Monday, July 8, 2019

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.   




35 comments:

  1. Well, happy birthday! Love the mural. I'd like to see it but you don't say where it was. I looked up Horne's and found Port Royal so it's a long way from the Shenandoah. I've been through there some years ago; didn't know there was a restaurant. I recall that John Wilkes Booth passed through there.
    I hope you enjoy your birthday week. :-)

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    1. Hi Linda, and thank you! You remembered correctly, in fact there are a couple of historical markers a hundred feet or so from the restaurant. It states that John Wilkes Booth was killed when a barn he was hiding in nearby caught fire in 1865. This story is here:
      https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/death-john-wilkes-booth

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    2. Forgot to say that the building with the peace doves was in Tappahannock. I had to ask hubs to be sure.

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  2. A very, very happy Birthday to you - and thank you for your generosity in taking us on your road trips.

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    1. Thank you EC and I am so glad you enjoy our road trips :)

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  3. Happy birthday, Denise. I, too, enjoyed the trip and thanks for sharing it with us.

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    1. Thank you Valerie, and I am so glad you enjoyed the trip :)

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    1. Obrigado e um abraço e uma boa semana para você :)

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  5. Piękny mural uwielbiam Street art. Fajna wycieczka :) Pozdrawiam:)

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    1. Lubię też ten rodzaj sztuki. Dziękuję Lucyna i pozdrowienia.

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  6. happy birthday, love those white goats, and I agree with that quote wholehartedly

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  7. Happy birthday Denise! On our most recent vacation—a week in Maine—we set the GPS to avoid highways once we were almost out of New York. We enjoyed the drive to Maine so much, going through the small towns of New England.

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    1. Thank you Linda :) Your trip sounds wonderful!

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  8. Good morning and happy birthday Denise. Your road trip and visit family looks like a great time. The mural is beautiful. Enjoy your day and I wish you a happy new week!

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    1. Thank you Eileen :) Happy day and week to you also :)

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  9. Happy birthday Denise. Have a great day.

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  10. Happy Birthday with many more to follow. Great set of photos. Have a good week, Diane

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    1. Hi Diane, thank you and you have a good week too :)

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  11. Sending our best wishes to you for a great celebration and a very Happy Birthday. Thanks for sharing the photos from the July 4th road trip too!

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  12. Aren't road trips the best? There's so much really neat stuff to see, and you've shared some really great pics as always. The mural is beautiful and quite peaceful to look at. Happy, happy Birthday! May your day be as special as you are! Hugs, RO

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    1. I agree totally RO, I loved them. Thank you for the sweet birthday greeting :)

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  13. Hi Denise,
    And may I wish you a very Happy Birthday, {as my youngest grand daughter said to me, 21 again!!}
    You appear to again have had a wonderful trip with so many interesting sights.
    Family visits are always so enjoyable.
    All the best,
    John

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    1. Thank you so much John, that is an old saying that I remember well and is good to hear again :) All the best!

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  14. Happy Birthday Denise!
    Loved the photos from your trip - those peace doves on the building are so nice.
    I too enjoy seeing art in various places. Cheers :D)

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    1. Thank you Sue, and I enjoyed your Vietnam photos very much indeed!

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  15. Happy Birthday, Denise! I hope it has been a wonderful one! I enjoyed seeing the photos of your road trip. And the verse at the end is very sweet and so true.

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    1. Thank you Martha Ellen, I had a super time. Glad you enjoyed my post :)

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