Heading to the mountains, but where should we go? I decided north on US 220 then west on US 58 would get us to the mountains. Where we would go after that, I didn't know.

Just before I left home...

Entering Virginia! Driving on US 220 North

First site of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Martinsville, VA

Guess where we're at...

I think it's important to keep track of where we are and where we're heading. Only 35 miles to go!

We were driving down US 85, winding up the mountain side, when we discovered this stop on the side of the highway the signs proclaimed to be "Lover's Leap"...

Shortly after Lover's Leap, we came to a field with a little blue sign along the highway which read "Elevation 3000ft"! Just a little further down the highway we discovered the little town of Meadows of Dan. Nothing really to see there, however...

Elevation ~2900 feet

Coming up to the Blue Ridge Parkway! Took a slight deviation off US 58, but look!

After Meadows of Dan, we decided to get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a slight scenic tour. This is how we happened to come across Mabry Mill, an old mill from the early 1900s!

Sign Says: "Hillsville Corporate Limits"

So we finally made it into Hillsville. The only problem is we don't know where we should go next.

The highways that run through Hillsville

Confederate Memorial of Gettysburg in front of the county courthouse.

Looking out from some street off US 221. Exploring and Wandering are fun!

After Hillsville, we decided to take US 52 north to Wytheville, VA. We could have taken I-77, but you can't see much from the interstate.

Interstate 77! I'm sure they couldn't see the river that's in the next picture... (PS, we drove on I-77 right there to get to the family reunion on 15 Jul 2005 )

The New River.

Driving along, my friend noticed horses moving through the forest and forced me to pull over. Then we were back on the road hoping to get to Wytheville.

Though we tried to avoid it, we were forced onto the interstate...

Okay, so we took a wrong turn... I thought Wytheville would be to our right off the Interstate before I-77 and I-81 went separate ways. I was wrong. We continued north on I-77 and got off at the next exit, in the Jefferson National Forest.

Driving down the Scenic Byway, we noticed wild turkey at the edge of the forest along the street, so I immediately pulled over, but I scared the turkey into the forest and wasn't able to get a picture... But my car does look nice, yes?

Virginia City, a tourist trap off I-77, but sadly it's closed this half of the year...

At least the scenic byway brought us back to US 52!

So we made it safely into Wytheville, albeit a little late.

The Wytheville Visitor Center not far off the main highway. I thought it'd be nice to see what this mountain town had to offer.

Our next destination would be just down I-81. Bristol, TN/VA. It's a nice city with its main street (or "State St.") running down the state border between Tennessee and Virginia.

Current highways running around through Bristol.

The United States Post Office in Tennessee, a block south of Virginia.

The train station, just a few yards north of Tennessee.

Bristol was such a nice city, and I was so tired from driving, that we decided to spend the night there. We walked around downtown some after dinner, though there's not much to really take notice of.

The community center, VA

The view from our hotel room.