Visiting the US national parks is like stepping into the country’s soul—each one a living postcard of breathtaking beauty. From the mist rising over the Grand Canyon at sunrise to the ancient time gone by that makes us ponder what, or who, used to be here, the parks remind us that the greatest treasures aren’t man-made but carved by time, wind, and water. Whether you’re hiking a rugged trail, stargazing under skies away from any light pollution, or simply sitting still to let nature’s soundtrack consume you, the experience is a humbling reminder of the vast and varied beauty this country has to offer.
There’s one park, however, that has no business being a national park. Take a guess.
Buc-ee’s, a popular Texas-based travel center chain, is slated to open its first location in Virginia at Exit 240 on I-81, near Mount Crawford around July 4th. This will be the northernmost Buc-ee’s ever built.
Yes, I know. Buc-ee’s is coming. I have mixed feelings about this. Please, please, please hear me out.
On the one hand, I like Buc-ee’s. I’m not bashing Buc-ee’s. On the other? I know what happened here. There’s a very specific reason that Friedens Church Road (the main road leading to I-81) is the way it is. It’s the 4-lane road that goes from left to right in the image. If you grew up near here (long enough ago, that is) you may also know what happened here. More in a sec…
If you’ve traveled up and down 81 near this exit (240 if you didn’t know), you may have just zipped right by it without a second thought. There’s not much here – at least, there wasn’t much here. I’m about to sound like that old guy who reminisces about days gone by, but most, if not all, of the developments you see in this image didn’t exist when I was growing up here back in the 70’s, 80’s and even into the 90’s. For those of you waiting for it – “farmland as far as the eye could see.” There. Happy?
I grew up less than 4 miles to the west of this location in a town that literally had one stop light. Geez, I sound old. Well…. I’ve seen the area grow. Enough said. Sure the infrastructure has grown along with it, to a certain degree. Back to the road. You see that little road at the bottom of the image with the small bridge that abruptly stops right before the big gas station in the middle of the image? That’s the road I remember. That’s the little, barely two-lane road, that I drove to get to and from I-81 in high school. That’s the little curvy country road with lots of blind spots where the accident happened.
I’m not getting into any kind of details here – that’s not what this is. Just know this, the infrastructure may have changed to accommodate all the expansions, but new and bigger expansions are about to make their mark and this area will be forever changed because of it. In good ways and in not so good ways. The area will definitely see a growth in job opportunities, tourism, etc. That’s great for the area. It’s also going to see its fair share of traffic congestion and everything that goes along with it. I’m glad I don’t live nearby anymore, but I’m now concerned about my 83-year old mother who still lives less than 4 miles from this location.
I want to believe that it’ll settle down at some point, but have you been to Buc-ee’s? IYKYK. So, if you’re one of those folks who can’t wait for this location to officially open, please be careful. Be patient.
Oh, and hey, pick up some sea salted caramel beaver nuggets (it’s the blue bag) – my personal favorite!
Yep, that’s me. I’m one of those people now. Some had already pegged me as one, but I refused to accept it. I just might have developed a problem.
There’s no real way to describe the feeling. It really is euphoric for whatever reason. I can’t explain it, but I’ve now experienced it twice and I want more.
Yeah, I have it bad.
No, I don’t need an intervention, but I HAVE already started planning for the next big one. I’m not really a “world traveler,” but I might just have to be.
You’ve done this before (twice) take some time and enjoy it, too.
Plan, plan, plan.
Try getting creative this time:
Bracket the corona
Higher f-stop – lower shutter (get those bursts)
360 sunset
Use that Lens Ball. You brought it, right?
Wide-angle static ambient sequence (use the second solar filter for this)
Eat something to Pete’s sake!
Also, don’t forget, your good friend may have given you a t-shirt (or a hat, or a jacket or something) years and years prior to the event that you packed, but forgot about. Find it and wear it!
I had to go back and read my post from 2017. Like I said back then, the beauty of an online “journal.” Glad I sent my future self notes. I made it. I am now my future self (at least from the perspective of that post).
Heading to Texas next week for a second shot at it. I’ve never posted my photos from that day. Not good. I definitely experienced the phenomenon of the total solar eclipse and get to do it all again in just over a week.
So much has changed since then and I’m going into this one prepared. Gonna make my past self proud.
Little did we know what was about to happen to us… We’re going again in a couple weeks!
For those who don’t know me personally, we just had one of the craziest RV rental experiences you can imagine. (more detail on this Facebook page). And had it not been for the owner’s accessibility and cooperation, it would have much much worse. It was a pretty bad experience, but the owner’s response to the whole situation made it at least bearable.
