As we left Virginia today with the Blue Ridge Mountains behind us I thought about our time in three very different corners of the state and how wonderfully friendly everyone has been.
It started in Willoughby Bay, Norfolk the very first day we arrived. (I wrote a bit more about our time in Norfolk in this post: 'Sitting on the dock of the bay'). That first sunny afternoon we walked down to the beach for a quick swim and everyone - I mean EVERYONE - waved hello to us. People were waving from their cars, from their porches and from their bicycles. I was with Mr Almost 3 later that evening when three ladies cycled by, yelling a big old friendly hello and one of them actually HIGH FIVED me as she rode past. I kid you not. I mean, how cool is that..!??!
This continued in Charlottesville where we stayed in a charming little apartment downtown. Charlottesville not only has a great name but has a really cool vibe and is another immensely friendly part of Virginia. A lady we chatted to in the street even offered us her house keys if we needed somewhere to hang out. (I think she mentioned us seeing how a 'real life American' lived. Nice.)
But the best was yet to come.
We spent our final few Virginian nights just outside of the super cool town of Floyd along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As described to us by a local, there is just one set of traffic lights, and going by the latest census figures less than 500 people live in the town. But in this tiny spot in the middle of Appalachia you will find a dedicated organic food community, an awesome coffee roastery (the guys even gave us a tour... thanks Red Rooster Coffee!!), beautiful art stores, a strong sustainability focus, one of the most impressive computer museums my geeky husband has ever seen, an enormous chocolate shop and, if that's not enough, the Floyd County Store - famous for it's Friday night Jamboree gathering of bluegrass music. Floyd is so cool that I could consider living here if New Zealand wasn't calling for me so loudly right now. Oh that and the small issue of the greencard. (By the way, I can't wait NZ. I CAN'T WAIT).
What made Floyd really special for us was that we stayed in the guesthouse of a family who were as impressive as the town itself. They were so welcoming and charming, and invited us for a fab dinner last night where we sat around the fire chatting about everything from Syria to bizarre weddings to gangs in the Cape Flats in South Africa. We were talking about a friendly phone call that had taken place between Washington D.C. and Floyd about politics and we later had a bit of a laugh about how the government could be listening in. I have had this same joke a few times with friends and family about how conversations we've had - either skype, email or on the phone - could have been recorded. But I have been thinking more about this today, and wondering why we find it so damn funny that our private conversations are being analysed and quite possibly tagged by an algorithm and then listened to by a real person in the NSA. Is this because we don't really think this sort of computing power is possible? (It is. Well, it must be because I saw it on that TV show, 'Person of Interest'). Or is it because we think our conversations wouldn't be that 'interesting'? Or because as we see it we have nothing to hide?
During our drive to Tennessee today we listened to the news about the latest Snowden leak around government hacking into our encrypted emails. I think when we start to really really accept that our conversations are being listened to (this hasn't happened yet - I reckon we might all stop laughing at this point), that this will have an impact on how we relate to each other. I was even wondering if one possible silver lining to the dark dark cloud of government snooping could be that we spend less time connecting with each other on the internet and more time face to face. But one problem with this is that our online lives and our 'real' lives are so intertwined. And regardless of whether we can take ourselves off Facebook, the fact remains that questioning government is something we should be able to do freely, not something we have to hide in some 1984 style thoughtcrime fashion.
Ok, off my soap box now, and back to the chocolate box (care of County Floyd, Virginia). These dark chocolate almonds are heavenly.
Before I indulge, a few other favourite moments from our time in Virginia.
- Mr 1 taking his very first steps on Ocean View Beach - bucket and spade in hand
- Mr Almost 3 riding his first rollercoaster at Busch Gardens
- The big waves of Virginia Beach and the boardwalk icecreams afterwards
- Our very own personalised travel guide for the area from our dear kiwi friends in London (thanks H and P!)
- Escaping the humidity in historic Yorktown and eating hushpuppies and drinking $1.50 draft beer at the 'Beach Delly'
- Watching folks fishin' on the longest free-standing pier in North America.. "What kind of fish is that?" . "That there is a Mud TOAD".
- Mr Almost 3 perfecting his Southern accent while repeating "That there is a mud TOAD" on a daily basis
- Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and taking in the view from Rocky Knob.
