still on the road

It's 3.15 pm, and we just passed over the Potomac River and entered West Virginia.  The only things I got in West Viriginia, a really lovely state, were a badly skinned knee and an important lesson: don't hurdle fences when you're wearing a long dress and flip flops--it will not work out for your knees.  Or in my case, my right knee.  The woman at the visitor's center there was very nice and cleaned it up for me and gave me plenty of antiseptic cream, gauze, and band aids to take along with me.  My mom was horrified by the bloody mess.  My dad was ... my dad. That is to say, not peeved, just glad I was ok.  It was  good thing that my parents only say the effect of the failed hurdling stunt, and not the stunt itself.  Although I must say, I normally do have very good form as a hurdler.  

I talked to a really nice old man there who told me all about the Blue Ridge Mountains, and I fell even more head-over-heels in love with them.  To be honest, my love for the Blue Ridge Mountains originally stemmed from the fact that I fell in love with Fleet Foxes.  They are unlike any recent group I've heard, utilizing spare vocal harmony and everything from pianos and guitars to dulcimers, kotos, tom drums and organs in order to create their unique sound that's a mix of rock, choral music, hymns, and '60s folk AND baroque psychedelic pop music (hey, they played at the 50th Anniversary Newport Folk Festival this year alongside such greats as Pete Seeger and Joan Baez).   Their songs are, like nature, a delicately balanced melange of beauty and violence.  But mostly beauty.

Anyway, the song is (surprise, surprise) called Blue Ridge Mountains, and it's amazing.  As you'll see for yourself.   

Oh, and did I mention that I'm completely enraptured by Robin Pecknold's voice (and face)?

In addition to this, there's the fact that the mountains themselves are gorgeous.  I don't normally describe anything as gorgeous aside from my mom (or Liv Tyler), but these heavenly peaks are about as gorgeous as anything in the natural world can get. These mountains seem to be made of condensed midnight and every breath-borrowing distance you'd ever want to traverse.  They're just stunning.

see?

I'll post some pictures of my own soon.