Busy Season: Spring Teaching

From mid-February through til June, I was gone quite a bit traveling every week for work. Most of my trips were four- or five-day trips to various places in Virginia, from the farthest corners of the southwest, to the suburbs of DC, and to everywhere in between, I was kept moving and pretty busy. Here are some photos from some of those trips

Rockingham County:
photos: A nice quilting rack at the Valley Brethren/Mennonite Heritage Center in Harrisonburg, VA; and the inside of a house at the Mennonite Center in quite lovely pastels.


Washington County:
photos: Neat architecture in Abingdon, VA; daffodils in Abingdon; Daniel Boone and company stayed in what became Abingdon on their way to the Cumberland Gap; the Tavern in Abingdon (one of the oldest buildings west of the Blue Ridge), dating back to 1779; and a mastadon skeleton at the Museum of Middle Appalachians in Saltville, VA.





photos: A skeleton of a creature I'd read about but never seen -- a giant beaver; Dirk and Sam checking out the tribes of Southwest Virginia, including one that should be more famous than "that Pocahontas person" (according to a docent) since the Spanish wrote about her before the English even founded Jamestown; Dirk trying to look completely innocent; me in front of one of the many lakes in southwest Virginia created by damming; the House of the Snake, where we discovered the wonder that is Dr. Enuf (described to us as an "old timey energy drink, but natural").





photos: Rebel Roy (my version of a kind of Flat Stanley, but cooler and communicated to friends through text messages, not in reports to elementary students) in front of the sign on State Street in Bristol, VA (literally one side of the street is Virginia and the other is Tennessee); downtown Bristol; the Legends of Country Music mural in downtown Bristol; and live old-timey and bluegrass music in Bristol.




Prince William County:
photos: The cherry blossoms in DC and the Jefferson Memorial, which was the first time I'd seen them; more cherry blossoms; sunset in DC with the blossoms and Washington Monument; my and Megan's artwork hung on the wall in a pub to join the rest of its art; and Sam and Jeff showing their buddy status and love for fishbowl margaritas.





Pulaski County:
photos: A fun country store in downtown Pulaski; that same store sold this awesome cane that was also a sword, complete with "ornamental" handle; Mark riding a dinosaur (there's obviously tons of stuff to do in Pulaski on a weeknight); and the view of a nearby vineyard in Wythe County.




Wise County:
photos: Something about the Army partnering with Earth Day seemed a bit odd to me; redbuds near one of the lakes we visited; the same lake that had Jeff and Dirk really excited to fish; an entire truck of one of my new favorites -- Dr. Enuf (apparently pronounced "EE - nuff"); and the view from Flag Rock over Norton.





photos: Donna and Jeff climbing rocks; their view from the top of the rocks; the view towards Kentucky from High Knob and the mountains around Norton; and bluegrass and square dancing in Lee County.




Manassas:
photos: I really freaked out my coworkers when we passed this street and I had them pull over to take the photo, just south of Manassas; Manassas National Battlefield (from the battle otherwise known to us yankees as "Bull Run"); blossoms off a tulip poplar, which helped me to finally understand its name; and Megan and Donna on a bridge in Prince William National Forest, which had recently been flooded with the debris behind on the bridge as a remnant of that.