LAST SUNDAY'S ROAD TRIP THROUGH THE VIRGINIA COUNTRYSIDE

Our Sunday ride was to visit another farmers market.  We read of one that was open from 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.  When we arrived we saw a sign in front of a small general store.  We were looking for an outdoor market, like the one we visited in Manassas a few weeks ago.  I am wondering if it was tucked into one of the side streets and we missed it, but there will be other opportunities to explore further.

This was a pretty area and we decided to cut our losses and meander home along country backroads.  When we have time we would much rather travel this way.  We try to avoid the main roads full of traffic.  All roads lead to Rome, and the prettier the drive the more interesting it is.

We don't know anything about the places we pass, other than the fact they were worth taking a photo.

From the passenger side, and occasionally handing my cell phone to Gregg, after he had stopped the car, these are the photos we took.  

We had the country lanes to ourselves, except for the occasional four-wheeler.  Most of the roads we took were not paved, mostly covered in gravel and definitely a bit bumpy in parts.  I can see why four-wheelers are needed.  Living out here, in the winter especially, you definitely would need them.

My most favorite moment of the trip was finding the horses at the fence next to the road.

Once again no other traffic.  There were three horses in the field.  One of these beauties stopped feeding and turned to stare at us.

I was grateful he stopped for a while, and seemed as curious about us as we were about him.  Maybe he was hoping for an apple or a carrot, but as we didn't want to startle them we kept the space between us.  I wished I had an apple or carrot to give them.

Isn't he gorgeous?

We continued our ride along these pretty roads.

The following photo shows a few blooms next to a property entrance.  Along these gravel roads there were some beautiful homes.  I sometimes wonder who lives out here.  People who like their solitude living off the beaten path, sounds idyllic.

This link will take you to a Wikipedia page with information about Virginia.  There is also an interesting page here for young people.

In the photo below we saw two deer scamper across.  I didn't react fast enough to get their photo.  They were in the trees and though I briefly saw two eyes staring in our direction as one stopped and looked back at us, the trees did their job and protected them from prying camera shutters.  My eyes were my camera, my memory the photo.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is a good thing.   

One last photo of another horse and its rider coming down the road towards us.  

She smiled as we stopped for them to pass.  Fortunately the road was wider at this point.

It made a very nice ending to our Sunday Drive.