A Much Needed Renewal
It's been something of an Easter tradition in our family to have dinner at a popular restaurant overlooking Chesapeake Bay, but for some reason my parents decided to skip it this year and have everybody over to their house instead. I'm guessing that my dad associates the huge buffet at that restaurant with the mild heart attack he suffered around Easter two years ago and doesn't want to bring back some of those bad memories. Anyway, he did a great job cooking a spiral-cut ham, my mom did everything else, and despite the extra workload it all seemed somehow more relaxing without the hour-long drive to the Bay. Fortunately we managed to avoid the usual family arguments this year.
After our mid-day dinner was over, I just couldn't bring myself to do the responsible thing and head back to hit the books. The weather was perfect and I decided that I needed a trip to the mountains, about an hour and a half away.
For all the congestion and suburban sprawl in Northern Virginia, it actually doesn't take very long to leave it all behind. In only about 20 minutes I was in the verdant rolling pasturelands of the piedmont where Spring announces itself in an explosion of color unlike anything you see in the city.
The first thing you notice are the redbud. They're everywhere in the countryside, and for some reason redbud likes to grow right along the highway. For eleven and a half months a year it's a small, nondescript tree that you wouldn't even notice. But for two weeks in Spring, its profusion of tiny, deep-pink blossoms explodes like a horticultural fireworks display. It is both delicate and stunning in its beauty.
Then there's the dogwood, which sprays the hillsides with wisps of white. Its broad, flat blossoms make it look like a piece of cloud that has broken off and nestled among the forests.
The leaves are only starting to come out, but they appear as a delicate pale green shade that hardly resembles the darker color they'll be in just a few weeks. The young leaves are the perfect pastel backdrop for the redbud, the dogwood, and the abundant flowering fruit trees.
By the time I reached the Skyline Drive it was already mid-afternoon, so I decided to do one of my favorite quick hikes up to Mary's Rock. Not only is it fast, but the summit offers one of the few 360-degree views along the Appalachian Trail.
The view from the top always takes my breath away. You look out across the Shenandoah Valley to the west, with the mountains of West Virginia at the far horizon. Off to the left is the single ridge of Massanutten Mountain, with its small ski area at the far southern end. Immediately in front of you is the small town of Luray, with its white clapboard houses sparkling in the sun. And even from this high rocky perch you can still see the Spring colors of the valley, the bright green of the fresh growth in the farmer's fields, the sprays of blossoms in the fruit orchards below, and the faint hint of the dogwood and the redbud off in the distance.
I sat there under the intense blue sky, bathed in the cool breeze that comes up the cliff face, and drank in the beauty that surrounded me. I felt like Springtime was no longer around me, but that it had actually become a part of me and infused itself into me. There was something deeply refreshing about the experience that cleared my mind and renewed my soul. When you get right down to it, isn't that what Easter is all about?
After our mid-day dinner was over, I just couldn't bring myself to do the responsible thing and head back to hit the books. The weather was perfect and I decided that I needed a trip to the mountains, about an hour and a half away.
For all the congestion and suburban sprawl in Northern Virginia, it actually doesn't take very long to leave it all behind. In only about 20 minutes I was in the verdant rolling pasturelands of the piedmont where Spring announces itself in an explosion of color unlike anything you see in the city.
The first thing you notice are the redbud. They're everywhere in the countryside, and for some reason redbud likes to grow right along the highway. For eleven and a half months a year it's a small, nondescript tree that you wouldn't even notice. But for two weeks in Spring, its profusion of tiny, deep-pink blossoms explodes like a horticultural fireworks display. It is both delicate and stunning in its beauty.
Then there's the dogwood, which sprays the hillsides with wisps of white. Its broad, flat blossoms make it look like a piece of cloud that has broken off and nestled among the forests.
The leaves are only starting to come out, but they appear as a delicate pale green shade that hardly resembles the darker color they'll be in just a few weeks. The young leaves are the perfect pastel backdrop for the redbud, the dogwood, and the abundant flowering fruit trees.
By the time I reached the Skyline Drive it was already mid-afternoon, so I decided to do one of my favorite quick hikes up to Mary's Rock. Not only is it fast, but the summit offers one of the few 360-degree views along the Appalachian Trail.
The view from the top always takes my breath away. You look out across the Shenandoah Valley to the west, with the mountains of West Virginia at the far horizon. Off to the left is the single ridge of Massanutten Mountain, with its small ski area at the far southern end. Immediately in front of you is the small town of Luray, with its white clapboard houses sparkling in the sun. And even from this high rocky perch you can still see the Spring colors of the valley, the bright green of the fresh growth in the farmer's fields, the sprays of blossoms in the fruit orchards below, and the faint hint of the dogwood and the redbud off in the distance.
I sat there under the intense blue sky, bathed in the cool breeze that comes up the cliff face, and drank in the beauty that surrounded me. I felt like Springtime was no longer around me, but that it had actually become a part of me and infused itself into me. There was something deeply refreshing about the experience that cleared my mind and renewed my soul. When you get right down to it, isn't that what Easter is all about?