When I first visited the state of Virginia on business, I had found a hotel, put away my things, and was ready to spend the weekend resting up for the busy week ahead of meetings. I received a phone call however, from a college friend who knew I was coming to town, and he had other plans. Driving and camping plans, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I love the outdoors, but I was really looking forward to settling in and finishing a book I had been reading about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. He reminded me that I could read at home, and told me to pack. He would be at my hotel door in one hour.
Now I had read a book by Bill Bryson, about a trek he had taken through the Appalachian Mountains, unprepared, and I was a bit apprehensive about taking off into the woods myself. I love the smell and the fresh air of the outdoors, but I also love soft pillows and warm blankets. It was not until later on that night, that I realized how well my college friend knew me as we checked into a fine, a warm and a cozy cabin along the trail. As we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I felt the stress of city life just kind of fade off. We stopped a bit for a hike, a little birdwatching, and a picnic.
We found a small spot exhibiting relics and artifacts left behind by the Cherokee Indians, and listened to the tales of an old man sitting in a cafe who gave me a pair of earrings he said, where the tears of the Cherokee. We talked a lot as we were driving, and he told me how happy he was that he had chosen Virginia as his home, it is the place for lovers after all, he said. A couple of days passed and we were pulling back into the parking lot of my hotel. I decided then, that I would extend my business trip for another week, and we made plans to hike back into the mountains, and camp. Actually camp. He promised that he wouldn’t tell if I brought just one of the hotel pillows with me. And with that, I spent the next week waiting for my next journey into the Blue Ridge Mountains.