IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY

After a busy few days we will be celebrating quietly.  We have just returned from the family 4th of July picnic where we had a wonderful time seeing all the familiar faces and meeting a few new ones.

Gregg and I love getting together with the family, and road-tripping.  Today I am concentrating on the journey there and back.  This was a relatively short one but we always enjoy it and seeing a few sights along the way.  At one point there was a traffic jam on the freeway, so we decided to get off there and take the country roads.  We drove through some pretty towns, some selling items in front of their shops.

Gregg pointed out the dog behind us sticking his head out the car window.  I could barely see him but there he was.  We were stuck in traffic shortly after exiting the highway, but it was only at a traffic light and we were soon on our way.

 A little while later we stopped at Horne's for lunch. This place is an institution and we have been coming here for many years when journeying south.  You can read its history at the link I provided in red lettering.

It is at a crossroads.  Gregg remembers the route from when his parents used to drive through here, on their frequent trips to pick him up or drop him off at the naval academy almost 50 years ago, before freeways.  

Today as we got back into our car, this interesting vehicle drove through the light.  It is a self-propelled sprayer and I only found that out because I was able to read the brand name on the side of the vehicle which read "Apache".  I found it online immediately.   On its way to spray one of the many crops in this area no doubt.

We passed the building painted with peace doves and part of a rainbow.  I'm not sure if it was a church as we had gone by it before I could study it further, and a search online resulted in nothing this time.  It was a pretty mural.

The next shot is of the view from our hotel window.  The skies were gorgeous, not fully captured in this photo unfortunately.

The print was on the wall in our hotel room. I always like to inspect the artwork, especially if it is a photo of the local area.  In this case it showed buildings in Colonial Williamsburg.

And now we are on our way home.  We took the freeway for the most part, only getting onto the country roads towards the end of our journey.  The traffic was light and we got home well before noon, having had breakfast with our son and daughter-in-law.  We left them a little after 9.30 a.m.

We enjoyed looking at the countryside, all the old barns...

 and pretty houses in the distance.

"Road trips are the equivalent of human wings.  Ask me to go on one, anywhere.  We'll stop in every small town and learn the history and the stories, feel the ground and capture the spirit.  Then we'll turn it into our own story that will live inside our history to carry with us, always.  Because stories are more important than things."

~Victoria Erickson~

Thanks for coming along on our mini road trip, and enjoy your day.