Early on in my career as a commercial producer, I learned how to lead a creative meeting with a new client and what questions to pose to get at the information I needed to mold together their message. One of the biggest guiding principles of those meetings purposefully steered said clients away from talking about their customer service in an effort to get them to talk about actual services and products that were different and stood out and mattered to clients. Even as I type this, I’m thinking to myself “WHAT?!?!” The thinking, apparently, was to steer clear of obvious services that consumers should come to expect. Yes, all business have good customer service (or at least should). Now what do you do differently?
Customer service CAN matter. Customer service CAN be different. Customer service CAN stand out.
And it mattered big time with our recent RV rental.
Any excuse to take the aerial camera out and fly it, right? I saw these trees across the highway on the way down to Florida and said I thought it would make a cool image. So we stopped on the way home. I really missed out on some cool photography on our cross-country RV trip a couple of years ago.
I think Snapple drinks have programmed everybody to look under the lids of their drinks to see what’s under there. You know you do it. I’m alway looking under the lid.
I think I got somebody else’s drink. This was not a Snapple, by the way.
It’s a real thing. At least as far as the public goes. Disney has yet to officially acknowledge the Hidden Mickey phenomenon, although they do sell Hidden Mickey books in their gift shops. hmmm….
Apparently it all started when EPCOT was being planned as more of an adult-targeted park including the sale of alcohol. Since Disney characters and alcohol were taboo together it was established that none of the characters, especially Mickey, would ever be seen inside that park. Well, the Imagineers took it as a challenge and started incorporating them into everything they could. Voila! Hidden Mickeys.
The general rule is that if it’s not associated with Disney then it’s not really an “official” Hidden Mickey. It’s still fun though.
Not so hidden, but it makes for a great image. | Order a print of this image.
The employee (aka cast) culture at Disney Parks fascinates me – specifically the characters. I seem to only remember the fully costumed characters when I was young and visiting Walt Disney World. You never actually saw a real person. But times, and culture, have changed. Now there are real life people portraying the Disney characters in the park, which creates an entirely different dynamic for interaction. I never used to hear the characters make any sounds (especially speech) at all. Now you can have an entire conversation with them. The added fascination for me is the fact that now the real-life characters need to work harder to remain in character. They can no longer hide behind the comfort of being silent and not being seen and can simply use body language to remain in character. It’s just fascinating – which probably explains why I have a degree in psychology.
btw – this photo is horrible, but Alice is the one who prompted this post and this is the our selfie with her (which is technically really a “groupie”).
So we asked Alice if she knew what a selfie was. She responded “Why yes, a self-sufficient photograph.” Awesome.
I’ve seen this back home in Winchester and I’ve seen lots of discussion threads because of it out here in CA. Still can’t find a solid reason for it. Why a 14 mph speed limit?
It’s different and catches your attention
15 mph is too fast (and sounds too much like 50 when spoken with certain accents)
13 mph is too slow (and unlucky)
14 is a multiple of 7 so it’s twice as lucky
14 mph is the speed of a horse-driven carriage at a “furious” pace
The trams travel at 15 mph so theoretically a car should never overtake a tram
And so on and so on and so on. I tend to fall into the reason #1 group, but I like them all.
There’s obviously a lot that’s different between the two parks. After the location (obviously) the biggest difference is simply the size. There’s just more real estate in Florida. But after today’s adventures, the biggest difference for me now is the Disney experience. You get more of it in Florida. I’m not knocking the parks in California – don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed my first day in Disneyland. It’s fascinating to pick out the similarities and differences between all the rides. For instance, in Florida it’s the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. In California it’s Tarzan’s Tree House. Neat. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, right smack in the middle of Anaheim. That’s the biggest difference for me – the fact that you’re navigating through a city as well as the parks in California. The public transportation is Anaheim’s. In Florida, you’re completely immersed in all things Disney (that is, of course, if you stay “on campus”). The public transportation is Disney’s. Walt Disney World has a sprawling 43 square miles (or 27,258 acres) of real estate whereas Disneyland operates on about 160 acres. So you see, the “World” has spoiled me.
I get an extra 3 hours to post today. Woohoo! The downside is that I’ll only have 21 hours on Monday. Boohoo. We were all dragging today after 5 hour flights and being up 18 hours we wanted to remain active to avoid going to sleep too early. It was Laguna Beach or bust. I’ve always seen the big waves in pictures or TV, but it was cool to see them in person. We were also pretty distracted by the $15,000,000 homes up on the cliff. Yep. Six zeros and seven figures!
The view from the homes that don’t overlook the Pacific Ocean. The less expensive houses. These houses are only worth $5,000,000.
I’m always concerned about what the reaction will be when I send my camera soaring into the air. I was especially concerned while visiting WIlliamsburg this weekend. I don’t know specifically why, but it just felt weird to me to be flying over Duke of Gloucester Street. It just seems like such a proper place and I didn’t want to distract or disturb. I ended up launching from the fields behind the Wren Building and flying to just over the Wren Building. So, for all the Tribe alumni – enjoy.
Cedarmeade Studios 