring has just awakened them. It is also a critical time in the mountains. The forest floors are full of drying wood waste, and the summer's green undergrowth has yet to appear. Each spring bring the threat of forest fires until moisture and new growth make things a little less combustible.
As if to remind me of those cold New England springs I used to enjoy escaping, I talked to college friend from Massachusetts last night. Her daffodils were just blooming, and she was wondering when it would be dry and warm enough for some spring gardening.
I did not have the heart to tell her that my tomato plants on the North Carolina coast already have blooms. It will be bad enough seeing the Washington Cherry Blossom festival featured on the evening news.
It will be a while before tomatoes are planted here in Roanoke, but there are countless beautiful blooming plants to compensate for those early tomatoes.
Grilling some salmon on the deck while spring surrounds you with new growth is not too hard to take.
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