A Walk Across Virginia

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February 2011

Feburary 14, 18, & 19
Whining About Winter
Although we didn�t have the �Snowmageddon� surprise of last year, this winter still dumped its own share of snow on us. I�ve been marking off the days on my calendar, waiting for spring to finally get here. And although my favorite season is still a month away, we did get blessed this Valentine�s Day with temperatures in the 70s.

Wanting to make the most of this surprise bit of warmth, Dawn and I packed a couple of her rottweilers into the car and headed out to the Colonial Parkway. Our earlier attempt to walk the Parkway from Williamsburg to Jamestown had been thwarted due to a drunk boater smashing his craft into the pilings of one of the Parkway�s bridges, thus closing that portion to through traffic. But it was open now and the long, twisting path through the woods was filled with scores of bikers, hikers, and unicyclists (okay, I made that last one up).

The dogs were thrilled to get out and explore a new area, so our walk was slowed as they stopped to investigate and irrigate every other tree and weed they came across. There were plenty of Parkway pull-offs near beaches, so we also took them for a romp in the sand. It was funny watching these big, fearsome dogs chase the retreating surf and then scamper away when a new wave came in.

Being so out of shape from not having walked any real distance in a while, we only did a loop of a few miles and made plans to come back soon to complete the rest of this open leg. So, four days later we came back, this time without the dogs. I�d strained my back the day before and didn�t want to have to tug on the leash the whole time. We only had to complete a six-mile loop to finish, but with my dodgy back we decided to park at the halfway point, walk half of it, and see if I could complete the rest. I was feeling wimpy and whiny, so we just did three miles and came back the next day to do the other three.

My bad back wasn�t the only bummer on these last two walks; the warm weather had packed up and moved down to a gated community in Miami, leaving us to party with his chilly sister, Frigidonia. We donned our cold weather gear and plodded out onto the beaches, but the once welcoming stretches of sand now seemed bleak. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. And when the beholder�s eye is squinting through frozen lashes, beauty doesn�t stand a chance.

I guess what I�m basically saying is I can�t wait for winter to be over.