Some days just ask you to get out on the back roads, and this was one of them. Katy and I took a drive through the countryside around Culpeper, Virginia, with no real plan beyond enjoying the view. Virginia did not disappoint.
The sky was a deep, cloudless blue, the kind you only seem to get in early fall. We wound along a quiet two-lane road with fence posts running beside us and wide green pastures rolling out toward a line of trees on the horizon.
Round hay bales dotted the fields as far as we could see, a sure sign the season is turning. There’s something peaceful about farm country this time of year: the work of summer gathered up and set out in the sun.
Before long the road dipped down to an old stone bridge lined with tall sycamores just starting to show their fall colors.
We couldn’t resist slowing down for the view from the bridge. The river was running low and clear, curving around a little grassy island with the trees reflected in the still water. It was one of those moments where you just sit and take it in.
It’s easy to forget how beautiful it is right in our own backyard. If you ever find yourself near Culpeper on a nice day, take the long way home. You won’t regret it.
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