Day 2: Sunday July 22

I got more sleep last night than I have in the last month. Easily. I was asleep by 9:30 and up at 7:00. No complaints there. We headed out and quickly sped through a corner of West Virginia. The day before in a moment of excitement when we left New England, Katharine suggested I snap a picture of the Pennsylvania welcome sign. We joked that we should get a picture of every welcome sign we passed and I laughed that this would be impossible. However, no sooner is a ritual proposed than I latch onto it with a kind of ferocity. As we headed into West Virginia I saw the welcome sign, screamed for Katharine to get the camera, she panicked, pulled it out and shot a picture of the sky. We laughed at the needless stress of it all, but sure enough a few miles later there was the Virginia sign. I loved this sign so much as we sped past that I decided we must turn around to capture it in it's full glory. Panic again as we approached but the result is fabulous.

We decided to see some of the gorgeous Shenandoah valley and drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On our way we pulled over at a gas station/Dunkin Donuts and discovered something neither of us have ever seen in Dunkin Donuts-laden-New England: self serve. We had to capture this on film.




However, the real upshot of taking this picture was that an older man approached me and asked me why we were taking pictures in the middle of the store. I explained that I am coming from Boston, where Dunkin Donuts is on every corner and that I've never seen such a thing. He tells me that this is a "very special place" because it's the only place he and his wife can find plain cake donuts. Occasionally they are in a grocery store, but not often and today he drove TWO hours to get a cake donut from here. Shortly after he brought me over a little local newsletter he thought would give me a sense of the area. I was totally charmed and thought about how rare this kind of interchange is in the north east. More than likely someone would have noticed our behavior, wondered about it, maybe told someone but never, ever have asked the person and engaged in a long conversation. Although maybe people in the north east also wouldn't drive two hours for a cake donut.


The Blue Ridge Parkway was absolutely stunning. I have never seen it before and must give credit to Jim Cradle for suggesting it to me. At first, Katharine and I couldn't help but stop at every look-out and gawk. But after a while we just tried to navigate the windy roads in order to get back to a nice, straight highway.









For dinner, Katharine wanted to use one her local chain passes and go to Perkins, which I had never heard of. We met a lovely young waitress who proceeded to tell us nearly her life story which included (according to Katharine's recollection in an email) "how she lived with her husband, best friend (who's like a mother to her) her best friend's daughter (like a sister) and the spoiled dog. All in a hotel room. We tip generously and get pie for the road." I have included a picture of Katharine and my plants (which I'll explain more about later) in the restaurant.












On our way into this little Virginia town we also found a replica of a Statue of Liberty and couldn't resist posing. Who thinks to make something like this in the middle of nowhere?? I decided to climb up for the picture and Katharine caught the climbing on film. We both think I look like a velociraptor.





We ended up in Knoxville Tennessee after another frantic attempt to capture a welcome sign on film (which isn't worth attaching). I was definitely more upbeat today, feeling farther from the painful goodbye and starting (finally) to feel a little like I am on vacation. I am also looking forward to seeing Nashville and Memphis tomorrow and feeling further connected to the South. (Yay the South! We love the South!)