Tag: Virginia

A Tail of Two Dinosaur Roadside Attractions (and the SLIGHTLY fibrous nature of time)

If you like dinosaurs, this is a story for you! Mark Cline says we are experiencing the future right now. In an early morning hour near Natural Bridge, Virginia, I stand outside the Dinosaur Kingdom II, meeting the artist who created this attraction and many other fibrous sculptures and installations. Next to us, motors whir […]

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Great Dismal Hospitality

Dates of travel: August 2019, June 2020, July 2022 JULY 2022, GREAT DISMAL SWAMP Yellow flies surround me as I walk through thick, humid air and sunlight, to a picnic table to write notes on the way to a gig in Elizabeth City. I’m near the North Carolina-Virginia line. Beside me is the yellow silt-tinged […]

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The Quest for Blooming Rhododendron near Roanoke, part 2: Stars, returns, and moments of esctasy

Roanoke, Virginia was initially called Big Lick, when it became a settler community in the 1800s, from the salt marshes by the river that would attract wildlife. The Warrior’s Path, and then the Great Wagon Road, came through this valley, forking here toward the south and west, serving as foundations for future transportation corridors like […]

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The Quest for Blooming Rhododendron near Roanoke, Virginia – part 1: taking the scenic route

June 2022 Rhododendron catawbiense are the purplish flowering of these soul-comforting mountain shrubs and are euphoria to witness in bloom. There are several sub species of Rhododendron, this one widespread throughout the region but only in bloom for a short time…sometimes as short as two weeks in certain areas. Generally, this happens in Southern Appalachia […]

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Ballads of Fancy Gap

“Down in the Virginia mountains, On U.S. fifty-two, There is a long old mountain That truckers blood does stain. Four miles from top to bottom, That trailer brakes will burn, Many curves ahead, They call it Fancy Gap.” From “Ballad of Fancy Gap” by Jim Marshall of Hillsville,VA Some of my first memories are riding […]

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Marsh Music – Back Bays

Estuaries and wetlands of Virginia Beach, in summer, fall, and winter Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, on the inland side of Sandbridge island (Atlantic coast) The refuge is known as a habitat for east coast migratory birds, and on a cold January visit to the barrier island section, there are several photographers out along the […]

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