The golfers

After watching all that Olympic downhill skiing and snowboarding, I was looking for some snow. What were my chances of finding some within a 100 mile radius of Washington DC on a 60 degree day. Not much really. I wasn't looking for something like “them thar hills”in Utah, just a little white patch in a hollow in Virginia. The day was gorgeous, Lots of people were on the roads through the farms, orchards, vineyards and small towns of the Shenandoah Valley. People were flying in their planes. The golfers were out and yes I did find snow, manmade but snow all the same in the Bryce Resort in Bayse, VA. I didn't ski or snowboard but again it was fun to watch. The next big snowfall I will go back — and we could get one. We’ve had blizzards in Virginia in March. As I drove back home though a winding gap through the Blue Ridge, it did indeed look blue as the sun was setting.

Da plane, boss

Some facts about this area according to Olivia Bland Gentile, a local historian: in the 17th and 18th centuries, this area was a migratory hunting ground for Native Americans. Shenandoah County had the highest percentage of German settlers in Virginia. It also had the lowest percentage of slaves and highest percentage of freed blacks. Some historians speculate that is due to the German influence, including their religious beliefs and that large families and seasonal farming reduced the need for a cheap labor pool. The winter of 1864 saw many local farmers near starvation following the Union Army’s policy of burning barns and crops at the end of the Civil War. In the 1940’s homesteading families on nearby North Mountain were removed from the area by the Federal Government for the establishment of the George Washington National Forest.

Let it snow

Today unnoticed by most of us weekend visitors, most of the hemlock trees have been wiped out by an introduced insect. Fraser firs are also an endangered species because of another imported insect. University of Virginia researchers predict that about a third of Virginia’s mountain streams will become biologically sterile by mid-century because of acid rain.

© Copyright 2006 by the author(s)/photographer(s) and www.castlebar.ie

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