A Drive in the Country

Today I want to share a Country Drive with you that I took with my Mom last weekend. In the Spring when she came to visit she wanted to take a drive in the country to find some old barns to photograph. Unfortunately we headed out only to encounter a horrendous thunderstorm and multiple downpours that didn’t allow for barns or anything else to be captured on digital film. So when asked what she wanted to do while the guys were out golfing, she said she wanted to see if we could find some old barns to photograph.

I remembered a few years ago Keith and I went north to a little place called Nace in Botetourt County, Virginia, to pick pumpkins. I remembered it was beautiful place and there were barns she might be able to photograph. Of course it was in the fall and this past weekend it never got much above the upper 30’s, but it still might make for a nice drive. And I figured there were a few other places we could go that might work, too.

Above you can see a little map (courtesy Google Maps) of the loop we made. We started out on US Route 11 north of Troutville, Virginia before turning off on State Route 640 (called Nace Road on this end) to start our trip.

Not far after we went through the official town of Nace (I think there are a few buildings and a sign with the town name) we came upon a small group of cows by the side of the road. They were close to the fence and there was room across the road to safely park. We got out and waited for them to get used to us and started taking pictures. Of course I named them. This is the Gallery. They were really checking us out!

And these two are Frick and Frack. They looked a lot alike and stayed together while we were there. They had such cute faces.

Here is Mom taking pictures. You can see it was rather cold.

This lovely I call Daisy. She just looks like a Daisy to me. She was very curious about what we were doing. Of course, she could be a he for all I know. I am not schooled on distinguishing the gender of cows, so if Daisy should be a he, well…..

We finally let the cows get back to their business of munching hay and got back on the road. After a while Nace Road turns into Lithia Road. It’s the same State Route, just a name change. Lithia is a little bit larger, you can definitely tell you are in the tiny town when you find the small cluster of houses and buildings around the railroad tracks. And right before we reached the little town we spotted this long row of round hay bales along the railroad tracks. I see these all the time in fields but I don’t ever recall seeing such a long line as this before.

Towards the end of Lithia Road, it follows along Back Creek. We came around a curve and saw a huge crane out in the creek. We parked and got out but he flew away since we obviously disrupted his hunting. So instead we took some pictures of the winterberry trees along the creek.

These are native and grow all over the area. They are a favorite of deer and birds. And they are lovely to use in fall and winter decorations around your house.

We were getting a little hungry and luckily at this point we were only a few minutes away from Buchanan, Virginia and I knew we would be able to find a place to get lunch there.   Buchanan has quite a few little antique and gift shops that line the main street as well as the Buchanan Grill, which is where we stopped for lunch.  It has a lot of character and the food is great.  I snapped this shot of the barstools at the soda fountain and posted on Instagram.  We were able to get warm and fill our stomachs before heading out on the second half of our loop.

From Buchanan you take Route 43, Narrow Passage Road towards Eagle Rock, Virginia.  Contrary to what you might think, the road is a nice drive and is not too windy or narrow.  There were lots of beautiful vistas along this route.  But this abandoned house really caught our eye.

Oh, the stories this house could tell.  It must have been so grand in it’s day.  It is such a shame it has fallen into disrepair. It was a great subject to photograph, though.

Finally we reached the small community of Eagle Rock and headed back towards Roanoke on US Route 220.  But first, we had to stop and take some pictures of these wonderful icicles on the side of the road.  The water trickling down the side of the cliffs formed some magnificent icicles with the cold weather.

This side of the road in Eagle Rock was shaded so it was a lot cooler.  There were icicles everywhere.  We could only get a few since we were standing on the side of such a busy road.

I loved how they took over the branches and grasses near the bottom of the cliffs.  They were so striking. I love how Mother Nature creates the best art!

Finally it was time to head back home.  We had a great day for a drive in the country, even though it was chilly and cold.  We didn’t get any pictures of barns, but we had plenty of other great photo ops along our Scenic Virginia Drive.